This chapter provides background information on how human skills and computer capabilities with regard to numeracy and literacy evolve over time. By showing how much more rapidly the latter progress, the chapter highlights the need for periodically and systematically monitoring the evolution of AI capabilities and comparing them to human skills.

This chapter first analyses the skill level of adults aged 16 to 65 in the domains of literacy and numeracy and shows how it changes over time. The analysis draws on the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), as well as on comparable data from two earlier skills assessments – the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) carried out in 1994-98 and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) carried out in 2003-07. Additional analyses focus on the reading and mathematical skills of students using data of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2000 to 2018. The chapter then provides an overview of recent technological developments in the fields of natural language processing (NLP) and quantitative reasoning of AI.

This chapter offers an overview of changes in human skills and computer capabilities in the domains of literacy and numeracy over time. It first analyses changes in the skill levels of adults aged 16 to 65, working adults and students aged 15 using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL). The chapter then describes recent trends in the fields of natural language processing and mathematical reasoning of artificial intelligence (AI). These technological developments are relevant for the potential performance of AI on the PIAAC test. By showing that technological progress develops much faster than human skills in key skill domains, the chapter highlights the need for periodically and systematically monitoring the evolution of AI capabilities and comparing them to human skills.