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SCAIO Learn

AI literacy primers for South Carolina.

Ten short, plain-language slide decks on the core of the AI conversation — calibrated for legislators, school boards, agency staff, small businesses, clinicians, manufacturers, and citizens.

SCAIO Learn is the public-facing education layer of the South Carolina Artificial Intelligence Observatory. The primers below are designed to be opened in 10 minutes — read straight through, navigated with arrow keys, or referenced one slide at a time.

Each primer covers one audience and one set of questions: what AI is, what it does, what it does not do, what's already happening in South Carolina, and what would help. The writing is plainspoken, the examples are SC-specific, and the editorial posture matches the rest of SCAIO's work — positive, constructive, neutral, and honest about what we know.

These primers are step one of a Phase 4 education effort. The same content will become avatar-narrated short videos as the work develops. Suggestions, corrections, and topic requests are welcome at scaio.org/#contact.

The Primers

Ten 10-minute decks.

Click any card to open the primer. Use the arrow keys to navigate, or press Escape to exit fullscreen.

Primer 01

What is an LLM?

For: Everyone · the foundational primer

A plainspoken primer on Large Language Models — what they are, what they can and cannot do, the vocabulary of the policy conversation, and where they already show up in South Carolina.

12 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 02

AI in SC schools

For: School board members and district leaders

A school-board primer on H.5253 (AI in Education), classroom AI realities, equity considerations across SC's 79 districts, eight procurement questions, and a starter model board policy.

12 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 03

AI procurement for SC government

For: Legislators and agency staff

Procurement is policy. Five contract questions every SC contracting officer should ask, federal templates SC can borrow, peer-state precedents, and five concrete moves a legislator can make without new law.

12 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 04

Spotting synthetic media

For: Voters, journalists, civic groups

Deepfakes, voice cloning, and AI-generated content — what to know, what habits work better than trying to spot fakes by eye, the SC-specific risks worth planning for, and who to contact when something circulates.

11 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 05

AI for SC small businesses

For: Small-business owners

Six use cases that work today, a realistic cost picture, three risks to plan around, five questions before adopting any AI tool, and where to start in priority order. Practical, not theoretical.

11 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 06

Healthcare AI in South Carolina

For: Clinicians, hospital boards, patient advocates

What clinical AI deployment looks like in SC today — MUSC, the Clemson–MUSC AI Hub, S.443 (Health Claims and AI), the two-tiered risk between major systems and rural hospitals, and three questions for every clinical-AI deployment.

11 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 07

AI in SC manufacturing

For: Plant managers, workforce officials, suppliers

The SC manufacturing base, the Figure AI / BMW Spartanburg pilot in context, four categories of applied AI on plant floors today, the workforce question, and the applied industrial-AI consortium proposal.

11 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 08

AI for SC local government

For: Municipal / county officials, IT directors

Where AI shows up in local government, the cybersecurity surface (phishing, voice cloning, ransomware), a five-point cyber-readiness checklist, procurement basics, and three shared-infrastructure moves SC is positioned to make.

10 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
Primer 09

A legislator's AI glossary

For: SC General Assembly members and legislative staff

25 key AI terms in plain language, calibrated for South Carolina legislators. Cross-referenced to SC legislation. Designed as a quick-reference card, not a sequential read.

8 slides · ~6 min Open primer →
Primer 10

The South Carolina AI landscape

For: Anyone new to the conversation · orientation deck

A 10-minute orientation to SC's AI ecosystem — the five regions, the four institutional anchors, the policy picture, the major applied deployments, and where to go next inside SCAIO.

10 slides · ~10 min Open primer →
What's next

Primers become videos.

The same content will become avatar-narrated short videos as Phase 4 develops — first-person delivery, 5-10 minute runtime, designed for sharing in committee meetings, district trainings, and short-form social distribution.

SCAIO is also developing primers on additional audiences: county council members, AI in agriculture, AI for SC nonprofits, AI in the courts. If your audience would benefit from a primer not listed here, tell us.