.png)
This is what AI literacy actually unlocks.
- Jonathan Luckett
- May 13
- 2 min read
Last week, a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship became one of the fastest-moving public health stories of 2026 — 11 cases, 3 deaths, passengers from 20+ countries, Americans quarantined in Nebraska.
I wanted to understand it. So I built a tool to track it.
Using Manus AI, I created a real-time interactive surveillance dashboard — a full chronological timeline of every event since February, animated live case counters, a plain-English explainer for general audiences, and a geographically accurate US state map showing every state currently monitoring passengers.
The entire build happened in conversation. I described what I wanted. The AI researched, coded, corrected errors, sourced images, and deployed a live website. It also set up a daily automated news scan so the timeline updates itself every morning.
I’ve been building AI literacy curriculum for several years now — including both a Fundamentals and an Intermediate course — and the question I always get is: “But what can it actually DO?”
This is the answer.
AI doesn’t replace expertise — it amplifies it. A public health communicator with domain knowledge and an AI agent can now build infrastructure that used to require a full development team.
We are genuinely at an inflection point. The people who understand how to direct these tools — not just use them, but think with them — are going to have an enormous advantage.
If you want to go deeper on exactly this kind of applied AI thinking, I cover on AI Ascent with Dr. Jonathan Luckett, D.Sc.
🔗 Live dashboard: https://bit.ly/4wqOLUE
What would you build? I’d love to hear it. 👇
— Dr. Jonathan Luckett, D.Sc.
Comments