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AI literacy (Article 4, EU AI Act)

compliance

Article 4 AI Act · EU AI literacy obligation

The EU obligation that the people operating or using AI on your behalf actually understand it: what the system does, where it fails, what the law says and what your internal policy allows.

Article 4 of the EU AI Act has applied since 2 February 2025 and required providers and deployers to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among their staff and anyone operating AI systems on their behalf. The Digital Omnibus on AI -Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force since 27 July 2026- softened it: the duty is now to take measures to support the development of that level rather than to ensure it, and the text spells out that no specific level has to be guaranteed for any individual. It became an obligation of effort rather than result, with the Commission and Member States required to help, including through practical compliance examples. The operational read, without the varnish: the enforcement risk went down, the work did not. A team that does not understand where the agent gets it wrong is not supervising it. It is signing it off.

How it differs from

Tool training
Product training teaches people to use a tool. Literacy covers risk, limits, the legal frame and internal policy: what NOT to do with it.
AI governance
Governance sets the rules and the controls. Literacy is what makes it possible for someone to follow them without being chased.

Examples

  • Baseline training for everyone, plus role-specific training for whoever deploys, whoever builds and whoever decides.
  • A record of the measures taken and who went through them: undocumented, for compliance purposes, means it never happened.

FAQ

Is training still mandatory after the Digital Omnibus?
Yes. Article 4 remains in the Regulation: what changed is the verb. Ensuring a sufficient level became taking measures to support its development, with an express clarification that no specific level has to be guaranteed for any individual. It is an obligation of effort, so document the measures you take.
Who does the obligation cover?
Providers and deployers of AI systems, with respect to their own staff and anyone else operating or using those systems on their behalf. That includes third parties and service providers running the company's AI.

Sources & further reading