The AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, is the world's first comprehensive AI legislation, and it does not only concern those who build AI. Using an AI system in your business makes you a deployer in the eyes of the law, with duties of your own. Article 4 says that both providers and deployers must ensure their staff have sufficient AI literacy — the skills, knowledge and understanding to work with the systems in question.
The training requirement has applied since 2 February 2025
Unlike the high-risk rules, AI literacy has no transition period left. Most of the regulation's other rules apply from 2 August 2026.
What AI literacy means in practice
- It covers everyone who works with the systems — not just developers, but managers, lawyers, HR, purchasing and anyone who makes decisions with AI support.
- The level has to match the risk: a system that screens applications demands more than one that summarises text.
- You have to be able to show what you did. A completed course with a documented result is the simplest evidence.
- The prohibited practices already apply — social scoring, emotion recognition in the workplace and biometric categorisation among them.
- High-risk systems require risk management, data governance, logging, human oversight and technical documentation.
Start by knowing which role you have
Provider, deployer, importer or distributor — the duties differ, and most companies are deployers without having thought about it. Buying a tool and putting it in the hands of staff is enough. The next step is knowing which systems are in use and how they should be classified.
Common questions about the AI Act
What comes up most when AI use has to be written down.
- Do we have to train our staff in AI?
- Yes, if you develop or use AI systems in your business. Article 4 puts the duty on the employer to ensure staff have sufficient AI literacy, and it has applied since 2 February 2025.
- We only use ordinary AI tools. Does that count?
- Yes. The regulation does not distinguish between built and bought. If you use an AI system professionally you are a deployer, and the training requirement applies.
- What counts as a high-risk system?
- AI used in recruitment, credit scoring, education, critical infrastructure or law enforcement, and AI that is a safety component in a product already covered by EU rules — a machine, for instance.
- What does ignoring it cost?
- Penalties scale with the breach, and the top level reaches EUR 35 million or 7% of global annual turnover for prohibited practices. Supervision and enforcement have been in place since August 2026.
Document AI literacy once, for the whole company
An online course with a test and a course certificate gives you both the competence and the proof that the requirement is met.
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