AI literacy (EU AI Act)

Article 4 of the EU AI Act, as amended in 2026, reads in part: "Providers and deployers of AI systems shall take measures to support the development of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf". The amended text takes account of the persons' technical knowledge, experience, education and training, and of the context in which the systems are used. It then states that the duty does not oblige providers or deployers to ensure a specific level of AI literacy for any individual.

The duty is to support literacy, not to certify individuals. The organisation shows that it took measures, and the measures should fit the people and the use.

In practice

For an agent, the measures are a short training for the people who operate and oversee it, and a plain explanation of what it does, what it cannot do, and how to stop it. The training is recorded, and it is repeated when the agent or its use changes.

A useful test is whether an operator could explain to an auditor what the agent is for, when a person must step in, and who owns it.

Example

[Composite] An operations team began using an agent to triage tickets. The builder ran a one-hour session covering the agent's scope, the approval step and the stop control, and kept the attendance list and the slides. When the agent's scope later widened, a second session was held and recorded.

Common mistakes

• Treating the duty as a one-off course with no record.
• Training people on the tool but not on its limits.
• Quoting the original 2024 wording, which the 2026 amendment replaced.