What does AI literacy under Article 4 of the EU AI Act require?
Article 4 requires providers and deployers to support the AI literacy of people handling AI on their behalf. The duty applies from 2 February 2025. The amended wording does not remove it.
What does Article 4 say?
Measures must account for technical knowledge, experience, education and training, the use context and the people or groups affected. That does not mean the same course for every role.
Someone reviewing drafts and someone configuring applicant screening have different tasks and risks. Establish what each person needs to understand, how they recognise a wrong result and whom they ask for help. People affected by a system form part of the context; that does not turn all of them into staff whom the business must train under Article 4.
What did the Digital Omnibus change?
Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 frames the duty as measures supporting the development of AI literacy. The original duty was already qualified, rather than an unconditional guarantee of an achieved result.
The amendment provides support from the Commission and member states, particularly for SMEs, and AI Board recommendations. Support is not a blanket small-business exemption or approval of a particular course.
The literacy start date remains 2 February 2025. Changes to specified high-risk dates do not automatically postpone this duty.
Does Article 4 have a fine amount of its own?
Article 4 is not among the provisions listed in Article 99(4). That does not establish that every literacy breach has no consequences under all applicable laws.
Separate the questions: whether a duty exists, which other breaches are found, which authority is competent and what national rules provide. The absence of a separate sum does not cancel literacy measures.
What can you do in practice?
Record the tools, the people using them and each use’s purpose. For each role, note the knowledge needed, tool limits, permitted data and the person responsible when something goes wrong. Check the record against actual work, not just a list of purchased software.
Then choose measures: instructions, task-specific training, an exercise using a wrong answer or a rule for human review. Keep a record of what happened and what remains unclear. An internal note can be part of the work; alone, it does not establish that all necessary measures are adequate.
Questions
Do we need a formal course?
Article 4 names no single required format. Measures must fit the role and context. Do not treat a short guide as automatically sufficient merely because the business is small.
Does this only affect AI providers?
No. Deployers are covered too. Using a ready-made tool does not remove the question of how staff handle it on the business’s behalf.
Is compliance worthwhile without a separate fine figure?
Yes. The duty remains. Check the consequences applicable to the case rather than equate the absence of a separate ceiling with a blanket exemption.
Sources
Related reading
Next step
Find out which roles need a measure under Article 4.
EU AI Act Readiness includes a register of tools and the people using them: a starting point for literacy measures. It is not training or a conformity certificate.
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