AI literacy – European Commission publishes FAQ

The European Commission has published a Questions & Answers web-page about AI literacy under Article 4 of the AI Act (here).

Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires:

Providers and deployers of AI systems shall take measures to ensure, to their best extent, a sufficient level of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context the AI systems are to be used in, and considering the persons or groups of persons on whom the AI systems are to be used.

The FAQ includes information on:

• defining AI literacy, including who is in scope (TLDR: 'persons broadly under the organisational remit. It could be, for example, a contractor, a service provider, a client'), and whether there is an obligation to measure the level of knowledge of employees (TLDR: no, although this may be useful);
• compliance with Article 4, including how to gauge a ‘sufficient level of AI literacy’ and implement AI literacy;
• enforcement of Article 4, including that ‘The supervision and enforcement rules apply from 3 August 2026 onwards’ under the remit of national market surveillance authorities (not the AI Office), and that Article 4 applies to those operating outside of the EU who place an AI system on the market ('The AI Act’s legal framework applies to both public and private actors inside and outside the EU as long as the AI system is placed on the Union market, used in the Union or its use has an impact on people located in the EU. This is also valid for Article 4 of the AI Act').
• the AI Office's approach to AI literacy.

The FAQ also signposts to other useful resources, including the EU's living repository of AI literacy practices (see our summary here).

If you would like to discuss how current or future regulations impact what you do with AI, please contact Tom Whittaker, Brian Wong, Lucy Pegler, Martin Cook, Liz Smith or any other member in our Technology team.  For the latest on AI law and regulation, see our blog and newsletter.