Who taught your team to use these tools?

Article 4 of the AI Act, on AI literacy, is among the first provisions to apply, from 2 February 2025. With Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, the so-called Digital Omnibus, which entered into force on 27 July 2026, its text has been replaced.

It now says that providers and deployers take measures to support the development of AI literacy of their staff and of other persons dealing with the systems on their behalf. Taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training, the context of use and the persons on whom the systems are to be used. And it adds a clarification: the obligation does not require providers or deployers to guarantee any specific level of AI literacy of any individual.

The Commission and the Member States must support these efforts, in particular for SMEs. The Commission will publish practical examples.

Lighter, not less important

On paper, in my view, the obligation looks softer. The rule says expressly that no specific level has to be guaranteed. But reading it as permission to do nothing would be a mistake.

The risk the rule aims to reduce has not changed. A person who does not know what a tool can and cannot do trusts it when they should check. They do not spot a plausible error. They do not know whom to turn to when something does not add up.

That is why I still think of literacy as a project, not a formality. You start from what people do every day. You measure where they go wrong. You improve. A certificate says someone attended a course. It does not say they understood.