What is an AI literacy workshop?

Article 4 and the literacy obligation

Article 4 of the EU AI Act, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 from 27 July 2026, requires providers and deployers of AI systems to 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. It is a legal duty for Irish organisations using AI, but it does not require any specific level of AI literacy of any individual. National market surveillance authorities supervise it from 2 August 2026. The measures should be proportionate: staff who use AI tools for simple, low-risk tasks need different support from staff operating high-risk AI systems that make consequential decisions. The organisation should decide what support each role needs, provide suitable training or guidance, and keep a record of what it has done. An AI literacy workshop is an efficient way to deliver that support to a defined group; it does not on its own make an organisation compliant.

How to structure a literacy programme for different roles

A literacy programme is not one size fits all. Senior leaders and board members need literacy focused on governance, oversight, and risk — understanding what they are responsible for, what questions to ask, and how to evaluate AI proposals. Staff who use AI tools operationally need literacy focused on how the specific tools they use work, what their limitations are, what constitutes a hallucination or error, and when human verification is required. Staff who operate or oversee high-risk AI systems need more detailed literacy: understanding the EU AI Act requirements for those specific systems, the human oversight obligations, and the incident reporting procedures. A well-designed literacy programme segments the audience by role and risk level, and delivers appropriate content to each segment — rather than delivering one generic workshop to all staff.