What is an AI literacy workshop?

Article 4 and the literacy obligation

Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires deployers of AI systems to 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. This is not an aspirational statement — it is a legal obligation that applies to every Irish organisation using AI. The literacy requirement is proportionate: staff who use AI tools for simple, low-risk tasks need a different level of literacy than staff operating high-risk AI systems that make consequential decisions. The organisation must assess what literacy is required for each role, provide the appropriate training or workshop, and be able to demonstrate compliance. An AI literacy workshop is the most efficient way to fulfil this obligation for a defined group.

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.