AI Act Hub · obligations already in force
The AI-literacy obligation: the rule many companies miss
When did your business first have a duty to think about training staff who use AI? If your answer is "we do?", you are not alone.
The AI-literacy provisions began applying on 2 February 2025, alongside the first prohibited-practice rules. They are easy to overlook because they do not require a named certificate or a standard course.
What the obligation says in practice
Providers and deployers must take reasonable steps to ensure that people operating AI systems on their behalf have an appropriate level of AI literacy. The right level depends on the person’s knowledge and experience, the system and the context in which it is used.
In plain English: if your people use AI at work, they need to understand what the tools do, where they can fail and what good checking looks like.
Who this can cover
- A marketing colleague using ChatGPT for campaign copy
- A recruiter using an AI-assisted screening tool
- A support team working alongside a chatbot
- An operations manager building automations in n8n, Make or Zapier
- A freelancer or contractor operating AI on your behalf
If AI affects someone’s work, the training question may affect your business too.
What proportionate training can cover
A small business programme might cover:
- The AI tools your business actually uses
- Common failure modes, including hallucination, bias and drift
- What staff may and may not put into an AI tool
- Disclosure, labelling, human oversight and internal ownership
- What to do when an output is wrong, unsafe or harmful
The programme should match the risk and the work. A person drafting internal notes needs different guidance from someone operating an AI system that influences recruitment decisions.
The part people forget: keep a record
Training that cannot be evidenced is difficult to demonstrate later. Keep it simple:
- A dated attendance list
- The slides, recording or notes
- A short onboarding item for new starters
- A record of any role-specific follow-up
A relatively practical first fix
A recorded, role-appropriate session can give a typical SME a sensible starting point. Refresh it when the tools change, repeat it when needed and include it in onboarding.
This guide is a readiness overview, not legal advice. Where formal legal sign-off is needed, we work with partner law firms in the UK and Germany.