Most HR and L&D teams have seen something about EU AI Act compliance by now – specifically Article 4, the AI literacy obligation that’s been in effect since February 2025 and applies to any company using AI tools. What’s less clear is what it actually requires. The regulation says staff (and that includes contractors and third parties) must have "a sufficient level of AI literacy" and largely leaves the rest to you.

The EU AI Act compliance bar for Article 4 is achievable and there’s no mandated curriculum, no certification, and no exam. The European Commission confirmed in May 2025 guidance that there’s no single right way to do it, so you have a lot of flexibility.

Most organisations though are using that flexibility as an excuse to do nothing – or to do the wrong thing. And with full EU AI Act enforcement set for August 2026, that’s about to become a much bigger problem.

We’ve gathered the five mistakes we see most often so you can avoid them (the last one will actually get you in trouble).