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In Brief
24. Jul 2025

Artificial intelligence - Mandatory training for employees at companies that use AI

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With the coming into force of the new EU Regulation on artificial intelligence (AI Act), in February 2025, companies and organisations are now obliged to ensure that their employees have AI literacy. This obligation applies irrespective of company size or sector and affects both developers as well as users of AI systems.

The wording of Article 4 AI Act sets out wide-ranging obligations: “Providers and deployers of AI systems shall 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, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context the AI systems are to be used in, and considering the persons or groups of persons on whom the AI systems are to be used.”

The Regulation does not specify how exactly the training measures need to be implemented. As yet there are no binding guidelines regarding the content or format. Initial guidance on implementation is only expected in August 2025. Companies thus, now already, have a duty to design and implement appropriate training measures by themselves.

Recommendation

Since the use of AI in companies can assume very different forms, - for example, in the form of automated application processes, AI-assisted production control, chatbots in customer service, Microsoft Copilot at the workplace or for access to specialised legal or technical databases - as a first step, it would be advisable to carry out a systematic review of all the AI applications in the company. On the basis of this, it would be possible to develop a needs-driven training concept.