The EU AI Act Footnotes (2)¶
Article 4 of the EU AI Act seems deceptively simple. All it asks for is “AI literacy.” But there’s something subtle and important happening here.
Most organizations will check this box by running basic AI training. And that’s fine: track attendance, measure results, keep improving. But the real goal isn’t just teaching people what AI is. It’s teaching them how to think about AI.
The best mental model I’ve found is what I call “cautious confidence.” Use AI aggressively when it solves real problems. But maintain a permanent background mindset of skepticism. The moment you fully trust an AI system is the moment you’ve made a mistake.
This isn’t just theory. At AIAAIC we’ve documented over 1800 AI incidents. Many of which started with someone trusting AI too much. That’s also why we built our taxonomy of harms to be deeply practical, so people can identify failures before they happen.
The bureaucrats probably didn’t intend this, but Article 4 might be one of the Act’s most important contributions. Not because it mandates training, but because it forces organizations to build this way of thinking into their core culture.
PS: Random observations on AI regulation. Not legal advice.