Knowledge base
AI literacy certificate: is it enough as evidence?
By Bob Biesemans · published on
Many providers sell an AI literacy certificate. What does such a certificate actually prove for Article 4 of the AI Act, and what should an SME record instead?
Short answer
There is no legal AI literacy certificate. A certificate shows that someone completed a course, not that they use AI safely at work. Stronger evidence for Article 4 is a measurement with tasks from real work, a targeted lesson and a second measurement that shows what changed.
There is no legal certificate
The AI Act has no official AI literacy certificate and no approved course you must take. Article 4 asks organisations to take measures to improve their staff's AI literacy, suited to what people do and know. Since the Digital Omnibus, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, the text states expressly that no specific level per person has to be guaranteed.
A certificate from a training provider therefore shows that someone completed a module. It is not a government seal and it doesn't say whether that person uses AI safely at work.
What a certificate shows and what it doesn't
It shows who took which course, when, and that a knowledge quiz was passed. Useful for your register.
It doesn't show whether an employee checks an AI answer before sending it on, whether they know which customer data doesn't belong in a chatbot, or whether anything changed after the course. That is exactly where mistakes at work happen.
Stronger evidence: measure, learn, measure again
To show that your measures work, record three things: a first measurement with tasks from real work, the targeted lesson or course that followed, and a second measurement with different tasks at the same level. The difference between the two is concrete evidence that the measure did something.
A certificate can sit alongside that. It carries more weight next to a measurement than in place of one.
What goes in your record
Which AI tools are in use and for which tasks. Per department: the measurement, the course or lesson, the date and the retest. The rules on data and checking. Who is responsible and when you repeat it. The free record template helps you keep this on one page. General information, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI literacy certificate mandatory?
No. The AI Act asks for AI literacy measures, not a certificate or a specific course. Since the Digital Omnibus, no specific level per person has to be guaranteed either.
So is a certificate worthless?
It is useful in your register as evidence that training took place. It carries more weight next to a measurement that shows what staff do in practice.
What best shows that my measures work?
A before-and-after measurement with tasks from real work, targeted training in between, all dated in one record.