How AI Literacy Drives Strategic Value and Safeguards Your Organisation

By Anny Ho

AI literacy —the understanding of AI's capabilities, limits, risks, and responsible use— is rapidly becoming the new digital fluency for organisations and professionals. Without an AI-literate workforce, your AI strategy will significantly increase operational, legal, and reputational risk. AI is not a passing trend; it is a paradigm shift comparable to the Internet and smartphones. This article explains why AI literacy matters and provides practical steps to design and implement AI literacy effectively within your organisation.

This article is written by Anny Ho. Anny  is an expert lawyer specializing in artificial intelligence, data protection, and privacy across global industries. She works at an innovative electric automotive company where she leads European data protection and global AI governance. In addition, Anny is a Board Member of the Data Protection Chapter at the Dutch Association of Company Lawyers.

---

How AI Literacy Drives Strategic Value and Safeguards Your Organisation

AI literacy —the understanding of AI's capabilities, limits, risks, and responsible use— is rapidly becoming the new digital fluency for organisations and professionals. Without an AI-literate workforce, your AI strategy will significantly increase operational, legal, and reputational risk. AI is not a passing trend; it is a paradigm shift comparable to the Internet and smartphones. This article explains why AI literacy matters and provides practical steps to design and implement AI literacy effectively within your organisation.

 1. Why AI Literacy Matters for Organisations

1.1 Strategic and Operational Value

Organisations invest heavily in AI, but one of the most critical success factors is building AI literacy across their workforce. This makes AI literacy a baseline for integrating technology into business strategies and workflows. AI-literate workforces use AI more efficiently and safely, understanding where automation genuinely adds value and where human judgment must prevail. They recognise limitations, errors (including hallucinations in generative tools), and bias, reducing flawed decisions dressed as automation. Shared literacy fosters collaboration so business, legal, compliance and technical teams can co-create realistic use cases and safeguards. Even the most advanced systems only deliver value when people can frame the right questions (defining the right problem and input data), interpret outputs (understanding what the system can and cannot say), and intervene to override, adjust, or stop the system when something looks wrong or context changes.

1.2 Workforce Empowerment and Talent Strategy

Thoughtful AI literacy training reduces fear by demystifying AI and framing it as a tool that augments expertise rather than replaces it. When people understand what AI can and cannot do, they are more willing to experiment responsibly and escalate concerns early. Investing in AI skills signals a commitment to long term employability and responsible innovation, strengthening employer branding and attracting talent that wants to work with AI in an ethical, well governed environment.

 2. Legal and Policy Context: AI Literacy Under the EU AI Act

The EU AI Act (Article 4) currently imposes a direct obligation on providers and deployers of AI systems to take measures to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy for staff operating AI systems. The recently published European Commission’s Digital Omnibus package proposes to amend this by shifting from a direct obligation on providers and deployers to an obligation on the Commission and Member States to encourage organisations to ensure AI literacy. This proposal is not yet in force and may evolve, but the direction is clear: AI literacy is expected, even if the legal framing changes. Many global companies are not waiting; they have introduced AI literacy initiatives because they see them as a strategic business advantage that underpins innovation, risk management, and workforce readiness.

3. How to Design an Effective AI Literacy Programme

3.1 Securing Senior Leadership Buy-In

Securing senior leadership buy‑in is the first critical step, because without visible sponsorship AI literacy will be perceived as optional “extra training” rather than a core part of how the organisation operates. Executive support unlocks budget, prioritisation, and clear messaging, signalling that AI literacy is directly tied to strategy, risk management, and workforce development.

3.2 Define the “Why” and Align with Organisational Strategy

Clarify objectives: risk mitigation, innovation, employee enablement, regulatory readiness. Map the programme to your AI roadmap, risk appetite, and sector constraints for real use cases. Align messaging with responsible AI principles and data protection; positioning literacy as an enabler of safe innovation.

3.3 Segment the Programme: General, Role-Based, System-Specific

Design at least three layers:

• General AI literacy: Core concepts, risks, responsible use, data protection in AI contexts.

• Role-based training: Tailored content for leaders, business/product teams, technical teams, risk/legal/compliance/data protection professionals, and support functions such as HR and procurement.

• System-specific training: Hands-on guidance for AI systems used in the organisation, especially high risk or sensitive use cases, focusing on usage, when to escalate, and red flags.

  
  

  3.4 Collaborate with HR and L&D

• Embed AI literacy into existing learning ecosystems rather than treating it as a standalone project. Co-design with HR and Learning & Development to leverage learning expertise and existing platforms.

• Decide what to build in-house and what to source externally. External content gives speed to market and benchmarked, cross-industry quality, while internal content offers precise alignment with your tools and policies and is more cost‑effective over time.

  
  

 3.5 Make It Auditable and Measurable

• Design the programme with auditability in mind. Define upfront which evidence you may need: completion records, assessments, policy updates, and leadership communications.

• ·Set metrics such as completion rates, knowledge check scores, and feedback from participants and managers. Review regularly for new use cases, laws, incidents.

4. How to Roll Out AI Literacy Effectively

4.1 Equipping Leaders to Champion AI Literacy

• Pre brief senior leaders on why AI literacy matters, how it links to strategy and risk, and what will be expected of teams. Provide talking points and FAQs so they can cascade consistent messages.

• Encourage leaders to participate visibly—by completing the training themselves, sponsoring sessions, or speaking about AI literacy at town halls—to signal that this is core to how the organisation operates.

  
  

4.2 Communicating with and Engaging the Workforce

• Frame AI literacy as an opportunity to gain valuable skills and shape how AI is used in the organisation. Explain clearly why the training is happening now, what is in it for employees, and how it connects to their roles.

• Use engagement tactics to move beyond box ticking. Simple gamification—badges, leaderboards, or challenges tied to real use cases—can boost participation. Even modest elements can help embed AI literacy as an ongoing practice rather than a one-off exercise.

Takeaway

Without AI literacy, even well-designed AI strategies underperform or fail, exposing organisations to operational, legal, and reputational risk. AI literate teams turn AI investments into productivity gains and better decisions, instead of shelfware. AI literacy multiplies strategic value (by enabling targeted and effective AI initiatives), operational value (by improving productivity and risk control), and workforce value (by boosting confidence, employability, and engagement). The practical steps in this guide give you a concrete roadmap: use them to turn AI literacy from a policy aspiration into a capability your organisation can rely on.

  _____________________________________________________________

Collaborate with us!

As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read our blog post.

If you have news relevant to our global WAI community or expertise in AI and law, we invite you to contribute to the WAI Legal Insights Blog. To explore this opportunity, please contact WAI editors Silvia A. Carretta, WAI Chief Legal Officer (via LinkedIn or silvia@womeninai.co), or Dina Blikshteyn,  (dina@womeninai.co).

Silvia A. Carretta and Dina Blikshteyn

- Editors