AI Regulation (EU) – National Implementation

Obligation to Train Employees on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

As part of the European AI Regulation ((EU) 2024/1689) that came into effect in August 2024, the EU requires companies from February 2, 2025, to train their employees who work with AI about the opportunities and risks associated with AI use, as well as potential damages, thus ensuring they have the required “AI competence” for safe and responsible work with AI.
Article 4 of the European AI Regulation states regarding “AI competence”:

“Providers and operators of AI systems shall take measures to ensure, to the best of their ability, that their personnel and other persons involved in the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf have a sufficient level of AI competence, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training, and the context in which the AI systems are to be deployed, as well as the individuals or groups of individuals for whom the AI systems are intended to be used.”
The European AI Regulation, and thus the obligation, applies in principle to all operators or providers of AI systems or AI models with general purpose.
Artificial intelligence can manifest itself in many different forms in everyday work.
For example, AI can be used to create texts, images, or program codes. AI can also analyze data and comments, or be used as a tool for customer service as a solution-oriented automated knowledge database.
The national implementation in Germany is currently not yet regulated; this must be completed by August 2, 2025 at the latest. The Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) is expected to act as the national supervisory authority.
Suitable training materials still need to be developed to convey the technical, legal, and ethical topics related to the use of AI. According to the current state of implementation of the regulation, self-study materials are not considered sufficient.
The EU is currently working on guidelines to help companies implement the requirements of the regulation. In addition to AI guidelines for companies, the EU is discussing structured training, the appointment of an AI officer or AI working groups that should monitor the implementation as well as the documentation and reporting process in the company.
The Federal Network Agency does not yet have any concrete data on the implementation in German companies. Therefore, implementation is initially carried out within the framework of corporate due diligence: If a damaging event occurs after February 2, 2025, it must be examined whether timely and comprehensive training could have prevented the damage.
The Federal Network Agency provides assistance for implementing the AI Regulation in Germany under the following link. These are continuously supplemented by further EU requirements:
• The Federal Network Agency’s contact point database can help in searching for support
The DIHK (German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) as well as various associations (e.g., Bitkom) also provide support.
As soon as there are new developments on this topic, we will update our information above.