AI literacy in healthcare organisations: implementing article 4 of the EU AI Act with M-SHALF

Abstract Article 4 of the EU AI Act mandates a ‘sufficient level of AI literacy’. We propose the Modular & Stratified Healthcare AI Literacy Framework (M-SHALF) to address role-specific knowledge needs across clinical, administrative, and technical domains. Framing literacy as governance infrastructure, we argue for a systemic approach to AI readiness that ensures ethical, compliant, and inclusive integration of AI in healthcare.