Training course – EU AI Act & AI Compliance – Media & Journalism

EU AI Act & AI Compliance for Media and Journalism

Putting the EU AI Act into practice: risk categories, deployer obligations, AI literacy under Art. 4, AI policy and GDPR interfaces.

Duration
6 hours, one session
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

This course connects EU AI Act & AI Compliance with the everyday processes of Media & Journalism. Participants work on realistic scenarios and leave with prompts, workflows and checklists they can use straight away.

The EU AI Act is the first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence, and it applies not only to providers but also to organisations that use AI systems in their daily work. In this compact course you will learn how the regulation is structured: prohibited practices, high-risk systems, transparency obligations and general-purpose AI models. You will find out which role your organisation plays as a deployer, which obligations follow and how to record and classify the AI applications you use in a structured way.

The practical part turns the requirements into manageable steps. You clarify what the AI literacy obligation under Article 4 means in concrete terms, how to organise training in a verifiable way and what an internal AI policy should cover. You also examine the interfaces with the GDPR, such as legal bases, data protection impact assessments and automated decision-making. You leave with an AI inventory template, a draft policy and a clear compliance roadmap for your area of work.

Newsrooms, publishers, broadcasters and content teams are caught between economic pressure and the demands of quality journalism. Generative AI is fundamentally changing research, production and distribution. It helps reporters work through documents and datasets faster, transcribe and summarise interviews, develop headline and teaser variants, adapt stories for different channels and make archives searchable. AI agents can sort wire copy or handle monitoring tasks. At the same time, AI raises core questions: how do you safeguard accuracy, how do you make AI use transparent to your audience and how do you respect copyright? Media professionals therefore need competence in both productive use and critical verification.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Reporters and editors in print, online and broadcast
  • News desk chiefs and section editors
  • Social media and audience teams
  • Freelance journalists
  • Content and corporate publishing teams

Typical challenges we address

  • Intense time pressure alongside a growing number of channels and formats
  • Large volumes of documents, data and wire material
  • Safeguarding accuracy and credibility
  • Unresolved questions about copyright and labelling of AI content

What you will be able to do

  • You can explain how the EU AI Act is structured and assign your organisation to the correct roles.
  • You can classify the AI applications in use by risk category and maintain an AI inventory.
  • You can name the specific obligations of deployers and derive appropriate measures.
  • You can develop an AI literacy concept under Article 4 and a draft internal AI policy.
  • Use AI for research, transcription and production efficiently and faithfully to sources.
  • Check AI output systematically for accuracy and avoid typical pitfalls.
  • Apply rules on copyright, labelling and press ethics confidently when using AI.

Course outline

Module 1 Structure and logic of the EU AI Act
  • Objectives, scope and phased application of the regulation
  • Roles at a glance: provider, deployer, importer and distributor
  • The risk-based approach: prohibited practices, high risk, limited risk and minimal risk
  • Specific rules for general-purpose AI models
Module 2 Classifying risk in practice
  • Prohibited practices such as social scoring or emotion recognition in the workplace
  • High-risk areas under Annex III, including recruitment, creditworthiness and education
  • Transparency obligations for chatbots, synthetic content and deepfakes
  • Recording and classifying your own AI applications in an AI inventory
Module 3 Obligations for deployers of AI systems
  • Use in line with instructions and human oversight by competent staff
  • Input data quality, monitoring of operation and retention of logs
  • Informing employees and affected persons and reporting serious incidents
  • Fundamental rights impact assessment: when it is required and how it works
Module 4 AI literacy under Art. 4 and internal AI policy
  • What sufficient AI literacy means for different roles
  • Designing training concepts and documenting measures verifiably
  • Components of an AI policy: approved tools, data classes, approvals and labelling
  • Responsibilities, AI officers and involving the works council and IT
Module 5 GDPR interfaces and governance
  • Legal bases, purpose limitation and data minimisation when using AI
  • Data protection impact assessment and its relationship to the fundamental rights assessment
  • Automated individual decisions, data subject rights and data processing agreements
  • Compliance roadmap: priorities, ownership and regular review
Module 6 Practice lab: Media & Journalism
  • Document research
  • Transcribing and analysing interviews
  • Headlines and teasers
  • Adapting formats
  • Unlocking the archive
  • Supporting fact-checking
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Press codes and journalistic due diligence apply unchanged: AI output must be verified and AI use made transparent to the audience in line with in-house guidelines. Copyright and related rights in source material and generated content must be respected, and source protection rules out entering confidential source information into unapproved tools.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Document research

Lengthy reports, court rulings, budgets or leaked datasets are searched and summarised with AI and checked for relevant passages – every statement is then verified against the source.

Transcribing and analysing interviews

Audio and video interviews are transcribed, key statements and quotes are highlighted and sorted by topic, so stories can be written faster and quotes attributed precisely.

Headlines and teasers

For a finished story, AI generates variants for headlines, standfirsts, social posts and push alerts that match the brand's tone and from which the editors choose.

Adapting formats

An article is turned into newsletter summaries, explainers, podcast scripts or easy-read versions without changing what it says. Editors check every version for accuracy and house style before publication.

Unlocking the archive

Archive material is tagged, summarised and made searchable so that background, timelines and earlier coverage can be retrieved quickly. Dossiers on people, places and topics stay up to date with little effort.

Supporting fact-checking

AI helps identify checkable claims in texts, formulate verification questions and point out contradictions; the verification itself is done with primary sources. Due diligence becomes more systematic.

Prerequisites

No legal background is required. A basic knowledge of the GDPR and an overview of the AI applications used or planned in your area are helpful. Professional experience in journalism or editorial work; no technical background required.

Technical requirements

All you need is a laptop with an up-to-date browser and an office suite for working with templates. No special AI licences are necessary.

Data protection & compliance

Press codes and journalistic due diligence apply unchanged: AI output must be verified and AI use made transparent to the audience in line with in-house guidelines. Copyright and related rights in source material and generated content must be respected, and source protection rules out entering confidential source information into unapproved tools.

Dates & locations

For every location we suggest a date roughly four weeks ahead. Your preferred date is always possible.

  • Munich Fri, 11 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Salzburg Fri, 11 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Berlin Fri, 11 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Augsburg Tue, 15 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Hanover Thu, 10 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Bremen Thu, 10 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Stuttgart Thu, 10 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Kaiserslautern Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Online Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request

Frequently asked questions

Does the EU AI Act apply to companies that only use AI tools?

Yes. Anyone using AI systems under their own authority in a professional context is a deployer. All deployers must, in particular, ensure that their staff have sufficient AI literacy. Where high-risk systems are used, for example in recruitment, further obligations apply, such as human oversight, logging and informing the people affected.

Does this course satisfy the training obligation under Article 4?

The course covers core AI literacy content and you receive a certificate of attendance that you can add to your documentation. However, Article 4 requires measures tailored to role, prior knowledge and context of use. That is why you also learn how to set up and maintain your own AI literacy concept for your organisation.

Does the course replace legal advice?

No. The training provides practical knowledge for specialists and managers so they can interpret requirements, ask precise questions and implement first measures. For binding assessments of individual systems, especially in high-risk areas, you should involve your legal department, your data protection officer or external specialist lawyers.

Does AI-generated content need to be labelled?

That is determined by legislation, voluntary commitments and your organisation's guidelines. The EU AI Act sets transparency obligations for certain AI-generated content, and many newsrooms go further with their own policies. In the course we discuss when labelling is required and how to document editorial responsibility.

Can I use AI for fact-checking?

AI helps identify checkable claims and plan verification steps, but it is not a reliable source in itself. Language models can state false facts plausibly. Verification always relies on primary sources, documents and conversations. The course demonstrates a workflow that uses AI as an assistant without compromising rigour.

How much does “EU AI Act & AI Compliance for Media and Journalism” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 6 hours of live training with a trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. For every location we suggest a date roughly four weeks ahead. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and get back to you within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

Can the course be tailored to our team?

Yes. Tailor-made courses cost approx. €4,500 more, depending on the topic and by arrangement. We agree content, examples and exercises with you in advance.

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