Mintra has launched two online training courses designed to help organisations prepare for EU AI Act obligations, with a particular focus on maritime and offshore operations.
The digital learning company said the courses were developed with Nordic law firm Schjødt and are intended to build awareness of the EU’s risk based AI regime before key requirements take effect from 1 August 2026.
The first course, MGM-236 Introduction to the EU AI Act, is a 25-minute module aimed at people using AI tools in the workplace across sectors. It covers risk classifications, prohibited practices, and responsibilities linked to high risk AI systems. The second, MGM-237 EU AI Act for Maritime and Offshore Personnel, is a 30-minute course focused on how the law applies to navigation, maintenance, operational planning, human oversight, and safety critical decision making.
“Our collaboration on the AI Awareness course has underscored the vital importance of understanding the EU AI Act, especially within the maritime industry,” said Luca Tosoni of Schjødt. “As AI technologies rapidly transform maritime operations, this course empowers organisations to stay ahead of regulatory requirements and innovate in a manner that is responsible and forward-thinking.”
Jessica Suessmilch, senior vice president at Mintra, said: “Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform maritime and offshore operations, improving efficiency, supporting better decision-making and helping people work more safely. These courses give organisations and their crews the knowledge they need to adopt AI safely and effectively, while maintaining trust, accountability, operational safety and compliance.”
The launch reflects the increasing operational weight of AI compliance. Companies that have spent the past two years experimenting with generative tools are now having to formalise governance, training, accountability, and evidence of control. The EU AI Act accelerates that process by linking different levels of AI risk to specific duties.
Maritime and offshore industries are particularly exposed because AI tools are increasingly relevant to maintenance scheduling, voyage planning, risk monitoring, crew support, and operational decisions. These are environments where failure can affect safety, assets, environmental exposure, and regulatory compliance, making human oversight central to adoption.
The training challenge sits alongside a wider problem of uneven AI use. Official data has shown that AI adoption remains shallow across many workplaces, with a large number of organisations using the technology lightly rather than redesigning processes around it. Workplace learning is also changing, as employees increasingly use AI tools for guidance while informal support between colleagues comes under pressure.
Those patterns make structured training more important. The risk is not only misuse of tools. It is uneven adoption, weak accountability, overreliance on automated outputs, and uncertainty over who owns decisions when AI supports a workflow.
The EU AI Act creates a sharper distinction between low risk experimentation and high risk deployment. In shipping, offshore energy, logistics, and safety critical maintenance, that distinction may influence procurement, training records, incident response, vendor assessment, and management oversight. AI tools that influence operational planning or safety related decisions will attract closer scrutiny than general productivity software.
Training providers are responding to a market that is becoming more role specific. Generic AI literacy modules may help employees understand basic concepts, but regulated sectors need material tied to real workflows, human review, documentation, escalation, and the limits of automated support. A deck officer, maintenance supervisor, crewing manager, and compliance lead may each need a different understanding of the same legal framework.
The deadline also creates practical pressure. Governance systems often lag behind tool adoption, especially when employees begin using AI informally before formal approval processes are in place. Retrofitting policies after habits have formed is harder than setting expectations at the start, particularly in distributed workforces and high risk operating environments.
Mintra’s maritime focus shows how the AI Act is beginning to affect day to day operations rather than remaining a legal department issue. Policies and supplier contracts will remain important, but compliance will depend heavily on whether employees understand when to rely on AI, when to challenge it, and when human judgement must remain in control.
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