In 2013, the then Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel calmly spoke a sentence into the cameras that immediately went down in German digital history:
“The internet is uncharted territory for all of us.”
The net laughed out loud. It rained ridicule, malice, and countless memes on social media.
One person who was not laughing back then was Dr. Ralf Lauterbach.
He looked behind the media shitstorm and asked himself a much more uncomfortable, strategic question: If our Federal Chancellor still perceives the internet as uncharted territory in 2013 – how dramatic must the digital state of knowledge then be in the boards of directors and supervisory boards of German companies?
Based on this realization, he took action and laid the foundation for a movement to strengthen digital governance in medium-sized businesses and corporations.
80% of executives have no idea what AI can really do
Over a decade later, I sat down with Dr. Ralf Lauterbach and we took an honest stock of the current technological transformation of our country.
His assessment of the situation in the executive suites hit the nail on the head:
“Marcel, 80% of executives out there still have no idea today what Artificial Intelligence can really achieve.”
The parallel to 2013 is frightening: only this time, the phenomenon is no longer called the “internet.” This time, the topic is Agentic AI, automation, and generative language models.
And there is a fundamental, dangerous difference compared to back then: This time, we do not have 20 years to comfortably catch up. As we already analyzed in our reality check “Rank 50 of 50: Why Germany's AI hesitancy is costing us our prosperity”, global competition scales by the second. Those who hesitate today will simply be swept from the market tomorrow.
The hope: Supervisory boards and advisory boards are taking responsibility
What makes me extremely hopeful despite these clear numbers? A noticeable change at the top of organizations.
Numerous members of the association Deutsche Digitale Beiräte e.V. are already actively participating in our training courses at academy4.ai today. These top managers and supervisory bodies have understood one thing: AI literacy does not fall from the sky and does not come on its own.
It cannot be delegated to the IT department, and it cannot be sat out. It must be acquired actively, in a structured, and practical manner.
This is the exact crossroads of the modern economy:
Leaders who shape: They invest in their own understanding of AI in order to strategically control systems, seize opportunities, and confidently manage risks.
Leaders who are controlled: They ignore the development, remain in the observer role, and will be replaced in a few years by algorithms and AI-savvy competitors.
Conclusion: AI literacy is no longer an additional qualification
In 2026, Artificial Intelligence is not an optional IT project and not a well-intentioned seminar for human resources development. AI literacy is the new basic requirement for future-proof leadership.
Anyone who does not immediately make supervisory boards, advisory boards, and management boards AI-fit is gambling away the foundation of their own company. We must not label Artificial Intelligence in Germany as “uncharted territory” again. We must make it the standard of our leadership culture.
As we have shown in our guide on Article 4 of the EU AI Act, the continuous development of this expertise is not only economically wise, but by now also a legal obligation for every organization in the European Economic Area.
What is the status of AI literacy in the governing bodies of your company? Are you already actively shaping things – or are you still hoping that the trend will pass?
