Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to machine-based systems designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy that infer, from the input they receive, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments (AI Act, Article 3(1)). Rapid advances in AI, particularly in machine learning, large language models and generative AI, are transforming workplaces, labour markets and public services. AI is widely expected to raise productivity, but the size of these gains, how quickly they materialise and how they are shared between firms, workers and consumers remain open questions. AI can support or automate decision-making, manage work processes, analyse information, generate content and assist human workers, which raises important questions about employment, working conditions, job quality, skills, social dialogue, inequality and quality of life. Understanding both the potential benefits and risks of AI is essential for developing policies that support innovation while ensuring fair and inclusive outcomes for workers and citizens.
Find the latest content on this topic below.
IT sector in focus: Evolution of the EU’s digital workforce
The ICT sector is driving digitalisation and AI adoption across Europe, yet skilled labour shortages are holding back its growth. This report examines employment and working conditions for ICT specialists and the challenges shaping one of the EU's most critical sectors.Online platform work in the European Union: Implications for working conditions and access to information
This report analyses the working conditions and information needs of online platform workers based on a survey of 3 830 workers across 15 EU Member States. Unlike existing research focused on on-location platform work, this study examines workers who provide services entirely online. The findings reveal a workforce that is predominantly male, of prime working age and highly educated, primarily delivering skilled professional services rather than microtasks.Algorithmic management in European workplaces: Implications for work organisation and working conditions
This study presents a secondary analysis of data from Eurofound’s Seventh European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2024) that explores the prevalence of digital technologies in modern workplaces and the spread of algorithmic management practices. By linking workers’ reported exposure to computer programmes that monitor performance, allocate tasks, and schedule work with indicators of job quality, the analysis assesses how technology reshapes work. It also identifies distinct worker profiles based on patterns of digital technology use and the characteristics associated with each profile. The findings will inform policymaking aimed at promoting high-quality jobs in increasingly digital workplaces.Eurofound examines the implications of AI across its four research areas: working conditions and sustainable work, employment and labour markets, industrial relations and social dialogue, and living conditions and quality of life. Building on its long-standing work on digitalisation, automation and platform work, Eurofound research investigates how AI is transforming work, employment and society, with the aim of informing evidence-based policymaking. Ongoing work under the current programming period focuses on the impact of AI on employment productivity and wages, as well as on how AI-driven occupational change impacts on working conditions and work organisation.
Last updated: 16 September 2026
Artificial intelligence has become a major policy priority for the EU as part of the digital transition and broader efforts to strengthen competitiveness, innovation and social resilience.
The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) entered into force on 1 August 2024 as the first comprehensive legal framework on AI worldwide. Using a risk-based framework, the Act imposes stricter rules on high-risk AI systems, such as those used in recruitment, worker management and access to self-employment education and vocational training. These systems are classified as high risk because they may have an appreciable impact on workers’ career prospects and livelihoods, perpetuate patterns of discrimination and undermine rights to data protection and privacy. Deployers of high-risk AI systems at the workplace must inform workers’ representatives and affected workers before putting such systems into use. The Act seeks to ensure that AI systems on the EU market are safe, transparent, non-discriminatory and respectful of fundamental rights. The Act applies in stages: prohibitions, including a ban on emotion recognition systems at the workplace (with limited exceptions), took effect on 2 February 2025, while obligations for high-risk systems, including employment-related systems, now apply from 2 December 2027 following the 2026 Digital Omnibus on AI.
Launched in April 2025, the European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan aims to boost Europe’s global AI competitiveness by expanding AI infrastructure and data access, supporting AI adoption across sectors, developing skills and talent, and fostering human-centred innovation in technological development. It was followed in October 2025 by the Apply AI Strategy, which promotes AI adoption in strategic sectors and the public sector and includes measures to prepare the workforce for AI.
AI at work is also being addressed through EU labour law. The Platform Work Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2831), which Member States must transpose by 2 December 2026, contains the first EU rules specifically on algorithmic management, covering transparency, human oversight of automated decisions and information and consultation of workers’ representatives. The Quality Jobs Act initiative also identifies algorithmic management and AI at work among the priority areas to be addressed in a bid to improve working conditions while harnessing the efficiency gains brought by digital technologies. The proposal for a Quality Jobs Act is expected by the end of 2026.
These developments have direct implications for the world of work. As AI use intensifies in recruitment, performance management, workforce planning and workplace monitoring, policy discussions around transparency, accountability, skills development and workers’ rights have increased. AI is therefore becoming a central priority area for employment, social and industrial relations policy at both EU and national levels.
European Commission: AI Actopens in new tab
European Commission: The AI Continent Action Planopens in new tab and Apply AI Strategyopens in new tab
European Commission: Commission opens second-phase consultation on Quality Jobs Actopens in new tab
EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform workopens in new tab
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
October 2026
Algorithmic management in European workplaces: Implications for work organisation and working conditions
20 July 2026
IT sector in focus: Evolution of the EU’s digital workforce
30 April 2026
AI, algorithmic management and the transformation of society, work, and employment – exploring the concepts
27 February 2026
Who uses Generative AI? Patterns and inequalities across the EU
12 February 2026
Algorithmic control: How digital surveillance is shaping online platform work in Europe
26 September 2025
Collective bargaining on artificial intelligence at work
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Dragoș Adăscăliței
Research officerDragoș Adăscăliței is a research officer in the Employment unit at Eurofound. His current research focuses on topics related to the future of work, including the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, the consequences of automation for employment and regulatory issues surrounding platform work. He is also a regular contributor to comparative projects monitoring structural changes in European labour markets. Prior to joining Eurofound, he was a lecturer in Employment Relations at the University of Sheffield, Management School. He holds an MA in Political Science from Central European University and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Mannheim.
Marianna Baggio
Research officerMarianna Baggio is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound, working on aspects of the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), as well as on the topics of gender pay transparency and informal care. Prior to joining Eurofound, she served as a policy analyst at the Competence Centre for Behavioural Insights of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. She has worked as a postdoc at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Milan) and the University of Trento. She also brings extensive experience from a previous role as corporate social responsibility (CSR) officer in South Africa. Marianna holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Trento, specialising in behavioural economics.
Tina Weber
Senior research managerTina Weber is a senior research manager in Eurofound’s Working Life unit. Her work has focused on labour shortages, the impact of hybrid work and an ‘always on’ culture and the right to disconnect, working conditions and social protection measures for self-employed workers and the impact of the twin transitions on employment, working conditions and industrial relations. She is responsible for studies assessing the representativeness of European social partner organisations. She has also carried out research on European Works Councils and the evolution of industrial relations and social dialogue in the European Union. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2019, she worked for a private research institute primarily carrying out impact assessments and evaluations of EU labour law and labour market policies. Tina holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Edinburgh which focussed on the role of national trade unions and employers’ organisations in the European social dialogue.
Sara Riso
Senior research managerSara Riso joined Eurofound in 2006 and is currently a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. She is engaged in research projects focusing on digitalisation and working conditions. Before joining Eurofound, Sara managed research projects for large Brussels-based European associations and networks. Her academic background is in psychology, communication and languages. Her main research interest lies in exploring new workplace stressors arising from increased digitalisation of work, evolving organisational practices, and change management strategies to address the challenges posed by digitalisation in modern working environments.
This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.
