In a context where technology is advancing rapidly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the global work landscape, driving profound changes and opening up horizons that were previously unimaginable.
The law is therefore called, once again, to regulate new scenarios that do not conform to traditional legal paradigms. The first step in this direction comes from the European Union. In fact, the European Parliament’s website states that “as part of its digital strategy, the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology”. Thus, on 9 December 2023, the Commission, the Council and the Parliament reached a political agreement on the content of the AI Act – proposed by the Commission in 2021 – the final text of which is currently being finalised.
The European legislature’s priority is to ensure that the AI systems used are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.
There is therefore a growing awareness, also at a regulatory level, that AI (i) is the engine of a change that raises ethical, social and legal questions around its use and its consequences and (ii) represents one of the most important and complex challenges facing companies.
It is on this last aspect that organisations need to prepare themselves to overcome the profound transformation that, more or less silently, is underway in the world of work.
Taking advantage of a technology that autonomously collects information, processes it, draws conclusions from it or makes decisions, contributes to the speed with which services can be carried out, improves operational efficiency and reduces the scope for error in routine activities. It also impacts the personnel needs of a business and may also affect the measurement of the performance of a human resource.
While this represents a great opportunity to make business processes faster, more reliable and more cost-effective, there are also several issues lurking under the surface. From an employment law point of view these include (i) bias and (ii) the risk of intensive employer control.
The technology, although artificially intelligent, is programmed by humans and as such can therefore be affected by the bias of their programmers, reflecting and amplifying any errors present in the processed information.
As we know generative AI is programmed to learn and (self-)train itself to improve over time, and this is also based on the information that is provided to it. The risk of biasreplication is therefore very high.
In addition, AI provides and processes an unimaginable amount of data and can also directly or indirectly enable intensive remote control of employees.
That said, in the Italian legal system, remote control is regulated in detail and allowed only in the manner and in the presence of stringent conditions provided for by law, including full compliance with the provisions on data protection. This is a matter that plays an obviously fundamental role when it comes to AI.
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