Law No. 132/2025 – aimed at ensuring transparency, fairness, and protection of workers’ dignity while promoting the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence in the workplace – establishes that both public and private employers and contractors must provide written notice to employees and to workplace union representatives (RSA/RSU, i.e. company-level trade union bodies) regarding the use of A.I. systems in processes that affect the management of the employment relationship.
The obligation applies whenever A.I. is used for activities such as – by way of example – recruitment, task assignment, performance evaluation, or termination of employment.
What companies should do to ensure compliance
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On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, the Italian Senate definitively approved the bill containing “provisions and delegations to the Government on artificial intelligence,” connected to the national budget law.
For Italy, this represents the first national legislation specifically addressing artificial intelligence.
The bill, consisting of 28 articles divided into six chapters, does not directly regulate the use of A.I., but delegates to the Government the responsibility to adopt implementing decrees for different sectors.
The key points of the new law include:
The competent national authorities are: AgID (Italian Agency for Digitalization), as the notification and regulatory authority, and the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), responsible for supervision and inspections.
The legislator identified four main sectors: healthcare, employment, public administration and justice, education and sports.
Article 11 – Provisions on the use of artificial intelligence in employment
Article 12 – Observatory on the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace
Article 13 – Provisions on intellectual professions
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now a concrete component of business processes, increasingly applied in Human Resources management. Algorithms promise efficiency and impartiality in complex tasks such as recruiting, performance evaluation, or task allocation. However, this promise comes with significant risks. Precisely because of their potential impact on fundamental rights, AI systems used in the workplace are now considered “high-risk technologies,” subject to stringent obligations regarding transparency, human oversight, and impact assessment on workers.
In this context, the “Guidelines for the use of Artificial Intelligence Systems in the workplace” recently published by the Italian Ministry of Labour offer a strategic – not legally binding – document. It represents a clear political and cultural orientation for the Italian business community, with particular attention to SMEs. The goal is twofold: to promote responsible AI adoption and ensure full protection of workers’ rights.
The guidelines are based on a clear message: AI must not become a “black box” that makes opaque and unchallengeable decisions. Even when technology is developed by third parties, ultimate responsibility always lies with the employer. Companies must move from experimental adoption to structured management in line with compliance and sustainability principles.
The four pillars of the AI guidelines
The Ministry’s document is structured around four key principles, which reinforce obligations already found in current legislation and case law, strengthening their preventive application.
1. Mandatory Human Oversight
Decisions affecting the legal status of workers—such as hiring, promotions, evaluations, disciplinary actions, or dismissals—must not rely solely on algorithmic judgment. A competent and authorized person must exercise effective, informed, and traceable human control, capable of understanding, validating, or overriding the algorithm’s recommendations and bearing full responsibility for the final decision.
2. Algorithmic transparency
Companies must clearly inform workers about the use of AI in processes that affect them. Generic communication is not enough. Workers must be told what data is processed (e.g. CVs, performance, aptitude tests), what logic and criteria the algorithm uses, and what influence it has on the outcome. The guiding principle is “intelligibility”: systems must be explainable, understandable, and contestable.
3. Impact assessment and risk mitigation
In line with the EU AI Act, the use of AI in HR is considered a high-risk activity. Therefore, employers are required to carry out a prior impact assessment, considering risks such as discrimination, privacy breaches, and data quality. The guidelines also encourage regular audits and systematic controls of algorithm performance.
4. System mapping and accountability
Organizations must know what AI systems are being used, where, for what purpose, and who is responsible. Responsibility cannot be outsourced to technology providers. Internal governance must ensure ethical and correct use of AI. Mapping systems and defining internal roles are essential to uphold the principle of accountability.
Continue reading the full version published on Econopoly de Il Sole 24 Ore.
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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Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in the recruitment phase, offering new opportunities and challenges for personnel selection processes.
The use of artificial intelligence in the preparatory phase of the employment relationship is becoming ever more important in the following activities:
– Resume screening: AI can be used to perform the initial screening of resumes received for a job position. Through machine learning and data analysis, AI can identify the skills, experience and qualifications which are relevant to the role in question, thereby reducing the time and effort required to make a manual pre-selection;
– Analysis of candidate profiles: AI can analyse candidate profiles on online platforms such as LinkedIn or recruiting websites, by extracting relevant information such as skills, work experience, certifications and other contact information. This can assist the HR functions of companies in identifying the most suitable candidates for a given role, thus speeding up the selection process;
– Initial interviews and skills assessment: some companies are experimenting with the use of chatbots or AI-based virtual assistants to conduct initial interviews with candidates These systems can ask pre-defined questions, analyse the candidates’ answers and provide a score or assessment based on the answers given. This allows the interview process to be standardised and to further filter candidates prior to the subsequent selection phases;
– Predictive analysis: AI can be used to analyse large amounts of historical data and identify patterns or trends that can help predict a candidate’s future performance. For instance, AI can identify personality traits, experiences or skills that are related to job success in certain roles or sectors. This can be used as an additional factor in assessing candidates.
The widespread perception is that such automated procedures are faster, more reliable and cheaper than ‘conventional’ selections, as they allow the candidates’ personal characteristics and aptitudes to be effectively identified by analysing a large amount of data collected during virtual interviews
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