While the United States has largely pursued AI development with minimal regulatory supervision, Europe has followed a significantly different approach. The Data Protection Act, the GDPR and the latest AI law, which are closer with the laws and unions of local workers – have set the continent to a separate path.
A current joint study from the International work organization (Ilo) and Poland's National Research Institute (NASK) found that Europe – together with Asia – has exceeded the list of the most exposed regions to AI and surpassed far beyond America. With studies that determine the One of four jobs have the risk of being exposed to a region from AI worldwide worldwide – a region that has a significant object Lack of specialists – has become an urgent concern.
“In many ways, it is too early to say where the AI wave will lead us – we have only seen a fraction of your previous skills, which is exciting and terrifying.” Adam MaurerCOO AT Connecting softwareA technology company that works throughout Europe told TNW.
In recent years, Big Tech companies have often carried out mass decisions that have been driven by sales problems and the conviction that AI can take over many of the functions of employees from entry to the middle level, said Maurer.
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Some of these AI-controlled layoffs have effectively aligned themselves with low actors, but other initiatives were problematic. In Klarna, for example, they had the effects on business.
Klarna, a Swedish FinTech company, who released 700 workers and replaced by AI, recently announced that it would reset people again. The company's CEO admitted to having made one “Mistake”When replacing workers with AI.
“It is very clear that AI will definitely replace some jobs,” said Maurer. “On the other side of the medal, I think that some other jobs will make it much more valuable.”
In the EU, the work laws and regulations will influence the effects on jobs. Tech managers believe that they could lead to a KI future that benefits both employees and companies.
The conversation among managers
Maurer said that the EU could give an anticipation of entering and regulating the job shift. However, he argued that growth would stagnate and stop startups from doing business in the union.
But not every managing director agrees. Shifting will happen, but not because of AI, said, said Volodymyr KubytskyiHead of the AI at MacpawA Ukrainian software company that develops solutions for Apple devices.
“Ai disturbs traditional logic and work processes,” Kubytskyi told TNW. “The real question is:” Can we redesign work processes before this outdated system collapses? “To prevent the system from collapsing, the managers have to stop the AI to consider AI as a fast or cost -saving tool, he said.
Kubytskyi argued that the AI law was necessary to determine a basis for the industry, but it is not a potential disorder of jobs, which is a gap in the regulatory landscape.
“To take this into account, the AI law should be updated, but it is unlikely that this will happen soon,” he said.
Roman EloshviliFounder of ConsplycontrolA British compliance company, said TNW, said TNW That the AI Act aims to ensure security, transparency and ethics that does not match socio -economic effects, especially on jobs. “So changes are necessary,” he said.
“I assume that some of them over time, such as mandates for upskilling or protection for displaced persons, seem to be more effective to deal with the effects on the forms of work.”
Is the AI law outdated or even counterproductive, especially if its strict compliance with mechanisms reinforce the inequalities when accessing AI advantages? Or is it too early to change the law?
Kris JonesWho heads the engineering team in Belfast for Iverify believes that it is too early to make changes. He said that the risk -based frame of the AI Act already causes a sensitive balance between the protection of fundamental rights and the relevant innovative space to breathe.
The change in the regulation is not the only political idea that is discussed among managers. Jones said TNW that the Member States have other levers they have to pull. “An idea that floats around is a Ki -token tax,” he said.
A token tax would enable governments to achieve income from the use of AI that generates income. These funds would then be redistributed by measures such as Reskilling programs or support from the industries concerned.
Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, recently Axios said That the concept lost the inevitable triggering of millions of entry class against AI.
“Measurements like this can pillow every job shock without putting a cover cover on innovation,” said Amodei.
Are clashes with European labor and unions inevitable?
European labor and union authorities were often ignored in the debate about the shift in AI workplaces. However, many of them have already made official statements that express concerns about the AI.
Before the Paris Ai summit in February 2025, the ETUC, which represents over 45 million European workers open letter About the dangers of AI. It warned that all efforts to ensure the AI are “positive effects on employees on the labor markets, high -quality jobs and society if the AI is monopolized by a handful of technology companies”.
Last August, Great Britain unionsIncluding Accord and Unite, had requested regulations to protect workers from AI. They also proposed Reskilling programs for employees, reminded companies of their transparency obligations and emphasized the need for union consultations. They said they intended to protect the rights of employees from hiring and dismissing AI -controlled AI and to defend the IP rights for creative specialists.
We asked Tech companies whether they expect companies to face challenges with the work laws and unions in Europe.
“Undoubtedly,” said Eloshvili from Complycontrol. “European, robust employee protection and active unions provide both protection and a challenge for AI integration.”
The unions will require the transparency and participation of employees in the KI provision, since automation threatens certain jobs, he said. “Companies that try to force AI solutions without dialogue definitely risk conflicts and counter -reactions.”
Despite the challenges, Eloshvili said it was not a game with zero sums. “When companies and unions work together – for example under joint upsky initiatives – AI can become an effective instrument to improve working conditions,” he said.
Kubytskyi from MacPaw agreed that there were challenges on this front and that organizations described the setback of unions and workers as “understandable”.
“Clarity, structure and communication are of crucial importance,” he said. “If you reintegrate [AI] Agents in existing workflows without involving people, they will receive a setback and for a good reason. “
Kubytskyi also believes that conflicts can be avoided. “To prevent this, we have to show people what AI is doing, which guardrails are available and why the team benefits.”
Jorge Rieto, the CEO of Big Data and Ai Consultancy Dataco, agrees. “The most effective AI deployments are strategic, ”he said, adding that a careful analysis is necessary to decrypt which work tasks should be unloaded on AI.
Turn the script over to develop the “European Way”
Jones von Iverify said that regulations, unions and employee rights in Europe are not necessarily an obstacle and could actually be advantageous.
He believes that companies should embed responsible AI, biasing tests, explanation and human supervisory loops in every product cycle. In this way you can transform the AI law from a compliance hurdle into a market difference, explained Jones.
“Europe cannot expose the AI wave, the Bay Area now finds about half of the world's unicorns and protrudes 80% of the Genai financing, while a large part of the European workforce age and a quarter of young Europeans cannot find work,” said Jones.
Europe is not only faced with the competition of the usual suspects – Asia and the USA – but also from Latin America, in which strong investments in technology are underway.
Mahesh Raja, CEO of Ness Digital Engineering, who operates innovation centers in Great Britain and the Czech Republic, emphasized how this lack of similar investments violated the business. “Fifty percent From small and medium-sized companies, the initial costs of AI implementation found much higher than expected. We have to deal with the adoption problems that result from the IT infrastructures of the legacy and improve the collective time-to-value value added for it, ”he said.
However, the strict regulations of Europe can become a premium brand for banks, health techs and every sector that appreciates trust and data protection.
“Europe shouldn't simply photocopate the Silicon Valley,” said Jones. He believes that the strengths of the continent are in a combination of factors, including upsky and stem maps per capita. The data protection and secure AI leadership defined in the regulation can strengthen the package.
“Overall, Europe should urge AI Augmentation and the establishment of skills hard, or we will continue to fall back,” said Jones. “But do it in Europe and use our ethical government, our deep industrial know-how and cross-border talent pipelines instead of importing the flash and break culture of the valley.”
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