The impact of AI on job quality: need for enlarged regulatory scope?

Regulating AI is high on the European policy agenda. The proposed AI Act classifies the application of AI in employment and management as a high-risk area, due to their potential impact on “career prospects and livelihoods of workers” by “perpetuating historical patterns of discrimination”. However, recent expositions of algorithmic management in warehouses and online platforms show that concerns about AI in the workplace should extend beyond career prospects and livelihoods into job quality and worker wellbeing. In this paper, we review the existing evidence on AI’s potential effects – both positive and negative – on current job quality trends, using Eurofound’s seven-dimensional job quality framework.