AI, in Genoa Fonarcom explores risks and potential in the world of work

Genoa. According to a report by the European Commission, by 2030, more than half of professions will require advanced digital skills.

A report by the World Economic Forum predicts that by the end of the decade, on the one hand, we will witness the creation of around 170 million new jobs, directly linked or sent to artificial intelligence, but on the other hand we risk witnessing the disappearance of around 92 million jobs. work.

The meeting “The ethical sanction – Transparency, risks and solutions of the new bans on AI” developed around the dichotomy between risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence in the workplace, promoted by the interprofessional fund FonARCom, this morning in Genoa, at the Magazzini del Cotone, on the occasion of the Festival del Lavoro, of which FonARCom is the main sponsor.

How to regulate artificial intelligence at work without leaving anyone behind? An essential starting point is the AI ​​Act, the new European regulation that governs the use of artificial intelligence, introducing bans for high-risk applications, transparency obligations and fines of up to 35 million euros or 7% of turnover for non-compliant companies.

One of the most significant steps is the training obligation for workers, in force from 2 February 2025, aimed at all companies that design, integrate or simply use artificial intelligence systems.

The magistrate of the Labour section of the Court of Palermo, Giuseppe Tango, underlines that “labour law is destined to pursue the organisational change which, in turn, is located downstream of technological progress.

Artificial intelligence has not constituted a deviation from this consolidated paradigm and, in a very short period of time, has established itself transversally, not only in the laboratory of digital platforms, but also in traditional classical processes”. For the magistrate, “the game to be played will be within the scope of the algocratic drift.

And, in this case, effective antidotes will certainly be a standardization, a legislative regulation already European, but now also Italian, and certainly the safeguarding of a reserve of humanity".

It is the labor lawyer Fabrizio Di Modica who recalls that "the European Community has already regulated the entire issue related to artificial intelligence with the AI ​​act, indicating the guidelines, the prohibitions, the sanctions and also some obligations related to the very important problem of literacy".

But what will happen in Italy? “The long approval process” of an Italian law is suffering from delays, the lawyer notes, due to “some terminological inconsistencies, but also other problems related to the excessive weight that this bill would have on some types of professions that are very important, such as health professions, intellectual professions, justice. Finally, other problems related to some governance authorities”.

If the terminological problems seem to have been overcome, the same cannot be said for the others. "The new that chases the new already has serious problems linked to the fact that technology moves much more quickly than the regulatory process - Di Modica points out - but today we encounter the further problem, perhaps the most burdensome, of the need to adapt to some guidelines, the solution of which to date does not seem certain. There is talk of an evolution of the text for June 5: let's see what will happen".

More confident is the president of the Order of Labor Consultants of Palermo, Antonino Alessi. “We have European legislation that sometimes has difficulty harmonizing with local legislation,” he admits, “but we already have the tools to manage artificial intelligence.

It is enough to borrow some rules - I am thinking of 81/08 for the safety of work environments - and adapt them to the safety of virtual environments where artificial intelligence operates". In short, adds Alessi, "there is already in our past a tool that we simply have to adapt and use to manage virtual environments and those linked to artificial intelligence in safety".

It is also a way to tell the world of work that there is no need to be too scared by the full-throttle entry of artificial intelligence into the world of work. “There is no need to demonize the tools that are made available to us by a future that is now present,” concludes Alessi, “let’s not worry too much: these can be additional opportunities for professionals who want to specialize in the management of virtual security and artificial intelligence, with paths already partly traced that we simply have to adapt.”