Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0003-1050-853X

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-16-2026

Abstract

This paper argues that current debates on artificial intelligence and algorithmic management at work are also debates about private power, managerial prerogative, and democracy. It situates recent attacks by major technology companies and their political allies on the European Union and other rule-based international institutions within a broader struggle over who should regulate technology and govern society. It contends that the anti-democratic turn of parts of the tech world is closely connected to authoritarian ideas about work, hierarchy, and obedience. The workplace is one of the principal sites where authority is exercised, surveillance normalised, and habits of subordination formed, with consequences that extend beyond employment relations into democratic life more broadly. Against this background, the paper examines how AI and algorithmic management intensify employer power through pervasive monitoring, automated evaluation, predictive analytics, and data-driven discipline. It argues that existing legal frameworks, especially data protection law, remain insufficient unless infused with labour law concepts that address the structural imbalance of power at work. It therefore advocates a substantial upgrading of labour law, stronger limits on digital surveillance, and a more robust role for collective bargaining, codetermination, and worker voice in the governance of workplace technologies. It contends that labour law is one of the main ways in which the rule of law enters the workplace and workers remain citizens rather than subjects while at work. The regulation of AI at work is thus a constitutional and democratic question as much as an economic or technological one.

Comments

This is an edited and updated version of Prof. Valerio De Stefano's keynote speech delivered at the FES Future of Work and UNI Europa conference on 11 December 2025 and entitled “The Future of Quality Jobs and Workplace AI: Regulation for Innovation."

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