HIPE Project Policy Brief: Emotionally Intelligent AI in the Workplace – Risks, Benefits, Accountability

AI-enabled or automated systems in the working environment are not a novelty. They assist HR departments in choosing the best candidates or help allocating tasks and workforce efficiently or evaluate the employees’ performances. Despite the potential in those technologies to increase the level of safety, and possibly also wellbeing, in the workplace, they also present risks to privacy and other protected interests of the employee. This triggers the question to what extent employers can implement these technologies – legally but also ethically.

In this policy brief, the authors address existing and forthcoming regulation, particularly the AI Act, with regard to emotion recognition and the collection and processing of sensitive personal data. As will be presented, the current legislative approach in Europe is restrictive and does not leave much leeway for employers for the implementation of these technologies, except for safety and medical improvements. A short overview of the current regulatory approach to these technologies will be provided, both at the EU level and in Finnish national law. The latter will be particularly relevant for Finnish companies that aim to use emotional AI systems. After that, this policy brief elaborates on recommendations for policy options to ensure that employers can still implement them within legal – and ethical - boundaries. To this end, the authors propose measures to facilitate responsible use and development of emotional AI.