AI POLICY LAB

The rapid evolution of new technologies in recent years, particularly generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), is creating both new opportunities and challenges in labour markets around the world. Overall, the ILO estimates that, while one in four workers across the world are in an occupation with some degree of GenAI exposure, most jobs will be transformed rather than made redundant, though the impact varies by occupation, sector and level of country’s development. In high-income countries, 34% of jobs fall into exposed occupations, compared to just 11% in low-income countries. At the same time, AI is already impacting the workplace in other ways, including through changes to work processes, job quality and autonomy. These effects highlight the need for agile, updated policy responses grounded in social dialogue.

Despite increasingly rich analysis that highlights potential impacts, considerable uncertainty remains surrounding whether and under what conditions AI will drive productivity and changes in the labour market. The pace and scale of AI adoption is uneven across countries and sectors, depending not only on technological readiness but also on enabling policy environments, institutional capacity and social dialogue mechanisms. Analysis on AI has largely been confined to advanced economies, leaving fewer concrete insights for low- and middle-income countries. While a digital divide acts as a barrier to the development and deployment of AI, many developing countries are exploring ways to support use cases within government, along with initiatives to promote new technologies for private sector development and entrepreneurship. In these contexts, particularly for MSMEs, access to skills, infrastructure, finance and regulatory clarity are critical determinants of whether AI adoption translates into productivity gains, decent job creation and business growth.

Given the fast-paced change, there is a strong demand for learning from these efforts to understand the impact of AI on the world of work and how countries are responding through policies and regulations. Social dialogue is already playing a crucial role in driving discussions on AI and the world of work, though many partners continue to face capacity constraints.

The AI Policy Lab responds to this need and constitutes a key contribution to the Global Coalition for Social Justice, a ground-breaking initiative aimed at intensifying collective efforts to address social justice deficits and accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Decent Work Agenda. The Lab is delivered under the Coalition’s key intervention on AI for social impact, which seeks to promote a human-centred approach to AI by supporting governments and employer and worker organizations, together with multilateral organizations and other relevant stakeholders. Through strengthened partnerships, enhanced knowledge and capacities, and support for the implementation of relevant actions, the intervention aims to underpin policy and regulatory responses at national and global levels that promote decent work opportunities and address AI-related challenges in line with empirical evidence, international labour standards and social dialogue.

Hosted by the ITCILO and co-organised with ILO specialists and the Politecnico di Torino, the AI Policy Lab offers an immersive, forward-looking space where participants, including ILO constituents, can collectively explore the impact of AI on labour markets and application of AI use cases to the world of work. Through scenario-building, foresight tools and participatory co-design, participants will explore employment-related transformations and policy responses suited to their own contexts.

The Lab aims not only to build technical insight and strategic capacity, but also to promote trust, dialogue, and convergence—essential ingredients for delivering on the AI for social impact key intervention under the ILO’s Global Coalition for Social Justice, which brings partners together to shape fair and inclusive transitions in the age of AI.

The AI Policy Lab brings together participants engaged in shaping policy and institutional responses to digital transformation in the world of work, including representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations from ILO member States. Participants may include officials from ministries of labour, employment, digital affairs or planning; representatives of trade unions and employers’ associations; and technical experts involved in national policy design, digital governance or labour market regulation.

The Lab is particularly suited to those seeking to deepen their understanding of AI’s implications for the world of work, exchange experiences across countries and co-develop forward-looking policy ideas grounded in social dialogue and decent work principles.

It will move progressively toward developing practical and context-sensitive approaches to AI policies in the world of work, with a core focus on employment-related challenges and opportunities. Across the three modules, the Lab will move from an assessment of current dynamics to the exploration of possible future trajectories and towards the co-development of policy responses. Throughout this progression, discussions will address four interrelated policy themes:

• How AI is reshaping labour markets through processes of job creation and job destruction, focusing also on skills and training responses needed to anticipate change and support workforce transitions;

• Job quality in the context of AI adoption and algorithmic management practices, which have implications for working conditions, work organization and employment relationships;

• Ethical and governance considerations in the workplace, with attention to transparency, accountability and responsible approaches to the development and deployment of AI systems;

• The potential of AI and digital tools for employment policymaking, exploring how this can strengthen labour market analysis and policy design.

MODULE 1 – UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE

This module focuses on stocktaking—examining the current impact of AI on jobs, tasks and work organization, alongside policy and regulatory responses taking shape globally. Drawing on the latest ILO research and comparative country experiences, participants will examine patterns of job augmentation and automation and shifts in task composition, along with changes in workplace organization, which have implications for productivity and jobs. In addition, it will address disparities in exposure by gender, income level, firm-size and occupation, including implications for skills demand and job quality. In parallel, they will analyse how governments and social partners are responding and identify key gaps and emerging tensions.

MODULE 2 – EXPLORING POSSIBLE FUTURES

This module will introduce foresight techniques to help participants navigate uncertainty and explore plausible trajectories of AI adoption. Scenario-building and guided reflection will support analysis of how different regulatory choices, technological developments and institutional capacities may shape outcomes for workers and businesses. Scenarios will consider different adoption pathways, including variations across enterprise size, sector and national context, and how regulatory choices may influence innovation capacity and employment outcomes. The foresight lens will act as a stimulus for identifying long-term risks, opportunities and potential strategic options, while enabling participants to explore how alternative futures may shape employment and skills dynamics, job quality and ethical considerations, as well as the evolving role of AI and digital tools in policymaking.

MODULE 3 – FROM INSIGHTS TO ACTION

The final module will take the form of a policy sandboxing exercise, which is intended as a learning and capacity-building tool and will be explanatory in nature. Participants will work in small groups to co-develop draft responses to current and future impacts of AI on labour markets and workplaces, translating insights on employment effects, skills need, job quality and ethical concerns into concrete policy options. A central focus will be on identifying policies and practices that enable responsible human-centred AI adoption while supporting workforce transition, job quality and inclusion. Participants will be encouraged to consider how different policy choices can affect workers, business operations and employment outcomes. Groups will present their responses and receive peer feedback, with the aim of developing actionable concepts for further exploration or piloting in national settings by tripartite constituents and other partners.

Throughout the Lab, the focus will remain on fostering inclusive dialogue, drawing on diverse tripartite perspectives and grounding all discussions in the overarching objective of promoting decent work in the age of AI.

ITC-ILO will offer a limited number of fellowships which may cover part of the tuition fee. If eligible, early applicants will be given priority. Please make sure to apply at earliest convenience before the above mentioned deadline.

This Lab is in partnership with the Global Coalition for Social Justice

And Politecnico di Torino