How AI affects jobs, public services, and workers’ rights in the Nordics and the EU

Algorithms and AI systems have continued to reshape decision-making at workplaces and to shift the balance of power between employers, employees and citizens. As the European Commission has moved from the AI Act with a Digital Omnibus in the spirit of deregulation and simplification, the FEPS-Nordic Digital Programme has focused its 2025-2026 edition grounding the debates around AI and work in Nordic evidence and trade union practice to provide evidence for how in the most digitally advanced countries in Europe are adopting these new technologies on the labour market, ensuring accountability and transparency in public services, and defending workers’ rights.

To present the conclusions, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), in collaboration with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO Sweden), the Akademikerförbundet SSR, and the Nordic Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES Nordics), will gather the Programme’s consortium partners and Swedish experts, trade unionists, and policy makers for a closing conference on 23 October 2026 at LO Sweden’s headquarters in Stockholm. For the consortium, the day will kick-off with presentations of this year’s findings and a discussion on what should come next for the Programme. In the afternoon, the agenda will be open to Swedish invitees and feature workshops on AI, automation, and public authority to identify priorities for the EU’s digital and social agenda.

This event closes the 2025-2026 edition of the FEPS–Nordic Digital Programme, a collaborative research and policy initiative led by FEPS in cooperation with Nordic think tanks and trade unions. In 2025-2026, the programme continued to focus on algorithmic management at the workplace, but also examined the impact of AI on decision-making, the public sector and worker productivity, empowering workers and shaping a fairer digital future.

This event is upon invitation only. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Monty Aal, FEPS Digital Policy Analyst (monty.aal@feps-europe.eu) or Vanessa Zwisele, FEPS Project Officer (vanessa.zwisele@feps-europe.eu).