Bruegel – Exposure to Generative AI in the EU labour market

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in European organisations has been slow until recently, with only about 8 percent adoption in 2021. However, the emergence of generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT has exposed the public to the power of AI, allowing users to quickly generate high-quality text, images, video, and audio. Despite the potential of generative AI (GenAI), its integration into firms and organisations is just beginning, raising questions about its impact on the European labour market. Various methodologies have been developed to assess the potential impact of AI on different occupations, including occupational exposure scores that calculate the 'exposure to GenAI' in a theoretical sense. Additionally, studies have analyzed the productivity impact of GenAI in experimental and real-world workplaces to understand its actual impact. Recommendations for policies related to the integration of AI into the labour market are also discussed in the paper.