Italian workers confront AI‑induced stress while training future chatbots
As generative artificial intelligence spreads across offices, call centres and customer‑service units in Italy, thousands of employees now spend part of their day training the very systems that could replace them. The practice has created a new occupational hazard: heightened mental‑health stress and safety concerns, according to Stefano Ruberto, head of Health and Safety at CGIL‑Milano.
Ruberto told Adnkronos that the issue is “a structural condition” rather than an isolated incident, noting that exploitation and pressure are now “pervasive, horizontal and transversal across sectors” such as construction, fashion, logistics and food delivery. Workers report anxiety over whether the AI tools they teach will eventually perform the tasks they currently do, leading to daily frustration.
The phenomenon is being described as a shift in workplace risk, expanding from traditional physical hazards to include psychological strain driven by automation. Experts say the trend could affect a broad swath of the Italian labour force unless policies address both the technical and mental‑health dimensions of AI integration.