Is AI-based emotion or productivity monitoring of staff allowed in the EU?
Emotion recognition at work is banned, and AI that monitors or evaluates workers is treated as high risk. Article 5 of the AI Act prohibits AI systems that infer the emotions of people in the workplace, except for medical or safety reasons, and Annex III lists AI used to monitor and evaluate the performance and behaviour of people in work relationships as high-risk, with strict duties for providers and deployers. The GDPRGDPR: General Data Protection Regulation. The EU data protection law (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). and national employment law apply on top, and works councils often have a say. So be careful with tools that score staff productivity, read keystrokes or analyse faces and voices. NetSenX is built differently: it watches devices and network connections to detect attacks, reports AI use per device and program, never per person, and does not evaluate employees.
General information, not legal advice. National laws can add to the EU texts quoted here, for example deadlines, forms or reporting channels: check your own country's rules.
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Terms used here
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
- The EU data protection law (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).