GEPO (Groupe Européen de Pastorale Ouvrière) organised in Tirana / Albania, from 23-25 October 2025 its annual conference with 30 participants from Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, Albania, Austria, Portugal and guests from the United Kingdom and Kosovo. The theme of the conference was “Digital technology and AI in our lives and at work: what are the opportunities, the risks and the social and societal dialogue?” The event was organised in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union.
The use of digital tools not only has a technological impact; it is revolutionising all aspects of working life: the organisation of work, the ways in which work is performed, and cooperation in the workplace. It is creating the potential for social transformation and is changing work organisations based on a new approach to work practices and work relationships. The aim was to assess together the full extent of the upheavals, and to pinpoint the opportunities and risks and their impact on social and societal dialogue.
There are several answers to this question:
The integration of digital tools into social life and work is a reality today. The same tools and materials are often used in our private lives, social lives and working lives.
This issue not only affects each individual personally, but also all the actors in social dialogue. It is therefore possible to engage in deep and fruitful exchanges that are influenced by the approaches of the different participants based on their age, responsibilities and characteristics of their country of origin.
The topic was introduced as the attendees were welcomed to the event: new legal and ethical challenges are emerging, so how can we protect privacy, preserve dignity at work, and ensure that nobody is left behind in the process? Social and institutional dialogue is therefore crucial.
Results
We have been monitoring the development of digital technologies. This growth is evident both in the wide variety of applications and in the diversification of those who use these technologies, consciously or unconsciously.
We should also note the increase in financial investments in this area. Are they sources of stability or disorder?
This growth also leads to increased competition among workers, resulting in job losses or the exclusion of those who are unable to train or adapt to these new tools.
We also discussed the risks in everyday life, access to rights and the risk to democracy.
This development provides an important role for workers, trade unions, and political forces to develop a critical perspective.
This competition is also a contest between countries. Nobody wants to be left behind in what appears to be the future, but it is difficult to resist the power of the players who own the data, the technologies and the computing power and who hire the best engineers at a huge cost. Our trade unionist friends in Albania expressed this very strongly.
We are faced with opportunities but also with disruptions and therefore require points of reference to enable us to understand and act.
We shared the belief of placing man at the centre. The focus on man means prioritising the interactions between human beings.
The focus on humans also means caring about our environment. Humans cannot live without a habitable and healthy environment.
In all our actions, we may think about whether AI is a source of justice.
The philosopher Simone Weil gives us a point of reference for discernment: “Justice is what is good for man”.
This statement urges us to think collectively. What is good for man must be good for all: children, women and men. We must oppose the “throwaway” culture described by Pope Francis. This discernment requires an exchange and opposing views; we sometimes call it collective intelligence.
This is a practice we implement in our various organisations and movements. The GEPO plays a role in this respect, which we have seen over the past three days in our discussions and practical work.
The workshop sessions tested the use of AI within the context of each country. The task was to ask the AI to write a script for a 5-minute video containing information on the country's situation regarding artificial intelligence, incorporating statistical data, forecasts about the impact on the labour market, policy initiatives concerning artificial intelligence, and union positions regarding AI.
In a second step, we then used the scenarios produced to create a presentation with annotated slides.
The unanimous reaction was that the result was incredible but should be taken with a little scepticism.
It remains essential for the GEPO to study the lives of workers very closely. We value exchanges that are multigenerational and involve a range of models and forms of social dialogue.