World of HR: The European Union codifies new AI regulations for employers

It may be comforting to think about your pet monitoring your emotions and responding to your energy. But your employer doing the same with computers is more…dystopian.

Luckily for some workers in Europe, employers will soon be barred from tracking whether they’re happy, sad, or over it.

Where in the world? Beginning Aug. 2, 2026, employers in the European Union will be barred from using artificial intelligence to track workers’ emotions via webcam or voice recognition systems, the Independent reported.

The rules are part of the Artificial Intelligence Act, which, in part, aims to prevent companies from using AI to discriminate against current and prospective employees.

Entities, including employers, may also not use AI to assess “job candidates based on unrelated personal characteristics like socioeconomic status” or to predict employees’ likelihood of engaging in misconduct.

Employers that do not comply with the new regulations could risk fines up to 7% of their global revenue.

Some legal experts are encouraging employers operating in the EU to evaluate their current AI systems and make changes to ensure they’re in compliance with the law. HR leaders should also encourage company-wide training so everyone understands the new laws, a Mercer blog post suggests.

Satellite view. Countries have been slow to adopt AI regulations, although the UK drafted legislation that would restrict how employers can use the tech, HR Brew previously reported.

The US has taken a more piecemeal approach to regulating how employers use AI. Some believe it’s an inevitable step in workplace evolution. While experts are mixed on how AI will impact bias, Illinois, Colorado, and New York City have passed laws in an attempt to expand transparency and curb bias.

“Trust is lost in buckets and gained back in drops, so missteps in applying the technology early will have a long tail of implications for employee trust over time,” David Johnson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, told CNN.

For now, maybe we’ll just work on our poker face.