The European Commission is strongly committed to a clear goal: building Artificial Intelligence that is not only innovative, but also trustworthy. That means safe, transparent, and respectful of our rights. But reaching this goal requires more than just engineers. It calls for a cultural and professional shift, because AI is already transforming the way we work.
To truly understand the impact, CEDEFOP—the EU agency that studies skills and training—conducted a major survey on how AI is changing the labor market. The message is clear: we’re not just talking about automating individual tasks, but about reshaping entire professions. Some jobs are evolving at lightning speed. Others are being created from scratch.
And that’s where the problem lies.
If we don’t act now, we risk leaving too many people behind. That’s why the European Commission isn’t only focused on regulation—like the recent AI Act, in which I’m participating as part of the task force for the related Code of Practice—but also on helping people adapt. The AI Act itself highlights the importance of spreading AI literacy among professionals, especially in high-impact sectors like healthcare, education, and transport. It’s not enough to use AI—we need to understand it. We must know how it works and why it makes certain decisions.
This is where new skills come into play. Words like upskilling and reskilling are not just buzzwords—they’re urgent needs.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) could be the key. It’s no longer just about manual trades. It’s becoming a bridge between people and technology. A way to strengthen our digital security, learn how to interact with intelligent systems, and open up new career paths.
But we need to move faster.
Because the AI revolution isn’t coming—it’s already here. And if we want it to be a fair revolution, then we must make sure that everyone has access to the tools to face it.
And that means one thing: the right skills, at the right time, for the right people.