Rome, June 14 (ITALPRESS/GNA) – Artificial intelligence truly represents a revolution that will have disruptive effects on the economy, the environment, and the daily lives of millions of citizens. A challenge that, if managed correctly and through shared rules, can become a significant growth opportunity for Europe. This is according to the Consumers’ Forum, an independent body comprising consumer associations, industrial and service companies, and their trade associations.
The forum will meet with MEP Brando Benifei, rapporteur of the European AI Act, in Brussels next week to discuss this very topic.
Globally, approximately 425,000 jobs will be lost between 2023 and today due to causes directly or indirectly attributable to AI, 142,000 of which are in Europe alone (source: ailayoffs.live). 25% of global employment is in professions potentially exposed to AI, with higher percentages in high-income countries (34%).
Essentially, 1 in 4 workers risks losing their job to artificial intelligence in the coming years , explains Consumers’ Forum. This risk especially affects professions that involve repetitive tasks and easily automatable digital and textual components: administrative assistants, customer care and call centers, bank and postal clerks, cashiers, and translators, to name just a few.
And it’s certainly no coincidence that in 2025 in Italy, according to a study by the Milan Polytechnic, the number of job postings requiring AI-related skills grew by 93%, an increase that parallels the evolution of the Italian Artificial Intelligence market, which reached a value of 1.8 billion euros, up 50% compared to 2024.
This change is also impacting citizens’ daily lives: a third of Italians already use AI to guide their online purchases, with a potential annual value of approximately €22 billion considering the 2026 e-commerce market (goods and services) in our country.
Looking ahead, the data is set to grow exponentially: it is estimated that within the next 10 years, the value of online transactions that can be guided by intelligent assistants in Europe will reach 310 billion euros.
These figures on artificial intelligence have an inevitable impact on the environment and sustainability: the International Energy Agency predicts that global electricity consumption in data centers will double by 2030, reaching 945 terawatt-hours from 415 in 2024, consuming 3% of all global electricity, including water, land, and natural resources. AI data centers already generate between 2.5 and 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions , according to Consumers’ Forum.
“Yet the answer to these problems comes precisely from artificial intelligence: AI enables the creation of new jobs and new professions, compensating for losses and creating new employment opportunities. It can also offer solutions to limit environmental impact, optimize resource use, reduce energy consumption and waste, and improve production processes. And this is precisely why, also at the urging of consumer associations, we will ask the EU to accelerate the advancement of algorithms, so that AI can serve citizens and become a tool for improving people’s daily lives, not just for governing them.
“This is an issue on which Europe must act quickly and courageously in the interests of all consumers, and in this sense we fully share the position of TIM, a member company of the Consumers’ Forum, which, through CEO Pietro Labriola, has explicitly called for Europe’s digital sovereignty, given that data is the strategic resource of the new economy and its management cannot be entrusted to non-EU entities,” conclude the president and CEO. the vice president of Consumers’ Forum, Furio Truzzi and Patrizia Modesti.
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