As digital platforms and artificial intelligence reshape labor markets, Thema researchers are contributing to public debates on the regulation and economic consequences of these transformations. Recent media interventions by Cynthia Srnec in The Conversation and Gregory Verdugo in Le Monde examine, from complementary angles, how institutions and technological change interact with work, collective bargaining, and employment dynamics.

In an article published in The Conversation, Cynthia Srnec and her co-authors examine the controversies surrounding collective representation for platform workers in France. Because these workers are legally classified as self-employed, they fall outside the traditional framework of collective bargaining designed for employees, creating a structural tension at the core of labor regulation. To address this gap, the French government created the Autorité des relations sociales des plateformes d’emploi (Arpe), a dedicated authority tasked with organizing representation and sectoral negotiations. The article evaluates this institutional experiment and asks whether negotiated regulation within a self-employment framework can deliver meaningful protections, or whether the reclassification of platform workers as employees constitutes a more credible long-term solution.

In a recent op-ed in Le Monde, Gregory Verdugo revisits recurring predictions of massive technological unemployment in light of the rapid development of artificial intelligence. He recalls how, nearly a decade ago, Geoffrey Hinton predicted the near disappearance of radiologists—yet employment and wages in that profession have continued to grow, even in the United States where AI adoption is most advanced. Placing today’s alarmist statements by tech leaders in historical perspective, Verdugo draws parallels with earlier waves of pessimism expressed by economists such as David Ricardo and Wassily Leontief. He emphasizes three key mechanisms that help explain why catastrophic forecasts repeatedly fail: occupations combine multiple tasks, only some of which are automatable; interpersonal and coordination tasks remain resistant to substitution; and firms need time to reorganize production and integrate new technologies. While acknowledging that AI will transform labor markets, he argues that the pace and scale of change are likely to be more gradual than current narratives suggest.