AI Took My Job—What Now? A German Millennial’s Thoughts on the Quiet Revolution in the EU
This article was written by Lina Johanna Koch, but I felt it was worth sharing:
Not too long ago, I worked as a content strategist at a mid-sized marketing agency in Berlin. It was a nice job. I was part of a growing digital economy where tech and creativity worked well together. That’s what I thought. An AI-powered content engine quietly took over my job last year. A tool that has read more data than I could ever read in a lifetime could now do what used to take me three hours—writing blog posts and digital ads that are good for SEO—in seconds.
Not a big deal. No big layoffs. My inbox was getting quieter, and there were fewer briefs. Eventually, I had a calm talk with HR about “strategic reallocation of resources.”
At 29, I’ve seen my generation go from being hopeful digital natives to being cautious witnesses of a new machine-led reality. Not just Berlin, either. AI isn’t just changing jobs in the EU; it’s slowly getting rid of them.
The Inevitable Progress—or the Slow Creep of Displacement?
The European Commission is very excited about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the potential of AI. Brussels thinks that AI will change the game for climate action, healthcare, and business competitiveness. AI can and should be all of those things. But for a lot of us, especially those who work in digital or service-based fields, AI is starting to look more like a slow-moving force of attrition.
Automation is starting to take over public sector jobs in Spain and Portugal, with clerical workers being replaced by AI that processes documents. Vision-guided robots are taking the place of warehouse workers in Poland and Slovakia. AI-driven case summarisation is making legal assistants in Sweden’s jobs easier.
People I know in the Netherlands, Hungary, and even rural France are seeing the same thing: Fewer human roles and less human oversight. More processes led by machines. No press releases. No headlines in the news. Gone.
What the Numbers Are Saying
The European Labour Authority did a study in 2024 and found that 17.6 million jobs in the EU are very likely to be automated. Many of these jobs are in the administrative, transportation, retail, and even creative fields. There is more to do than just work in a factory. People said that jobs would always “need a human touch,” but AI is starting to take over those jobs.
If you think this is only about the lower end of the job market, you should think again. Procurement teams are now looking closely at financial analysts, customer service teams, junior software developers, copywriters, paralegals, and even medical coders in order to save money through “AI augmentation.”
Germany, where I live, is proud of its strong Mittelstand businesses and skilled, loyal workers. But I can still see cracks forming here. Last month, I talked to a recruiter who said that for every 10 digital marketing jobs she posted in 2021, she now sees hiring managers asking for only 2. This is because AI tools are “filling in the rest.”
The EU AI Act: A Brave Move That Isn’t Enough
The EU AI Act, which went into effect earlier this year, is a world-class piece of law. It makes it illegal to use facial recognition in public places, puts protections around high-risk systems, and requires developers to be open about their work.
But the problem is that it doesn’t focus on how it will affect the economy. There is no clause about employment. No requirement to retrain. Companies don’t have to think about how using AI will affect job loss.
I like how you focus on ethics and basic rights. But what about the dignity of work? What about holding employers responsible when they replace whole teams with predictive models and chatbots?
Not Everyone Will Be an AI Expert
Tech optimism says we’ll just “upskill.” That the answer to losing your job to AI is to learn how to make or run AI. But let’s be honest: most people won’t wake up one day and become machine learning engineers or data scientists. They shouldn’t have to either.
The Digital Skills and Jobs Platform from the EU is a great idea, but not everyone can use it. A 23-year-old coder in Helsinki has different training options than a young mother in rural Romania. Just because a 50-year-old logistics worker in Naples lost his job to automation doesn’t mean he will suddenly become an AI policy analyst.
Even for someone like me, who has a degree, speaks English well, and lives in a tech-savvy city, it took months to find useful retraining help.
A Europe with Two Speeds?
I worry that the AI economy is pushing us towards a two-speed Europe. Cities like Copenhagen, Munich, and Tallinn are doing well and drawing in talent and money. But other areas, like eastern Germany, southern Italy, and parts of Bulgaria and Latvia, could fall even further behind.
If we don’t do something now, the digital divide could get worse. Not just between different age groups or industries, but between whole countries. The EU that once proudly talked about unity in diversity may now be divided into two groups: those who build the future and those who are left out of it.
What We Need: An AI Social Contract
I’m not against technology as a European millennial. I think AI can change the way we do things in healthcare, cut down on red tape, and even help us reach our climate goals. But I also think it needs to have guardrails, not just for safety but also for survival.
This is what we need:
Before any industry can use AI, they must do an impact assessment.
Money for universal retraining programs that are available in every EU region
Rewards for businesses that keep people in the loop
Algorithmic openness in decisions about hiring and firing
A digital transition fund for weak workers across Europe
Last thought: We need to talk about this.
Most of my coworkers don’t even know their jobs are in danger until it’s too late. People sell us AI as a way to get more done, as a helpful assistant, and as a smart intern. But it’s also a quiet way to reorganise things behind the scenes.
To be clear, AI isn’t going to take our jobs. It’s already here, and it’s already taking them.
The European project has always been about finding a balance between growth and justice, innovation and regulation. We need to make sure that balance doesn’t fall apart now that AI is changing everything. We should ask ourselves, “Is this the future we want, or is it just happening to us?”
Reprinted with permission from Lina Johanna Koch – Frankfurter Allgemeine
