The irruption of AI in the work world has come to revolutionize the day -to -day life of many companies and, consequently, its workers. The concern for its consequences, although not generalized, continues to cause fears among employees, a more present reality in Spain. 31% of Spanish workers are concerned that AI reifies an important part of their tasks, above the rest of Europe, where 27% worries.
Despite this, the use of AI has shot in the last year. Currently, 22% of Spanish workers surveyed claim to use AI regularly as support for their work, compared to 15% in 2024. Thus it follows from the international research conducted by SD Worx, European leading provider of HR solutions, among more than 5,000 human resources directors, 500 of them Spanish, and 16,000 employees from 16 European countries, among which are 1,000 Spaniards
Among Spanish workers who currently use AI, more than half (53%) believe that AI will change significantly or even completely transform their work into the next three years, above the European average (49%). On the contrary, there are also 21% of AI users who believe that the changes will be minimal or will not even have an impact. The younger generations, workers under 35, are the most aware of the changes that AI will bring, since one third of them believes that the change will be important and/or transformative, and 29% believe that it will have a moderate impact in certain areas of their work.
Spanish companies invest in AI, but their effects are not yet clear
The proportion of companies that invest in AI to support the workplace progressively increases year by year. In 2025, almost four out of ten (37%) Spanish companies invest in AI, and 36% are actively exploring how to adopt AI in their workplace. Although these results place the adoption of AI by Spanish companies aligned with the European average, many of them are still in an experimental phase, since only 3 out of 10 acknowledge being seeing significant results with the use of AI in their HR processes.
3 out of 10 Spanish workers are concerned about the redundancy of AI about an important part of their tasks, compared to 27% of Europeans
«It is likely that this is due to the lack of a clear strategy, to the uncertainty about the best cases of use of the IA and RRHH frames that are not yet designed to maximize the value of AI«, Explains Tom Saeys, director of Operations of SD Worx.
Among the investment areas, at the global level the teams are prioritizing to invest in learning and development (19%), such as personalized learning itineraries promoted by AI; performance management through predictive analysis (18%); and hiring, with tools such as automated CV screening (18%). For their part, the Spanish prioritize investing in HR departments, such as employee consultation management (19%), followed by performance management through predictive analysis (17%) and for compliance with regulations and legislative changes (17%).
The first advances of the European Regulation of AI force companies to greater control
«Since February 2, 2025, two key standards of the AI ACT, the European Regulation on Ia are already in force. First, companies must ensure that employees who work with the knowledge of AI. That does not mean that they have to know everything, but they must be able to use AI critically and sensiblely. Anyone who works with AI must have sufficient knowledge to make intelligent decisions and recognize the risks.
In addition, it is forbidden to use AI systems that violate fundamental rights, such as social score or the recognition of emotions at work. Therefore, companies should know what tools of AI are using and eliminate those that are prohibited. As of August 2, infractions could carry fines of up to 35 million euros in certain cases. There will also be additional obligations for the general models of AI. Other parts of the law will enter into force as of August 2026, and the final part in August 2027«Saeys says.
Almost half of the Spanish companies are not sure of the impact of AI on HR
Although more and more companies are investing in AI for the end of HR, many professionals still are sure. For example, 37% fear that IA eliminated the human aspect of HR processes. Almost the same percentage (35%) indicates that it lacks sufficient knowledge or experience to apply AI in HR, while another third (34%) is concerned about the privacy and safety of data.
These concerns are shared by Spanish professionals, who are also concerned about the ethical implications of AI (30%), such as biases in AI algorithms and lack of transparency in decision -making processes.
In addition, for many organizations it still is not clear what exactly the AI within the HR will change. While 38% of Spanish employers expect AI to quickly change the workplace, almost half (47%) is still not clear what it means specifically for the tasks and HR operating model.
