Analysis Of Work-related Stress Using AI: A Warning From The Data Protection Authority

With provision no. 342 of 14 May 2026, the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante della Privacy) ruled on the use of a plug-in system developed by a start-up with a preventive medicine approach.

Specifically, it:

• enables so-called sentiment analysis of messages exchanged by employees during work to monitor levels of psychological stress;
• can be purchased by organizations and companies to allow their employees to use it;
• provides the purchasing organizations and companies with the option to request from the developer start-up an aggregated report on the level of psychological stress calculated by the system in relation to their employees who have used it.

According to the Authority, pursuant to the relevant norms (primarily Article 113 of the Privacy Code and the EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence), employers are prohibited from accessing information regarding employees’ emotional well-being in the workplace – including their overall well-being and psychological