AI begins automating tasks in Romania, but mass layoffs loom as jobs become vulnerable

Artificial intelligence is starting to reshape Romania's job market, with companies increasingly automating tasks and employees leveraging AI to boost productivity. While mass layoffs haven't materialized yet, the trend suggests a future where fewer new positions may be advertised as existing workers handle more with AI assistance.

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In Romania, we are still more in the stage of automating tasks than directly replacing people.

Alexandru Dan, an AI expert and CEO of TVL Tech, explains that Romania is primarily in the task automation phase rather than direct human replacement. AI is being integrated into document processing, report generation, customer support, data analysis, marketing, sales, and software development. However, Romania lags behind the EU in AI adoption, with only 5.21% of companies using AI technologies in 2025, compared to nearly 20% across the EU.

Dan anticipates that individual employee capacity will grow, leading to higher productivity expectations across all sectors. Entry-level positions, particularly those involving standardized digital tasks like information retrieval, drafting, classification, preliminary analysis, customer support, and repetitive programming, are most at risk. Programmers, customer service representatives, and financial analysts are already identified as highly exposed occupations.

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The effect I'm already seeing is an increase in individual capacity. An employee who uses AI effectively can process more data, find valuable information, and make intelligent decisions in the shortest possible time.

Research also indicates a potential decline in entry-level roles for younger workers, as AI can now perform tasks that previously served as learning opportunities for juniors. This shift could impact career progression for recent graduates entering the workforce.

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The most exposed are roles where a large proportion of the activity can be described as a succession of relatively standardized digital tasks: information search, drafting, classification, preliminary analysis, customer support, or repetitive programming.