The European Union is simultaneously continuing to invest in new measures to support the adoption of AI by both individuals and businesses, developing new preparedness strategies and issuing a range of new guidelines on the ethical use of AI.
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According to a Eurobarometer survey on the future needs of digital education, 64% of Europeans strongly and somewhat agree that everyone needs to be AI literate by 2030.
Since 2021, the use of AI technology among European companies has grown organically by 12.30%. Almost a third (32.7%) of Europeans admit to using AI tools.
The apparent differences in AI use across EU member states suggest that in some regions the use of generated AI for formal educational and professional purposes is not looked down upon and is actually encouraged, while in others it may remain taboo, reflected in the very low (and highly unlikely) self-reported use of AI tools.
Europe’s most popular AI tool
In 2025, OpenAI declared that it had 120.4 million active users in the European Union. This corresponds to approximately 26% of the EU population. This more or less mirrors European statistics on the use of generative AI in 2025.
Other AI chatbots and tools are more reluctant to disclose their user base within the EU. However, given that OpenAI’s Chat GPT accounts for over 80.02% of the European market, the remaining 19.8% is likely to be split between Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Claude.
Use of generative AI in formal education is low
By 2025, less than a tenth of Europeans (9.8% on average) will admit to using generative AI for formal educational purposes.
At the bottom of the list are Hungarians, with a very (and very unlikely) 0.62%, followed by Romanians (3.37%), Poles (4.59%), Bulgarians (5.17%) and Germans (6.04%). The leaders in the use of AI in education are Sweden with 20,99%, Malta with 20,22%, Denmark with 17,86%, Spain with 16,26% and Estonia with 15,41%.
A recent Eurobarometer survey on the future needs of digital education found that 54% of Europeans have a balanced view and believe that AI can bring both benefits and risks to the classroom, while less than a quarter (22%) believe that AI does not belong in the classroom at all.
While the EU has already published ethical guidelines for the use of AI in education and some educators are openly opposed to (or simply fed up with) the increasing use of AI by students, two areas require urgent action.
First, the EU must improve access to safe and age-appropriate AI tools for pupils, students and educators, so that everyone can learn skills under supervision. This is especially true in countries where overall levels of digital skills and internet access are low.
Second, educators, together with member states’ ministries of education, need to dig deeper into how AI can help in their daily work, especially when teaching learners with learning difficulties and disabilities (such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, autism, etc.). If done well, this will be a great opportunity to test new individualized approaches and adapt teaching methods to achieve the best results for educators and learners.
15.07% of Europeans admit to using generative AI for work purposes
Slightly more, on average 15.07% of European individuals admit to using generative AI for work purposes.
Again, at the bottom of the list are Hungary (1.31%), Romania (5.24%), Italy (8.00%), Poland (8.36%) and Bulgaria (8.43%). Malta topped the list with 29.64%, followed by Denmark (27.17%), Netherlands (26.56%), Estonia (25.12%) and Finland (25.11%).
A quarter of Europeans admit to using generative AI for personal purposes
Europeans (though not all) are open to publicizing the use of generative AI for private purposes.
Cyprus topped the list with 43.13%, followed by Greece (40.91%), Estonia (37.47%), Malta (37.20%) and Luxembourg (35.71%). Hungary still ranks last with only 2.12%, followed by Italy (12.81%), Romania (14.85%), Poland (19.13%) and Bulgaria (20.15%).
EUROSTAT / Use of Generated AI Tools by Individuals for Private Purposes / 2025
Denmark leads in AI adoption in businesses
The average use of at least one AI technology in European companies is around 19.95%, an increase of 12.3% from 2021.
This number varies widely from country to country. While Northern Europe and the Benelux countries are leading the way, Southern and Eastern European countries remain at the bottom. European companies also vary widely in their AI maturity. While some companies are well on their way to AI transformation (or at least have a strong business process and data management foundation), others are still taking a basic tool-by-tool approach.
Denmark ranks first in the use of AI tools in enterprises with 42.03% (+18.14% since 2021), followed by Finland with 37.82% (+22.03% since 2021), Sweden with 35.04% (+25.11% since 2021), Belgium with 34.54% (+24.22% since 2021), and Luxembourg. 33.61% (+20.61% from 2021 onwards).
At the bottom of the list are Romania at 5.21% (+3.83% from 2021), Poland at 8.36% (+5.5% from 2021), Bulgaria at 8.55% (+5.26% from 2021), Greece at 8.93% (+6.32% from 2021) and Cyprus at 9.27%. (+6.68% from 2021).
While the EU’s AI Continental Action Plan and AI Application Strategy are (generally) steps in the right direction, the EU must now move towards a deeper dive into sector-specific uses of AI, business processes, and the actual readiness to deploy AI across enterprises of different types and sizes.
Political strategies often end up being the product of competing ideas and political ambitions, and both strategies certainly reflect that.
Measurable KPIs at Member State level, a continued focus on scale-only initiatives (such as upskilling AI and improving access to computing power and data), and clear differentiation by business type, size, and AI maturity will enable the EU to move quickly with targeted support, rather than wasting time and taxpayer funds on high-cost, low-impact initiatives.
This story was originally EU Tech Loop Shared with Euronews as part of the agreement.
