Creator( )Egle Markeviciute, EU Tech Loop with Euronews
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The European Union is exploring ways to promote the use and application of AI across European businesses, thereby increasing Europe’s competitiveness and productivity, while policymakers are seeking to simplify the artificial intelligence and data protection rulebook to reduce administrative burdens and remove duplicate rules.
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In this context, Eurostat’s recent survey data on a very fundamental question, namely why European companies are not using AI tools, will be very useful for further political discussions, especially in the context of the negotiations on the AI Omnibus, the Digital Omnibus and the upcoming EU Budget 2028-2032.
Lack of technical expertise and compliance-related concerns
The most notable results for both medium and large companies are related to a lack of technical expertise. This reason is cited as a barrier to the use of AI tools by 10,51% of companies employing 50 to 249 people and 10,32% of large companies employing 250 or more people.
In addition, European companies are also concerned about data privacy and protection and unclear legal implications. 7.95% of medium-sized companies and 9.31% of large companies cited concerns about data protection and privacy violations, and 7.51% of medium-sized companies and 8.12% of large companies cited uncertainty regarding legal implications.
Overall, the results are very mixed, suggesting that European companies understand that AI tools can be useful for them (only 2.09% of medium-sized companies and 1.55% of large companies are considering AI tools). useless But they are unable to clearly explain how the EU can help them.
A similar study focused solely on data- and AI-intensive businesses would be extremely helpful in drafting the framework for future legislative action and shaping priorities for the next multiannual financial framework.
Why companies with 50 to 249 employees don’t implement AI tools
Only 5.67% of companies with 50 to 249 employees cited cost-related reasons, with Portuguese companies leading the way with 9.56%.
The most common sentiment of all is lack of technical expertise, with 10,51% citing it as the main reason. Denmark comes first with 15,44% of companies, Germany with 14,63% and Finland with 13,99% of companies sharing this opinion. This confession seems very reflective and critical, as Denmark and Finland typically top the overall AI adoption charts.
6,38% believe that technical issues such as incompatibility with existing equipment, software and systems are a problem, with 11,82% of Finnish companies, 9,44% of Maltese companies and 9,42% of German companies agreeing.
6,51% of European companies believe that the lack of necessary data is hindering the implementation of AI tools, with Finns being the worst at 10,31% and Germans at 9,12%.
Data privacy violations and uncertainty about legal implications are the second most cited barriers after lack of technical expertise. 7,95% of European companies believe that concerns about data protection and privacy violations prevent them from using AI tools. On the other hand, 7.51% indicated that they were unclear about the legal implications.
Only 3.45% of companies cited ethical considerations as a reason for not using AI tools.
Finally, the majority seem to understand that AI tools can actually help their business, with only 2.09% saying that AI tools are not useful for their business.
Why companies with 250 or more employees don’t implement AI tools
Opinions about why companies don’t use AI tools are similar, even for large companies with more than 250 employees.
Only 5,51% of companies cited cost as the main reason, while 10,32% cited lack of relevant expertise, 6,02% cited incompatibility with existing software and systems, and 6,94% cited lack of data availability and quality.
Large businesses are more concerned about data privacy and unclear legal implications than small businesses. 9.31% cited concerns about data privacy and protection breaches, and 8.12% cited a lack of understanding of legal implications.
Only 3,36% are concerned about ethical considerations and only 1,55% think that AI tools are not useful for business.
This story was originally EU Tech Loop Shared with Euronews as part of the agreement.
