- Technology
- News Desk
- Source: European Central Bank https://www.ecb.europa.eu//press/key/date/2026/html/ecb.sp261013~9db9bf4fd6.en.html
European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip R. Lane said on Thursday that artificial intelligence adoption in Europe is already significant and growing rapidly, but the scale of the AI surge remains far smaller than in the United States or East Asia. Speaking at The International AI Summit, Lane cited ECB surveys showing that 64 per cent of firms use AI experimentally or moderately, while 52 per cent of workers now use AI at work, double the share two years ago.
Key facts
- In the ECB's Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises for the fourth quarter of 2025, 64 per cent of firms reported using AI either experimentally or moderately, and only 7 per cent said their use was "significant".
- The ECB's survey of households shows that 52 per cent of workers now use AI at work, up from 26 per cent in 2024.
- Firms are set to devote around 10 per cent of their total investment to AI this year, and AI-related lending accounts for roughly one quarter of recent credit growth to firms.
- Over the last two years, digital investment in the United States has grown twice as fast as in the euro area, and US workers spend two to three times as much of their working week using AI as workers in the largest euro area economies.
- The Stanford AI Index calculates that the United States and China have produced 59 and [number missing in source] notable AI models, respectively.
Why is the ECB watching AI?
Lane said the ECB is monitoring AI's impact on the euro area economy for several reasons. In the medium and longer term, AI could raise the level of potential output and the economy's trend growth rate, with direct implications for the financial system and monetary policy. For Europe, AI's potential to offset the economic impact of the projected decline in the working-age population is especially valuable, he added.
More immediately, AI is already a primary factor driving current activity levels in the euro area, according to Lane. This is visible in higher business investment, an expansion in digital services sectors and strong global demand for European components and capital goods that are part of the AI supply chain.
What do the surveys show?
ECB surveys suggest that AI adoption in Europe is already significant and growing rapidly, even if it is too early to detect any material impact on aggregate productivity. In the household survey, workers report significant time savings, but these are highly concentrated in specific sectors and specialised tasks such as coding.
In the labour market, the ECB does not yet see a major change in aggregate employment trends, but hiring plans are muted, which especially affects the prospects for new graduates. Lane noted that AI's potential to replace some types of workers may also weaken workers' bargaining power, moderating wage growth and reducing the labour share in total income.
Survey responses vary significantly across industries. Workers in sectors benefiting from the AI infrastructure buildout are currently more optimistic than those in knowledge-intensive sectors that face greater AI substitution risk, Lane said.
How does Europe compare?
Lane stressed that the quantitative scale of the European AI surge is of a different order to the AI boom in the United States or East Asia. Over the last two years, digital investment in the United States has grown twice as fast as in the euro area, while US workers spend two to three times as much of their working week using AI as workers in the largest euro area economies.
In terms of the AI frontier, Lane cited the Stanford AI Index, which calculates that the United States and China have produced 59 and [number missing in source] notable AI models, respectively.
What are the challenges?
Lane described AI as a general-purpose technology that can improve global living standards and expand the global knowledge frontier by widening access to information and raising productivity. But he said delivering those benefits depends on many actors playing their part, including developers of frontier models, builders of AI infrastructure, entrepreneurs designing customised AI products, the research community, energy system operators, the financial system, education and training sectors, and managers and workers.
The transformation also poses challenges for political systems, civil society, policymakers and regulators at national, European and global levels on ethical, fiscal, governance and legal issues, Lane said. How these political economy issues are resolved will have a major bearing on the AI transition path, including the appropriate speed of adjustment that balances societal benefits, costs and risks.
Given the scale and breadth of the AI challenge, a wide range of possible timelines and outcomes can be envisaged, depending on progress along each dimension, Lane said. Uncertainty is compounded by interdependencies and complementarities across these dimensions. For instance, rapid progress in AI capabilities can be held back by bottlenecks in some areas, slowing overall adoption.
How firms and labour market institutions navigate the re-orientation of the workforce is a key issue, with some occupations facing higher demand due to complementarities with AI and others facing lower demand due to the scope for substitution by AI, Lane said. The net impact on employment will also depend on the evolution of labour costs versus token prices.
The ECB will continue to monitor and analyse the impact of AI on the euro area economy, Lane said, with its surveys tracking the rate at which firms and workers adopt the technology.
Source: European Central Bank
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