January 25, 2026
At the same time, the European Union is investing in new measures to support AI adoption, developing new preparedness strategies, and issuing guidelines on the ethical use of AI. According to a Eurobarometer survey, 64% of Europeans strongly or somewhat agree that everyone needs to be AI-savvy by 2030.
Since 2021, the use of AI technology in European companies has increased by 12.30%. Almost a third (32.7%) of Europeans admit to using AI tools. The clear differences in the use of AI across EU countries suggest that the use of generative AI may be encouraged in some areas, while it may still be taboo.
In 2025, OpenAI declared that it had 120.4 million active users within the European Union. This corresponds to approximately 26% of the EU population. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has over 80.02% share of the European market, with the remaining 19.8% likely to be split between Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Claude.
Use in education and work
Less than a tenth of Europeans (9.8% on average) will approve of using generative AI for formal educational purposes in 2025. At the bottom of the list are Hungarians (0.62%), Romanians (3.37%), Poles (4.59%), Bulgarians (5.17%) and Germans (6.04%). The leaders are Sweden (20.99%), Malta (20.22%), Denmark (17.86%), Spain (16.26%) and Estonia (15.41%).
According to a Eurobarometer survey, 54% of Europeans believe that AI can bring both benefits and risks to the classroom, and 22% think that AI does not belong in the classroom at all. While the EU has published ethical guidelines, two areas require urgent attention: improving access to age-appropriate and safe AI tools for educational use, and exploring how AI can help educators, especially when teaching learners with learning difficulties.
Slightly more, on average 15.07% of European individuals admit to using generative AI for work purposes. At the bottom 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%).
Personal use and business employment
Europeans are more tolerant about disclosing 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 ranks at the bottom at 2.12%, followed by Italy (12.81%), Romania (14.85%), Poland (19.13%) and Bulgaria (20.15%).
The average usage rate of at least one type of AI technology in European companies is around 19.95%. Denmark topped the list with 42.03%, followed by Finland (37.82%), Sweden (35.04%), Belgium (34.54%) and Luxembourg (33.61%). At the bottom are Romania (5.21%), Poland (8.36%), Bulgaria (8.55%), Greece (8.93%), and Cyprus (9.27%).
While the EU’s AI Continental Action Plan and AI Application Strategy are steps in the right direction, the EU must now move towards a deeper dive into the sectoral use of AI, business processes, and practical readiness for AI adoption. Measurable KPIs at Member State level and clear differentiation by business type, size and AI maturity will help the EU drive targeted support.
This article was originally published on EU Tech Loop.
Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform
