Mind the Gap: AI Adoption in Europe and the US
US workers and firms adopt AI faster than European ones, and adoption is tied to how firms manage and encourage staff, not just to demographics; industries with higher adoption show faster productivity growth in both regions, though causality is not established.
Summary
Bick, Blandin, Deming, Fuchs-Schuendeln and Jessen combine 2025-26 worker and firm surveys. In 2026, 43% of US workers use AI at work versus 32% in Europe, from 36% in the UK to 26% in Italy, and 7% of US firms use AI in production versus 4% of EU firms. Demographics and firm composition explain part of the gap, and adoption is linked to personnel practices and active encouragement. Aggregate time savings are 2.3% in the US versus 1.0-1.8% in Europe, and a 10-point rise in industry AI adoption is associated with 2-5 points of extra cumulative productivity growth. The authors find no clear employment effect and stress data limits.
Editor's opinion
Cross-national survey data shows 43% of US workers use AI professionally vs. 32% in Europe, generating aggregate time savings of 2.3% vs. 1.4%—a structural productivity differential beginning to
Key concepts
AI adoption gap · worker and firm surveys · aggregate time savings · industry-level productivity growth · personnel management practices