Mind the Gap: AI Adoption in Europe and the US

Alexander Bick, Adam Blandin, David J. Deming, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, Jonas Jessen and David Deming

No 12584, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper combines international evidence from worker and firm surveys conducted in 2025 and 2026 to document large gaps in AI adoption, both between the US and Europe and across European countries. Cross-country differences in worker demographics and firm composition account for an important share of these gaps. AI adoption, within and across countries, is also closely linked to firm personnel management practices and whether firms actively encourage AI use by workers. Micro-level evidence suggests that AI generates meaningful time savings for many workers. At the macro level, in recent years industries with higher AI adoption rates have experienced faster productivity growth. While we do not establish causality, this relationship is statistically significant and similar in magnitude in Europe and the US. We do not find clear evidence that industry-level AI adoption is associated with employment changes. We discuss limitations of existing data and outline priorities for future data collection to better assess the productivity and labor market effects of AI.

Keywords: generative AI; technology adoption; labor productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 M16 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12584

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