Europe lags US in workplace AI use: But why?

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · Jun 01, 2026 · 687 words · By Anna Desmarais

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What to know about Europe lags US in workplace AI use: But why?

A new study shows a clear gap in workplace AI use between the US and Europe - and suggests management structure may be a key reason why.

Claims checked 16

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

A new study shows a clear gap in workplace AI use between the US and Europe - and suggests management structure may be a key reason why.

Why it matters

Europe might be slower to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) than the United States because of how its businesses are structured, according to new research.

Common ground

The report from Brookings Institute surveyed more than 5,000 people in the United States and six European countries to find out how regularly they use AI at work: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom in June 2025 and February…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Europe lags US in workplace AI use: But why??
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Workers at companies with over 250 employees in both the US and high-adoption EU countries, such as the UK, Netherlands and Sweden, were more likely to be using AI than those who worked at smaller companies?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/06/01/why-is-europe-falling-behind-the-us-on-…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 6

check_circle Corroborated 4

info Single Source 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

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Claim 1: “Workers at companies with over 250 employees in both the US and high-adoption EU countries, such as the UK, Netherlands and Sweden, were more likely to be using AI than those who worked at smaller companies”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim in the search results.

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Claim 2: “US AI adoption ranges between 18% and 68% higher than in Europe, the study found.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources, including the Brookings Institution report and a related analysis, confirm that US AI adoption is between 18% and 68% higher than in Europe.

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 30, 2026 ... AI adoption is substantially higher in the U.S. than it is in Europe, though there is wide variation across European countries. More broadly, ...
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2026/mar/mind-gap-…

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 26, 2026 ... In relative terms, US worker adoption is between 18% and 68% higher than worker adoption in European countries. 5. Figure 2 does not ...
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/6_Bick-…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 31, 2026 ... That means US AI adoption ranges between 18% and 68% higher than in Europe, the study found. Pro-AI employees encouraged by managers to use it.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/why-europe-falling-behind-us-05013…

info

Claim 3: “adoption is stalling in France and Germany, where 28% and 31% of respondents respectively use AI at work.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific figures (28% France, 31% Germany) are mentioned in one search result ('Europe lags behind the US in AI adoption...'), but not corroborated by other provided sources.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 · The report also says adoption is stalling in France and Germany, where 28% and 31% of respondents respectively use AI at work. This means that ...
https://scantv.mediadesk.ai/lajme/europa/evropa-mbetet-prapa…

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web search NEUTRAL — The research was conducted independently by the university research team. Trust, attitudes and use of AI: A global study 2025 | 2. © 2025 Copyright owned by one ...
https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmgsites/xx/pdf/2025/05…

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web search NEUTRAL — Respondents from France, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden tend to have a more negative attitude and trust toward AI; respondents from Italy, Poland, Romania ...
https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/ai/2025/02/10681325/20…

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Claim 4: “US respondents who used AI at work were more likely to say they had been encouraged by managers to do so and were provided with a specific internal tool to use, with 42% saying they got both, compared to France and Italy, with 17% and 16% respectively.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim in the search results.

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Claim 5: “The report from Brookings Institute surveyed more than 5,000 people in the United States and six European countries to find out how regularly they use AI at work: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom in June 2025 and February 2026.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm the Brookings Institution surveyed over 5,000 people in the US and six European countries (France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, UK) regarding AI use at work in 2026.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Arthur Charles Brooks (born May 21, 1964) is an American author and academic. Since 2019, Brooks has served as the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit and Public Leadershi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Brooks

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An artificial intelligence safety institute is a type of state-backed organization aiming to evaluate and ensure the safety of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models, also called frontier AI mod…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence_safety…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Robert Somers Brookings (January 22, 1850 – November 15, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist, best known for his involvement with Washington University in St. Louis and his founding o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S._Brookings

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “seven percent of US production companies have already integrated AI compared to just four percent in Europe.”

CORROBORATED

Two separate search result snippets from the same source/article (dated June 3, 2026) explicitly state that 7% of US companies use AI for production compared to 4% in Europe.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a European Union regulation concerning artificial intelligence (AI). It establishes a common regulatory and legal framework for AI within the European Union…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence_Act

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Regulation of artificial intelligence is the development of public sector policies and laws for promoting and regulating artificial intelligence (AI). The regulatory and policy landscape for AI is an …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_artificial_intel…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “AI uptake in all countries was higher for male respondents, those under 45 and with a university education than their female, older, less-educated counterparts”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 8: “American companies are more likely to integrate AI into daily operations, with an estimated 34% using AI for any purpose, compared to an EU-wide average of 20%”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of dictionary definitions of the word 'approximately' and general Wikipedia entries on the AI Act, but does not contain the specific statistics (34% vs 20%) mentioned in the claim.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that uses generative models to generate text, images, videos, audio, software code (vibe coding) or other forms…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_AI

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a hypothetical type of artificial intelligence that matches or surpasses human capabilities across virtually all cognitive tasks. Beyond AGI, artificial superi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligenc…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “European companies also said they are concerned about data privacy, legal concerns or point to the cost as a barrier for putting AI in place, according to Eurostat.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 10: “More than half of the respondents from all countries that work in computer or math fields said that they use AI at work, compared to below 27% personal services, 33% in hotels and food services”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 11: “At the individual level, 43% of US respondents say they use AI in their work, compared to 32% in Europe in 2026.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific figures (43% US vs 32% Europe) appear in the headline of one search result ('Europe lags behind the US in AI adoption - 43% of US respondents...'), but are not explicitly corroborated by a second independent source in the provided text.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and dec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “When the researchers adjusted for the respondents’ education, age and sex between the US and EU countries, they found that Sweden would have nearly identical AI adoption rates to the US.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 13: “Italy had the lowest adoption rate of the European countries surveyed at just one in four respondents saying they had adopted AI at work.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists only of Wikipedia entries for the number 25, with no actual data regarding AI adoption rates in Italy.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 25 (number) ... 25 (twenty-five) is the natural number following 24 and preceding 26.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_(number)

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web search NEUTRAL — Twenty-five or 25 may refer to: 25 (number), the natural number following 24 and preceding 26 one of the years 25 BC, AD 25, 1925, 2025
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25

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web search NEUTRAL — Discover the fascinating world of the number 25! Explore its meanings, facts, significance in mathematics, science, religion, folklore, angel numbers, arts, and literature.
https://numeraly.com/about-the-number-25/

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Claim 14: “Demographics explain about a third of the gap, the study found.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 15: “36% of respondents in the United Kingdom saying they use it for work, and 35.6% in both Sweden and the Netherlands.”

CORROBORATED

Two independent sources (a general news report and the Brookings Institution's own report) confirm the 36% figure for the UK and 35.6% for Sweden and the Netherlands.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 · Adoption by workers in Europe varies, with 36% of respondents in the UK saying they use it for work and 35.6% in both Sweden and the Netherlands ...
https://scantv.mediadesk.ai/lajme/europa/evropa-mbetet-prapa…

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 25, 2026 · The 2026 worker survey (of six European countries) showed use of AI ranging from 36% in the United Kingdom. Sweden 35.6% Netherlands 35.6% ...
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mind-the-gap-ai-adoption-…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 30, 2026 · Now 78% of organizations use AI in at least one area (up from 55% in 2023), with gen AI at 71% (up from 65% in 2024).
https://www.facebook.com/Outlookbusiness/posts/for-years-com…

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Claim 16: “Eurostat data, released this week, also shows that European companies lack the technical expertise needed to implement AI in their businesses”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.