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Why European businesses are not using AI tools

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · · 703 words
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What to know about Why European businesses are not using AI tools

Eurostat's 2025 data show that a lack of technical expertise, data privacy concerns, and legal uncertainty remain the main barriers to the use of AI tools among European businesses, even as most companies recognise AI’s potential value.

Claims checked 15
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center75%
Right25%

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

What happened

Eurostat's 2025 data show that a lack of technical expertise, data privacy concerns, and legal uncertainty remain the main barriers to the use of AI tools among European businesses, even as most companies recognise AI’s potential value.

Why it matters

The European Union is seeking ways to promote the use and application of AI across European businesses, thereby boosting European competitiveness and productivity, while policymakers are trying to simplify the artificial intelligence and data protection…

Common ground

In this context, the data from Eurostat’s recent survey on the very basic question - why European businesses are not using AI tools - is highly useful for further political discussion, particularly in the context of the AI Omnibus, Digital Omnibus, and…

Perspective signals

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

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/05/25/why-european-businesses-are-not-using-a…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 15 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 9
schedule Pending 5
help Insufficient Evidence 1
schedule
Claim 1: “10,32% cite the lack of relevant expertise [businesses over 250 employees]”
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 2: “6,94% mention the lack of data availability and quality [businesses over 250 employees]”
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 3: “only 2,09% of medium-sized and 1,55% of larger companies consider them [AI tools] not useful for their enterprise”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence consists of general definitions of the number 2, which are irrelevant to the claim.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The number 2 is the second natural number, after 1. Each natural number, including 2, is constructed by succession, that is, by adding 1 to the previous natural number.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The glyph currently used in the Western world to represent the number 2 traces its roots back to the Brahmin Indians, who wrote 2 as two horizontal lines. (It is still written that way in modern Chine…
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/2_(number)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Apr 24, 2026 · A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari २ (2)), from a cursive form of two lines to represent the number two. See 2 § Evolution for more.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/2
info
Claim 4: “6,38% believe technical issues - such as incompatibility with existing equipment, software, or systems - are the issue, with 11,82% of Finnish, 9,44% Maltese, and 9,42% German businesses agreeing.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim contains general information about EU business registers and barriers to entry, but does not contain the specific percentages mentioned in the claim.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Only 5,67% of businesses employing 50-249 employees list cost-related reasons, with Portuguese businesses leading the table at 9,56%. The most common sentiment among all is the lack of technical exper…
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/05/25/why-european-busine…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The EU single market has resulted in the number of companies expanding beyond their national borders. As of June 2017 the business registers of all EU countries have been interconnected and become sea…
https://e-justice.europa.eu/topics/registers-business-insolv…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Types of Barriers to Entry - Intelligent Economist.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/barrierstoentry.asp
info
Claim 5: “Eurostat's 2025 data show that a lack of technical expertise, data privacy concerns, and legal uncertainty remain the main barriers to the use of AI tools among European businesses”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the claim references Eurostat data, the provided evidence for this specific claim only contains general information about Eurostat and does not confirm the 2025 data points. However, other claims in the set are supported by a Euronews article, suggesting the data exists in that specific source.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to the institutions of the European Union (EU) and to promote the harmonisation of statistical methods across its member states …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurostat
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to Eurostat The home of high-quality statistics and data on Europe Learn more about us
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May 11, 2026 · The Eurostat regional yearbook provides you with an overview of economic, social, demographic and environmental developments in the EU regions. It includes data for regions in 27 EU cou…
https://ec-europa-eu.libguides.com/EU_sources/statistics-and…
schedule
Claim 6: “6,02% point to incompatibility with existing software and systems [businesses over 250 employees]”
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 7: “Only 5,51% of businesses [over 250 employees] list the costs as the main reason”
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 8: “Only 3,45% of businesses listed ethical considerations as a reason for not using AI tools.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Euronews article explicitly states: 'Only 3,45% of businesses listed ethical considerations as a reason for not using AI tools.'
schedule
Claim 9: “Only 3,36% are concerned about ethical considerations [businesses over 250 employees]”
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 10: “15,44 % of Danish, 14,63% of German, and 13,99% of Finnish businesses share this sentiment [lack of technical expertise], topping the table.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Euronews article explicitly states: '15,44 % of Danish, 14,63% of German, and 13,99% of Finnish businesses share this sentiment, topping the table.'
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 15,44 % of Danish, 14,63% of German, and 13,99% of Finnish businesses share this sentiment, topping the table.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/05/25/why-european-busine…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — As a Finn living in Germany, I’ve had the unique experience of comparing Finnish and German sauna cultures firsthand. From löyly and savusaunas to the structured rituals of German spas, this video div…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9foOmcLtCs
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 1I'm afraid the problem is much...(complicated) 2. This bag is slightly ...(heavy) than the other one. 3. Yesterday was..(hot) day of the year 4. The ...(soon) we leave,...(soon) we will arrive. 5. I …
https://www.euroki.org/koza/complete-the-gaps-with-the-corre…
info
Claim 11: “This reason [lack of technical expertise] is listed as a barrier preventing the use of AI tools by 10,51% of companies employing 50-249 people and 10,32% of larger companies employing more than 250 people.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Euronews article mentioned in the evidence for claim 7 confirms that 10.51% list lack of technical expertise as the main reason, but the specific breakdown for larger companies (10.32%) is not explicitly detailed in the provided snippets, though it aligns with the report's context.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Ten is the base of decimal numeral systems, the most common systems for denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. The English name for the number "ten" originates from the Proto-Germanic r…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aug 11, 2014 · Get a table of the metric prefixes for the powers of 10. The prefixes also express numbers in scientific notation.
https://sciencenotes.org/powers-ten-metric-prefixes/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Nov 15, 2019 · Learn the different ways number 10 can be represented. See the number ten on a number line, ten frame, numeral, word, dice, dominoes, tally marks, fingers and picture representations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zVLWGaLi7g
info
Claim 12: “7.95% medium-sized companies and 9,31% larger companies cite concerns about violations of data protection and privacy”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries for the number 7 and 7-Eleven, which are irrelevant to the claim.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Most devices use three line segments, but devices made by some Japanese companies such as Sharp and Casio, as well as in the Koreas and Taiwan, 7 is written with four line segments because in those co…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in the world. There are currently around 83,485 7-Eleven stores across the world, serving customers in 17 countries including Japan, Australia, Canada, …
https://www.7-eleven.com.ph/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Stay up to date with all of the breaking sport, politics, entertainment, finance, weather and business headlines. Today's news, live updates & all the latest breaking stories from 7NEWS.
https://7news.com.au/
info
Claim 13: “7.51% of medium-sized and 8,12% of larger companies point to a lack of clarity regarding legal consequences.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Euronews article explicitly states that '7,51% point to a lack of clarity about the legal consequences.'
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Meanwhile, 7,51% point to a lack of clarity about the legal consequences. Only 3,45% of businesses listed ethical considerations as a reason for not using AI tools.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/05/25/why-european-busine…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The gap in daily usage is narrower, but still telling. Around 37 per cent of younger employees use AI tools as a natural extension of how they work, compared with just 20 per cent of their older count…
https://smbtech.au/thought-leadership/your-organisations-big…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The IEA has reported that the largest AI-focused datacentres being built today will each consume as much electricity as 2m households with the US accounting for the largest share of datacentre electri…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/18/2025-ai-b…
info
Claim 14: “Only 5,67% of businesses employing 50-249 employees list cost-related reasons, with Portuguese businesses leading the table at 9,56%.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The Euronews article explicitly states: 'Only 5,67% of businesses employing 50-249 employees list cost-related reasons, with Portuguese businesses leading the table at 9,56%.'
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The evolution of the modern Western digit for the numeral for five is traced back to the Indian system of numerals, where on some earlier versions, the numeral bore resemblance to variations of the nu…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Apr 20, 2026 · The number five holds significant symbolic meaning across various cultures and belief systems. It is often seen as representing human life and marriage, stemming from the Pythagorean co…
https://www.britannica.com/science/the-number-five
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aug 26, 2016 · Don't forget to subscribe for updates of our new fantastic videos! ☺☺☺☺ Lyrics: Five apples, five trees, five tiny little buzzing bees Five table, five chairs, five monkeys jumping over…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6OM_nSyod0
help
Claim 15: “6,51% of European businesses believe the lack of necessary data is preventing them from adopting AI tools, with Finns at 10,31% and Germans at 9,12% being the most critical.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.
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.