Mind the Gap: AI Adoption in Europe and the U.S

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.