Polish firms lag in AI adoption, cite knowledge gap

Eurostat data show that in 2025 only 8.4% of Polish enterprises with at least ten employees used artificial intelligence, well below the EU average of 20% and far behind leaders such as Denmark and Finland (around 40%). The share rose from 5.9% a year earlier, indicating growing interest but a sluggish rollout.

Experts, including Prof. Piotr Sankowski of the University of Warsaw, say the main obstacle is not technology availability but a lack of understanding and trust in AI’s business value. They stress the need for education and a partner‑oriented approach rather than pure licence sales.

A McKinsey report notes that while 88% of surveyed firms employ AI in at least one function, two‑thirds remain in experimental or pilot stages and only about one‑third have scaled deployments. Emerging “agentic AI” tools are gaining attention, with 23% of firms planning to scale them and 39% already experimenting; active users of such systems increased five‑fold in the first half of 2026 according to OpenAI.

The European Commission aims for 75% of enterprises to use AI, cloud computing, or data analytics by 2030, highlighting policy pressure to close the gap and concerns about market concentration among a few global AI providers.