**AI Use at Work Doubles in Two Years, ECB Survey Finds**
A recent survey conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB) reveals a significant increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) among workers in the euro area, with the proportion of employees utilizing AI on the job doubling from 26% in 2024 to 52% in 2026. The findings, published by ECB economists António Dias Da Silva, Laura Lebastard, and David Sondermann, indicate that AI users report saving a median of three hours per week, amounting to approximately 7.7% of median working time.
The data for this study was collected through the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey, which gathers insights from around 20,000 individuals across 11 euro area countries each month. The survey highlights that AI is being used by workers approximately three days a week on average. Notably, younger and more highly educated individuals are the most likely to engage with AI technologies. The adoption rate among highly educated respondents stands at 61%, compared to just 37% among those with lower educational backgrounds. Additionally, younger workers are approximately 20 percentage points more likely to use AI than their older counterparts, while men report slightly higher usage than women.
Despite the increase in AI adoption, the frequency of use among different demographic groups appears relatively consistent, with average usage ranging from 2.5 to 2.9 days a week. The study also found that while AI users generally reported significant time savings, these benefits were not uniformly distributed. Most users experienced moderate time savings, while a smaller subset reported substantial reductions in work hours. However, the researchers cautioned that the median time saved should not be interpreted as a direct indicator of the technology's impact on overall productivity in the economy. Only 48.8% of workers indicated both using AI and benefiting from time savings, suggesting that the estimated efficiency gain across the economy is closer to 3.8% of working hours.
The researchers emphasized that saved time translates into increased productivity only when workers utilize the freed hours for additional output rather than engaging in less productive activities. The potential for productivity gains also hinges on whether employers can effectively leverage the additional capacity created by AI. Current estimates suggest that AI could contribute to annual productivity growth ranging from 0.1% to 3.4% over a decade, with separate ECB research indicating an average increase of about 0.35 percentage points per year for the euro area.
The size of productivity gains varies significantly depending on the specific tasks being performed. For instance, generating or debugging code yields the largest reported time savings, with users saving nearly eight hours a week, although only about 8% of workers utilize AI for these tasks. Other areas such as data analysis, automation of routine tasks, and the creation of audio or visual content also report notable time savings. Conversely, tasks like research, information gathering, writing, and text editing, while common uses of AI, tend to generate smaller reported time savings.
Interestingly, most workers do not perceive these efficiency gains as a threat to their job security. Managers, in particular, exhibit high adoption rates and report the greatest time savings, positioning them favorably to influence the integration of AI technologies within their organizations. However, overall sentiment towards AI has slightly diminished, with the percentage of workers viewing the technology positively decreasing from 43% to 41% over the past year.
The researchers linked attitudes towards AI to broader economic expectations. Workers with negative perceptions of AI often expressed pessimism about the economy, anticipated higher unemployment, and voiced concerns about job security and income growth. Fear of job displacement by AI tends to increase in conjunction with a less favorable labor market outlook.
Despite the growing adoption of AI, approximately half of euro area workers remain non-users. Reasons for this include the nature of their jobs, concerns regarding the technology, and a lack of access to AI tools through their employers. About one-third of non-users stated that AI was irrelevant to their current tasks, while others preferred traditional methods or questioned the accuracy and reliability of AI. A significant portion, 41%, expressed disinterest in adopting AI, including 34% of managers.
To address these barriers, the study suggests that improved training and greater awareness of AI's potential benefits could encourage broader adoption. Approximately half of the surveyed workers indicated that better training and understanding of AI’s usefulness would motivate them to use the technology. Employers appear to be responding to this demand, with about half of firms planning to invest in AI training over the next year. However, this also implies that a similar proportion of firms do not intend to invest in such training, which may reflect a lack of interest in AI among some management levels.
The ECB economists concluded that there is substantial room for companies to enhance support for AI adoption. They advocate for employers, in collaboration with national authorities, to provide employees with greater assistance through training and improved access to AI tools, emphasizing that this is crucial for the euro area to fully realize the productivity potential of AI technologies.