OECD chief urges Europe to move faster on AI

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann warned European finance ministers in Dublin that AI has become central to Europe’s productivity, incomes, budgets, competitiveness and security. Europe’s productivity growth has been sluggish for decades, and since 2022, productivity across the EU has essentially been stagnating while the gap with the US widens.

Ageing raises the stakes. Across the EU, there are about three people of working age for every person over 65 today; by 2060, there will be fewer than two. OECD analysis suggests pensions, health, long-term care, defence and the energy transition could add close to six points of GDP to public spending in many European countries by 2040, making sustained productivity growth the main route to stronger public finances.

Cormann said AI could add up to 1.2 percentage points a year to productivity growth over the coming decade, but only if adoption spreads beyond large companies. One in five firms across the OECD used AI last year, double the share two years earlier, compared with one in two large firms and only one in six small ones.

Europe’s priorities include building data centres, affordable power and fast networks, completing a capital markets union, improving access for small and medium-sized businesses, and investing in skills. More than 40% of people in work across the OECD already use generative AI tools, but training remains uneven: Only 23% of adults with low literacy take part in AI-related training, against 61% of those with high literacy.