Austrians less enthusiastic about AI than Europeans

A study now shows that the use of AI tools and systems in Austria is slightly below average compared to Western Europe. 69 percent have AI experience, while in Western Europe the figure is 72 percent. However, according to management consultancy EY, the Alpine republic is at the bottom of the list when it comes to optimism about AI.

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While 23 percent of respondents across Europe consider AI to be very promising and another 53 percent to be rather promising, those surveyed in Austria are much more conservative, according to the “European AI Barometer” study by the management consultancy EY. Only 16 percent are completely positive, and another 52 percent are moderately so. Austria is therefore at the bottom of the list of the nine Western European countries surveyed (alongside Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands). The other two German-speaking countries, Germany and Switzerland, are also somewhat more open to AI, with 18 percent each saying they are very positive.

More used in private life

4,700 working people in Western Europe were surveyed, 515 of them from Austria. This also revealed that across Western Europe, people are more likely to use AI in their private lives (38 percent) than at work (12 percent). According to the overall survey, 23 percent use AI for both purposes. The same applies to Austria. The leader is Spain: 84 percent of those surveyed there are already familiar with AI.

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While some companies are still at the very beginning, others are playing a leading role in shaping the AI ​​process, the “AI Barometer” continues. The latest tools are often only tried out at management level. 84 percent of the managers surveyed in Europe said they had already come into contact with AI. In Austria, the figure was only 78 percent. Among employees without management responsibility, the proportion is significantly lower at 67 percent (65 percent in Austria).

Men also have more experience with AI applications than women. Here, the gap in Austria is wider than the European average. “In this country, fewer than two out of three women use AI, compared to three quarters of men,” says Susanne Zach, digital expert at EY Austria. It is particularly important to create framework conditions and a set of rules for the use of artificial intelligence in companies.