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Romania ranks last in the EU in AI adoption. Only 5.2% of companies use this technology

Riana Gegiu

4 November 2026, 11:08

Current Affairs

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Romania ranks last in the European Union in terms of companies’ use of artificial intelligence, according to Eurostat data presented Wednesday by Romanian software company Roweb. In 2025, only 5.2% of enterprises with at least ten employees used AI technologies, compared with 20% across the EU. This means that approximately 95% of Romanian companies did not use such solutions.

The gap compared with the Nordic countries is significant. In Denmark, the share of companies using AI reached 42%, compared with 37.8% in Finland and 35% in Sweden.

The cited data also point to delays in the digitalization of healthcare services. In 2024, only 9.1% of Romanians used a website or app to book medical appointments, compared with 39.8% in the European Union. A study presented by Roweb shows that approximately four in ten medical appointment requests fail on the first call. In nearly half of cases, the issue is a lack of available appointments or the absence of a clear alternative for the patient.

The completion rate reaches 88.35% when an appointment is offered on the same day, but falls to 5.84% when availability is unclear or postponed. Approximately 19% of calls to clinics are requests for information about prices, services, or reimbursement.

A Gartner report published on October 26, 2026, shows that 77% of board members expect AI to increase productivity and reduce costs. However, only 3% of organizations are exceeding their savings targets, while 38% have exceeded their AI budgets, and 85% intend to increase investments in the following year.

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Context: Romania is preparing the framework for AI and trying to reduce skills gaps

Alongside discussions about adopting AI in the economy, Romania has outlined its position on “frontier AI” as a security and foreign policy priority. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dan Neculăescu stated, following his participation in the “A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models” meeting initiated by Finland and Norway, that the accelerated development of AI must be accompanied by human oversight, safety standards and rules against misuse, as well as mechanisms to protect fundamental rights and democratic values.

On the infrastructure and training front, the country has begun implementing the RO AI Factory project, hosted by ICI Bucharest and funded by EuroHPC JU, aimed at developing, training and testing AI applications by the end of 2027. The project also seeks to democratize access to AI resources for start-ups and SMEs through technical support, training and mentoring.

At the same time, earlier data pointed to a major digital skills gap: Monitorul Social, based on Eurostat (2025), ranked Romania last in the EU in terms of the share of the population with basic or above-basic digital skills.