OpenAI is today launching its EU Economic Blueprint 2.0—with new EU AI usage data and a set of initiatives designed to accelerate adoption of AI across Europe. The goal is to ensure people, businesses and countries seize the full opportunity of this transformative technology.

Understanding Europe's AI Capability Overhang

The Blueprint shares new data from OpenAI on Europe's growing AI capability overhang—the gap between what frontier AI systems can do and how people, businesses and countries are using the technology. This capability overhang is about the opportunity for individuals, companies, and countries to participate in the Intelligence Age. Left unaddressed, it risks concentrating productivity gains in a small number of countries, sectors, and firms.

Key findings from OpenAI's data reveal:

  • Worldwide, typical power users use 7x more thinking capabilities than typical users
  • Across 70+ countries with the highest ChatGPT users, leading countries use 3x more thinking capabilities per person than lagging countries
  • The EU uses 17% more thinking capabilities on average than the rest of the world
  • However, there are significant differences between Member States, with nine EU countries still falling below the global average

SME AI Accelerator Program

According to Eurostat, in 2025, AI adoption among small businesses stood at 17%, compared with 55% among large enterprises. To help close that gap, OpenAI is launching a new SME AI Accelerator in partnership with Booking.com to help 20,000 SMEs from across the economy boost their productivity and grow their businesses with AI.

The program will be delivered across six countries—France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ireland, and the UK—and is open to small business owners and teams across all sectors, including those with no technical background. The initiative includes in-person workshops and virtual training sessions hosted on OpenAI Academy.

Supporting Youth Safety and Wellbeing

Building trust remains a precondition for AI's success in Europe. OpenAI was the first U.S. AI lab to sign the EU's AI Act Code of Practice and continues to invest in safety. To strengthen collaboration between local youth organizations, independent researchers, and AI developers, OpenAI is launching a €500,000 Youth Safety Grant Program to support the broader community working on child protection, digital wellbeing, and evidence-based approaches to youth online safety.

Expanding Country-Level Partnerships

Across Europe, OpenAI has already worked with governments and partners on a broad set of AI priorities—from sovereign infrastructure initiatives in Germany and Stargate Norway, to nation-wide access to AI in education, accelerating startups, and supporting skill-development programs spanning Estonia, Greece, Ireland, and Slovakia.

In 2026, OpenAI will expand its work through OpenAI for Europe, a regional adaptation of the OpenAI for Countries initiative. This will include new initiatives focused on:

  • Education and health
  • AI skills training and certifications
  • Disaster response and preparedness
  • Cybersecurity
  • Startup accelerators

The EU Economic Blueprint 2.0 sets out how Europe can lead in AI, with OpenAI committed to working together to turn that ambition into impact.

Source: OpenAI Blog