{ "id": "F-38", "url": "https://evy.so/facts/eu-ai-act-readiness/", "chapter": "Europe", "question": "How ready are European companies for the EU AI Act?", "answer": "About 3 in 10 companies say they understand what the AI Act requires: 28 percent in two independent 2026 surveys, and 71 percent of German firms feel poorly informed. Engagement is rising fast, and the deadlines for high-risk AI moved in July 2026 to December 2027 and August 2028.", "range": { "low": 28, "high": 28, "unit": "% of firms or professionals who say they understand the AI Act's requirements well, 2026", "display": "28% of companies say they understand what the AI Act requires (two 2026 surveys)" }, "confidence": "medium", "confidence_reason": "Two independent surveys with different populations and methods land on the same 28%, and a third confirms the direction. No EU-wide official survey exists, so the evidence leans on Germany, is self-reported, and two of the creators sell compliance services.", "last_checked": "2026-10-14", "how_to_read": "Feeling informed is different from being compliant, and all of this is self-reported. The German surveys cover firms with 20 or more employees; the four-country survey asks IT professionals and includes the UK, where the Act applies only to firms selling into the EU. Most firms are users of AI, not providers (88% of German AI users), so their main duties are AI literacy, transparency and, for high-risk uses, deployer duties.", "sources": [ { "creator": "Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and TÜV-Verband, survey by forsa", "title": "KI-Sicherheitsstudie 2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "505 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany (246 using AI), June to July 2026", "method": "Representative survey for a federal authority and the testing association, whose members sell AI audits", "figure": "28% well informed about the Act's requirements, 71% poorly informed; of AI-using firms, 65% trained staff, 37% classified systems by risk, 23% took none of six steps", "url": "https://www.tuev-verband.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Content_local/Studien_local/2026_BSI-TUEV-KI-Sicherheitsstudie.pdf", "quote": "darüber fühlt sich die überwiegende Mehrheit der Befragten schlecht informiert (71 Prozent)" }, { "creator": "ESSCA School of Management with Forvis Mazars", "title": "AI, Business and Sustainability Barometer 2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "826 IT and digital professionals in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, March 2026", "method": "Survey by a business school and an audit firm that sells compliance advice; summary page only", "figure": "28% say their organization understands the AI Act well; 57% provide AI training for employees", "url": "https://www.essca.eu/en/news/2026-ai-barometer-businesses-accelerate-ai-adoption-governance-keep-pace/", "quote": "believe their organisation has a good understanding of the EU AI Act" }, { "creator": "Bitkom", "title": "Erstmals nutzt die Mehrheit der Unternehmen KI (press release and chart deck, 14 September 2026)", "year": 2026, "sample": "603 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany, July to August 2026", "method": "Representative telephone survey by the German digital industry association", "figure": "37% expect to be affected as AI users (23% in 2025), 34% are still checking, 8% have not looked at the Act; 89% of those affected expect high effort", "url": "https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Erstmals-nutzt-Mehrheit-Unternehmen-KI", "quote": "8 Prozent haben sich mit dem AI Act noch nicht beschäftigt" } ], "related_findings": [ { "question": "When do the EU AI Act's rules apply?", "answer": "The Act entered into force on 1 August 2024. Bans on prohibited practices and the AI literacy duty apply from 2 February 2025, rules for general-purpose AI models from 2 August 2025, and the general application date, including transparency duties, is 2 August 2026. The Digital Omnibus on AI (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force since 27 July 2026) moved the high-risk rules to 2 December 2027 for uses such as hiring, credit and education, and to 2 August 2028 for AI built into regulated products. It also softened the AI literacy duty to taking measures to support it, and added bans on non-consensual intimate deepfakes and child abuse material from 2 December 2026. The separate data and GDPR half of the Digital Omnibus, COM(2025) 837, is still only a proposal.", "sources": [ { "creator": "European Parliament and Council of the European Union", "title": "Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act), Article 113", "year": 2024, "sample": "Legal text", "method": "Official text on EUR-Lex", "figure": "In force 1 August 2024; bans and AI literacy from 2 February 2025; general-purpose AI rules from 2 August 2025; general application from 2 August 2026", "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689", "quote": "It shall apply from 2 August 2026." }, { "creator": "European Parliament and Council of the European Union", "title": "Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI)", "year": 2026, "sample": "Legal text, signed 8 July 2026", "method": "Official text on EUR-Lex; amendments in effect from 27 July 2026", "figure": "High-risk rules for Annex III uses from 2 December 2027 and for regulated products from 2 August 2028; new bans from 2 December 2026", "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026R1744", "quote": "2 December 2027 as regards AI systems classified as high-risk pursuant to Article 6(2)" }, { "creator": "European Parliament, Legislative Observatory", "title": "Procedure file 2025/0360(COD): Digital Omnibus on data, GDPR, ePrivacy and cybersecurity", "year": 2026, "sample": "Procedure record, checked 14 October 2026", "method": "Legislative Observatory page", "figure": "Proposal COM(2025) 837, awaiting committee decision; not adopted", "url": "https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/procedure-file?reference=2025/0360(COD)", "quote": "Awaiting committee decision" } ] }, { "question": "How many European workers get AI training?", "answer": "Few, though firms are catching up. In 2024, 15% of employees in 11 EU countries took part in any AI training in the previous year (Germany 14%), while 42% said they needed to build AI skills (Cedefop). In 2026, 70% of German firms with 20 or more employees train at least some staff on AI, but only 11% train all of them (Bitkom); asked whether they had already trained staff, 27% said yes (TÜV-Verband). ICT specialists, who build and run AI systems, are 5.0% of EU employment (Germany 5.5%).", "confidence": "low", "sources": [ { "creator": "Cedefop (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training)", "title": "Skills empower workers in the AI revolution: first results of Cedefop's 2024 AI skills survey", "year": 2025, "sample": "5,342 employees aged 16 to 64 in 11 EU countries, February to May 2024", "method": "Probability-based online panels, weighted", "figure": "15% took part in AI training in the past 12 months (Germany 14%); 42% report an AI skill gap", "url": "https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/9201_en.pdf", "quote": "a relatively small share (15%) of workers participated in education or training" }, { "creator": "TÜV-Verband, survey by forsa", "title": "TÜV Weiterbildungsstudie 2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "500 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany", "method": "Representative survey for the testing association, whose members sell training", "figure": "27% of firms have already trained staff on AI (12% in 2024); 49% of firms with 250 or more employees", "url": "https://www.tuev-verband.de/pressemitteilungen/ki-schulungen-in-unternehmen-innerhalb-von-zwei-jahren-verdoppelt", "quote": "27 Prozent der Unternehmen haben ihre Beschäftigten bereits im Umgang mit KI geschult" }, { "creator": "Eurostat (EU Labour Force Survey)", "title": "Employed ICT specialists (dataset isoc_sks_itspt)", "year": 2026, "sample": "EU Labour Force Survey, 2025", "method": "Official statistics", "figure": "ICT specialists 5.0% of EU employment (10.45 million people); Germany 5.5% (2.32 million)", "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/isoc_sks_itspt/default/table", "quote": "Employed information and communications technology (ICT) specialists" } ] } ], "numbers_you_may_have_seen": [ { "claim": "High-risk AI Act rules apply from 2 August 2026.", "what_the_source_says": "Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 moved them to 2 December 2027 (uses such as hiring) and 2 August 2028 (regulated products). 2 August 2026 remains the general date, including transparency duties." }, { "claim": "The AI Act requires every company to ensure all staff are AI literate.", "what_the_source_says": "Since 27 July 2026, the duty is to take measures to support AI literacy, and the text says it does not require guaranteeing any level of literacy." }, { "claim": "The Digital Omnibus has been adopted.", "what_the_source_says": "Only the AI part, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744. The data and GDPR part, COM(2025) 837, is still awaiting a committee decision in Parliament." }, { "claim": "56% of companies are completely unprepared for the AI Act (attributed to TÜV).", "what_the_source_says": "We found no primary source for it. The BSI and TÜV study says 71% of German firms feel poorly informed and 23% of AI users have taken none of six compliance steps." }, { "claim": "70% of German companies train their staff on AI (Bitkom).", "what_the_source_says": "It includes firms training only selected employees; 11% train everyone, and TÜV-Verband finds 27% have actually trained staff." } ], "citation": "EVY (2026). How ready are European companies for the EU AI Act? The AI at Work Fact Book, F-38. https://evy.so/facts/eu-ai-act-readiness/ (last checked October 14, 2026). CC BY 4.0.", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }