1、 EU Economic Blueprint 2.0 January 2026 Foreword Deploying AI of,for and by Europe AI capability has advanced at extraordinary speed.In 2022,frontier models could reliably complete tasks that take human experts about one minute to complete;today,they can complete tasks that take human experts more t
2、han 30 minutes.But Europes ability to translate that capability into broad-based economic and social impact is uneven.Left unaddressed,it risks concentrating productivity gains in a small number of countries,sectors,and firms,while others fall behind.We refer to this gap as the capability overhang:t
3、he widening distance between what frontier AI can do and the extent to which those capabilities are being adopted by users and absorbed across the economy.Worldwide,the typical power user uses 7x more thinking capabilities than the typical user.And across more than 70 countries with the highest Chat
4、GPT users,leading countries use 3 more thinking capabilities per person than users in lagging countries.This capability overhang,ultimately,is about the opportunity for individuals,companies,and countries to participate in the Intelligence Age.Europe uses 17%more thinking capabilities on average tha
5、n the rest of the world,however,there are big differences between Member States,with the most thinking-intensive country using approximately 40%more thinking capabilities than the least intensive.Although most Member States are above the global average,nine EU countries still fall below the global a
6、verage.Understanding and addressing the overhang in Europe,including through our new SME AI Accelerator campaign supported by B,to help 20,000 SMEs across Europe better use AI,is the core focus of this years Blueprint report.We see the capability overhang as the primary challenge for Europe moving f