Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an increasingly important role in the digital transformation of the European economy and is changing the way businesses operate, innovate, and make decisions. Based on Eurostat data, it is possible to track how these trends are reflected in the Slovak context — in terms of both the extent and the purpose of AI use.
In 2024, 13.48% of companies in the EU with 10 or more employees used at least one of the following artificial intelligence technologies:
- technologies for written language analysis (text mining),
- technologies for converting spoken language into machine-readable format (speech recognition),
- technologies for generating written or spoken language (natural language generation),
- technologies for identifying objects or people based on images (image recognition and processing),
- machine learning (e.g., deep learning) for data analysis,
- technologies for automating work processes or supporting decision-making (AI-based robotic process automation),
- technologies enabling machines to move physically based on observing their surroundings and making autonomous decisions.
A comparison of companies using at least one artificial intelligence technology across EU countries shows that the share of companies using AI ranged between 3.07% and 27.58%. The highest share was recorded in Denmark (27.58%), followed by Sweden (25.09%) and Belgium (24.71%), while the lowest shares were recorded in Romania (3.07%), Poland (5.9%), and Bulgaria (6.47%). In 2024, all EU member states reported a higher share of companies using AI technologies compared to 2023. The largest increase was observed in Sweden (+14.72 percentage points), while the smallest increase was in Portugal (+0.77 percentage points).
The use of AI technologies in Slovakia in 2024 increased year-on-year across all categories of companies. The largest relative growth was recorded in medium and large enterprises, which have greater capacity for investment and innovation adoption. Small enterprises showed a more moderate increase, but the trend in this segment is also positive.
From the perspective of the overall average, the share of Slovak companies using AI in 2024 increased by 3.74 percentage points to 10.78%, representing a significant shift compared to the previous year.
This development confirms that AI is gradually becoming part of business processes in Slovakia, with the fastest adoption occurring in larger companies. The challenge for the future will be to support AI adoption also in the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The next chart illustrates a comparison of the share of companies that used artificial intelligence technologies in 2024 between Slovakia and the European Union average, broken down by company size.
In the category of small enterprises, the share in Slovakia was 8.78%, while the EU average reached 11.21%. Medium-sized enterprises reported AI usage of 15.73% in Slovakia, compared to an EU average of 20.97%. The largest gap was observed among large enterprises, where Slovak companies reached a share of 29.10%, while the EU average stood at 41.17%.
The comparison shows that Slovak companies in all categories lag behind the EU average in the adoption of AI technologies. The differences are most pronounced among large enterprises, highlighting the potential for more intensive digitalization and broader use of artificial intelligence in the Slovak business environment.
In the next stage of the analysis, we focused on comparing Slovakia with the EU average in terms of the purposes for which companies used artificial intelligence technologies in 2024.
The most common use of AI in Slovakia is in marketing or sales, where 32.09% of companies used AI. This figure is only slightly lower than the EU average of 34.08%, indicating that Slovak companies recognize well the potential of artificial intelligence in commerce and customer communication.
In contrast, the biggest gap compared to the EU is seen in the area of organizing administrative processes and management. While the EU average reaches 27.51%, in Slovakia this area is covered by only 12.93% of companies using AI. This may suggest that Slovak companies are not yet fully leveraging the potential of AI to streamline internal operations.
In manufacturing, 17.21% of Slovak companies used AI, compared to 23.49% in the EU. Similarly, in the areas of ICT security and financial management, Slovakia is slightly below the European average. Interestingly, however, in research and development (R&D) or innovation activities, Slovak companies are slightly above the EU average — 18.85% compared to 18.59% — which points to the potential of the domestic innovation environment.
It can therefore be pointed out that Slovak companies are competitive in some areas of AI use, but there is room for growth particularly in the areas of internal process management and industrial automation.
Conclusion
Data from 2024 clearly show that artificial intelligence is finding its place in business practice across the European Union. The share of companies deploying AI technologies grew year-on-year in all size categories — most notably in large enterprises, but a positive trend is also visible among small and medium-sized firms. From an EU perspective, the leaders are countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium, while Slovakia ranks 16th.
It appears that Slovak companies most frequently use AI in marketing and sales, which is in line with the overall European trend. In some areas, such as research and development, our companies are even slightly above the EU average. On the other hand, we lag mainly in the deployment of AI for internal processes, particularly in administration and management, where the gap is significant.
These findings point to several challenges, but also opportunities. Slovakia has the potential to become an active player in the field of artificial intelligence, especially if access to technologies improves, the digital readiness of small and medium-sized enterprises increases, and cooperation between business, academia, and the state deepens.
Source: Eurostat
Published: July 10, 2025
