Washington, Sept. 19 (SANA)Artificial intelligence could raise European productivity by roughly 1% over five years, but it risks widening economic inequality, increasing power grid strain, and deepening dependence on foreign technology unless governments deepen integration, theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF) stated in a paper presented Saturday.

The IMF highlighted that AI benefits and costs will be unevenly distributed across nations, regions, and workers, noting that completing the European Single Market would help spread the technology’s gains more evenly acrossEUmember states.

Around 60% of workers in advanced European economies hold jobs highly exposed to AI. While some stand to gain from productivity boosts, others face displacement risks as routine tasks become automated.

The report noted that data centers consume nearly 3% of Europe’s electricity, with demand expected to surge alongsideAIadoption—particularly in hubs like Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin. The IMF urged the EU to invest in cross-border power grids and energy market integration.

Additionally, the IMF warned of strategic dependency risks given US and Chinese dominance in AI model development, calling on Europe to scale up sector investments.

The paper was prepared for an informal meeting of EU finance ministers and central bank governors concluding Saturday in Dublin.