What does the latest Indeed Hiring Lab report say?
On 1 April 2026, Indeed Hiring Lab published figures for the month of February 2026 on job postings that mention artificial intelligence across five major markets. The result is damning: France comes last.
With only 3.4% of job postings mentioning AI, France is last of the five countries studied. For comparison, the United Kingdom is at 7.5% (more than double), the United States at 4.9%, Germany at 4.1% and Italy at 3.9%. More worrying still: over the same period, the gap between France and its neighbours has been widening steadily since 2024.
A job posting that mentions AI is not necessarily a specialist role. It can also be a marketing, HR, legal or accounting role where the employer expects the candidate to know how to use these tools in their day-to-day work. It is therefore an excellent thermometer of the real spread of AI through the economy, and not just in research labs.
And what about companies — is the picture any better?
No. According to the latest ICT survey published by INSEE (which covers 2024 and remains the most recent official data available until the next summer 2026 wave), only 10% of French companies with more than 10 employees use at least one AI technology. Here too, France is below the European average (13%) and a long way behind the leading countries: Denmark at 28%, Belgium at 25%, and Sweden also above 25%.
The sector-by-sector breakdown reveals a worrying divide. In information and communication, 42% of companies use AI, which is decent. But in transport or accommodation, that figure falls to 5%, and in construction to 3%. For an economy like France's, where these sectors account for millions of jobs, this is a wake-up call.
| Country | Job adverts mentioning AI (Indeed, February 2026) |
Businesses using AI (Eurostat, 2024 data) |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 7.5% | not measured (non-EU) |
| Denmark | not measured | 27.6% |
| United States | 4.9% | not measured (non-EU) |
| Germany | 4.1% | ~20% |
| Italy | 3.9% | ~9% |
| France | 3.4% | 10% |
Why such a lag?
Three main reasons compound one another. The first is structural: France uses cloud services far less than its neighbours. Yet modern AI depends almost entirely on that infrastructure to operate at scale. No cloud, no deployable AI.
The second reason is cultural. According to a Bpifrance Le Lab study of 1,209 managers of French SMEs and mid-sized companies, only 32% of them use AI, while 58% consider AI "essential to survival" for their business. The gap between awareness and action is huge: bosses know they should get on board, but they don't.
The third reason is political. France made a bold bet on technological sovereignty with Mistral AI, which makes sense in the long term. But it has also created a permanent debate about the "right" tool to use, slowing adoption decisions while waiting for a French solution to mature, even though competitors had already been using ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for 18 months.
On 28 April 2026, Anne Le Hénanff (minister delegate for AI and digital affairs) was questioned by the Senate's business delegation. She explicitly spoke of a "risk of falling behind against global competition" and acknowledged that "too few micro-enterprises and SMEs have taken the plunge". When the politician in charge of the file says so herself, the situation is no longer negotiable.
And what about French research in all this?
This is the central paradox. France has a globally recognised AI research ecosystem: according to the figures presented by the minister to the Senate, more than 4,000 specialised researchers and 1,000 startups that raised €2.5 billion in 2025, with several international champions such as Mistral AI, H Company, AMI Labs and Armatan. On paper, France is the "European locomotive", as the Senate hailed it during the hearing.
The problem, then, is neither talent nor innovation. It is diffusion into the real economy. France produces excellent AI that its own companies do not use. It is a bit like building the best cars in the world, but nobody in the country buys them.
What concrete consequences for the French economy?
The effects are already measurable in productivity. At the individual level too: a French worker who has not mastered AI tools in 2026 is falling behind their European counterparts, which translates into gaps in pay and opportunities in the years ahead. France's Gen Z and millennials are getting by thanks to massive personal use of ChatGPT and Mistral, but the gap is widening with companies that are not moving at the same pace.
Is there a way out?
Yes, but it is closing fast. In 2025 the government launched the "Make France an AI power" plan, with an announced envelope of €109 billion. Most of that money goes to research and infrastructure, not to adoption in business. Minister Le Hénanff raised the idea of a "third way for AI", French and European, in the face of the American and Chinese blocs. On paper, it is coherent. In practice, time is short: every month France drags its feet, its competitors gain a lead that will be hard to make up.
The real question lies elsewhere. Beyond policy plans, it is France's entrepreneurial culture itself that must change. As long as SME bosses continue to see AI as a futuristic option rather than an immediate necessity, the figures will not move. How can France accelerate its adoption without betraying its values of sovereignty and data protection? It is precisely this dilemma that we will explore in a forthcoming article.