Poland should take AI seriously. Otherwise, we risk remaining on the global margins

• It is worth taking advantage of the opportunity to reduce costs, improve quality and increase opportunities for innovative industries.
• Artificial intelligence has an impact on the entire economy, but the Institute points to three areas of particular importance.
• The PIE report "In Search of AI Development Priorities in Poland" is an attempt to answer the question of what we must do to avoid remaining on the margins of global changes.

The latest report prepared by experts from the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) concerns artificial intelligence and its importance for improving the competitiveness of our economy.

The PIE report describes the situation we currently find ourselves in and proposes actions to accelerate the implementation of solutions that are essential for every innovative country.

The wide use of artificial intelligence can bring benefits in the form of lower operating costs, improved production quality and reduced duration of business processes.

It is necessary to prepare an industrial strategy quickly

However, it is necessary to prepare an industrial policy strategy so that it is possible to coordinate activities related to the possibility of developing domestic solutions using AI.

This will allow us to maintain security and independence, which are particularly important in the face of geopolitical challenges. The Polish government administration is currently working on preparing a collective document on artificial intelligence.

The Polish Economic Institute, in line with these activities, indicates three possible approaches to creating assumptions for an AI strategy.

1. The first involves identifying key technological dependencies and niches to be developed.
2. The second is a strategy based on the analysis of economic indicators and industrial policy priorities in the country.
3. The third approach is that AI will solve key socio-economic challenges.

In 2024, only 5.9% of Polish companies employing at least 10 employees used artificial intelligence tools, which places Poland in penultimate place in the EU - we are ahead of only Romania. A particularly low level of AI use concerns small and medium-sized companies - as many as 33% of them were not interested in digital technologies at all. At the same time, 55% of micro and small companies assessed the need for investment in AI as insignificant, despite the fact that this sector accounts for 45.3% of GDP and 99.8% of all companies in the country - we read in the PIE report.

Artificial intelligence has an impact on the entire economy, but it is particularly important in three areas:

1. health care,
2. defense,
3. energy.

Healthcare should use AI to improve medical procedures, patient care, prevention, and diagnostics. This could result in huge savings and better utilization of staff.

A separate issue should be the stimulation of the potential of Polish industry to produce medicines, medical equipment and digital solutions for hospitals.

AI can be helpful in managing the energy system

In the case of energy, we must be aware that AI will generate increased demand for electricity. On the other hand, however, it will allow for the management of the network, production from renewable energy sources, including offshore farms in the Baltic Sea.

And finally, defence, where there is a need to increase efforts in the area of ​​cybersecurity, protection of sensitive data, care for critical infrastructure and preparation for the export of so-called dual-use goods.

- EU member states have been creating a national action plan in the area of ​​AI for several years. At the Polish Economic Institute, we propose an innovative approach, which does not provide ready-made answers, but rather guidelines on how to choose priority areas of support. For this purpose, we have developed three possible applications of the approach in the process of identifying key areas for the development of AI in Poland - explains Ignacy Święcicki, head of the digital economy team at PIE.

The PIE report is the basis for further work on the use of AI

- Our concept can be used in the next step to identify support areas and select specific goals. In this sense, it is the basis for further work and decisions made at the political level - assesses Ignacy Święcicki.

On the one hand, artificial intelligence poses threats to currently functioning economic and business systems, but also a great opportunity to improve the use of existing resources.