Artificial intelligence could raise European productivity by about 1% over five years, but the gains and costs are likely to be distributed unevenly among countries, regions and workers, an International Monetary Fund paper said. The note, prepared for an informal meeting of European Union finance ministers in Dublin on September 18-19, said completing the EU single market could spread adoption and benefits more evenly across the 27-nation bloc. Around 60% of workers in advanced European economies are in occupations highly exposed to AI, creating opportunities for higher productivity but also displacement where automation replaces rather than complements labor. Data centers already consume roughly 3% of Europe’s electricity, with clusters in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin putting pressure on local power networks. The IMF called for cross-border grid investment and deeper energy-market integration, while warning that the dominance of the US and China in AI-model development could leave Europe dependent on foreign technology. More advanced economies are expected to benefit disproportionately because they are better prepared for and more exposed to AI.