6:04 4 December 2025
Poland’s AI paradox
Poland has the talent to build artificial intelligence — but not the resources to power it.
Poland consistently ranks high in global assessments of digital skills. The country has around 500,000 IT specialists—the 11th largest programmer pool worldwide—and regularly excels at the International Olympiad in Informatics. In Central and Eastern Europe, it leads in programming-skills rankings and, with 9,200 new IT graduates in 2024, places fourth in Europe behind Germany.
This strong human-capital base shows in AI readiness. Poland’s AI-skills saturation stands at 0.78, above the global median of 0.62, meaning AI competencies are more common here than in Sweden, Belgium, or Ireland. AI-talent concentration is even higher at 0.94%, surpassing the US, France, and the UK.
Yet the foundations are weak: low investment, limited computing power, few data centers, modest VC funding, and scarce corporate adoption. Without stronger physical infrastructure, Poland risks merely imitating rather than creating advanced AI.
