Albanian businesses face the AI era/ EBRD highlights low adoption, but can compensate for workforce decline
The use of artificial intelligence is spreading rapidly in developed economies, while the countries of the Western Balkans, including Albania, continue to lag behind, although they show clear signs of progress.
The latest report of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, “Transition Report 2025-26”, shows that firms in the region are starting to implement new automation and AI technologies, but the level of adoption is still significantly lower compared to advanced countries. In this context, Albania is part of a group of countries that face the same technological challenges such as the lack of sufficient digital skills, lack of investment and the still limited capacities of businesses to apply new generation technologies.
According to the report, younger firms and those led by young managers, with better access to talent and complementary software, are more likely to be early adopters of AI technologies.
Albania, like other Western Balkan countries, faces a major challenge in terms of digital skills. The EBRD report highlights that in some countries in the region, less than 40 percent of young people reach a sufficient level of digital technology use, which translates into difficulties in quickly benefiting from artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, many young workers and women find themselves in jobs at high risk of replacement by AI, making the need for investment in training and professional retraining even more urgent.
In some economic modeling scenarios, AI could offset up to half of the expected productivity loss resulting from demographic aging, an important scenario for Albania, which is facing high emigration and a shrinking workforce.
In the region, it is clear that advanced countries are moving much faster. The United States and major European Union countries are adopting artificial intelligence technologies on a large scale, creating a new technological gap that Balkan countries must quickly address to avoid being left behind.
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