Demand for artificial intelligence skills is rising across Polish companies. The number of job offers from the SME sector referring to AI increased from around 3,200 in 2024 to 5,700 in 2025, according to a Google report based on data from Pracuj.pl. Employers are looking not only for familiarity with specific AI tools, but also for critical thinking, data analysis and the ability to assess the quality of AI-generated results.
“When it comes to the skills the labour market expects from employees, a great deal depends on the industry,” Paweł Tkaczyk, a marketing and brand-building expert, told Newseria.
“I would assume that the minimum requirement is understanding how AI works and being able to use chat-based tools to search for and synthesise information. The next level involves automating repetitive tasks, while a more advanced level is about creating agents that can work in the background, reason and synthesise information. In most sectors, employers probably expect those basic skills, but if someone wants to stand out in the labour market, moving further along this path can create a competitive advantage. There is something that can be automated in virtually every industry.”
According to last year’s EY report “How Polish Companies Are Implementing AI”, 34% of medium-sized and large enterprises said they had already deployed artificial intelligence solutions, up 9 percentage points from the previous year, while another 43% were in the process of doing so.
The main drivers were the desire to improve or automate internal processes, cited by 59% of companies, the opportunity to reach customers more effectively, mentioned by 56%, and the introduction of new products or services, identified by 48%.
AI-related job postings are rising rapidly
Growing corporate interest in artificial intelligence is also visible in recruitment.
PwC’s global “AI Jobs Barometer 2026”, which analysed more than one billion job advertisements across 27 countries, found that the number of postings requiring AI-related skills in Poland increased by around 33,000 in 2025 to approximately 80,000.
They still accounted for only 3.5% of all job advertisements, however.
Globally, employers are looking both for people who can use AI tools effectively in their day-to-day work and for developers and technology specialists capable of expanding the business applications of AI.
Meanwhile, Google’s “AI in Polish SMEs 2026” report, based on Pracuj.pl data, shows that employers increasingly expect workers to be able to use AI tools, analyse data and critically assess results generated by technology.
Companies are looking for people who can do more than simply complete assigned tasks. They also want employees who can interpret information and use it to make sound decisions.
“The labour market is still at a stage where employers do not fully know what they should expect from employees when it comes to AI skills,” said Dr Albert Tomaszewski, Director of the Startup Incubation and Acceleration Centre at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.
“There are certainly more and more managers who assume that employees should know how to prompt, in other words, how to support their work with what they can obtain from a chatbot.”
He added that the ability to distinguish valuable information from irrelevant or unreliable content will remain particularly important.
“The tools are easy to use. What is much more difficult is deciding what to do with the results they produce and whether we should accept the quality of what the technology gives us. Many people do not ask themselves those questions. The valuable employees will be those who look at the output and say: no, this is not good enough.”
Most employees will not need advanced AI programming skills
According to the OECD report “AI and Skills: What We Know So Far”, fewer than 1% of workers are expected to require advanced AI-related competencies such as programming or model development.
For the majority of employees, the more important requirements will be digital literacy and the ability to use, analyse and interpret data.
“Do employees currently have AI skills at the right level? That depends heavily on how much effort they put into learning about AI,” Tkaczyk said.
“Education in this area is now quite widespread and easily accessible, but not everyone has embraced it yet. Some people do not believe they need this knowledge, while others approach AI negatively because they fear it will take their jobs.”
Employers are moving from one-off training to broader AI education
Companies themselves are also increasingly taking responsibility for developing AI skills among employees.
Google forecasts presented late last year suggested that organisations would gradually move away from simply purchasing AI tools and toward building workforces capable of implementing them effectively.
This also means a shift from one-off training sessions to more flexible and continuous learning programmes.
“The first thing is to make sure everyone is on the same page,” Tkaczyk said.
“AI implementation is often driven by a handful of enthusiasts within a company who know much more than everyone else. But if we want it to be done properly and across the whole team, we need to level that knowledge. Employees should receive basic training on how AI works and what it is suitable for, and then they can start looking for areas where those tools can actually help.”
Dr Tomaszewski argues that the problem increasingly lies not with employees’ ability to use AI, but with companies’ ability to redesign their organisations around the technology.
“Many employees know how to use artificial intelligence. The problem is that organisations do not know how to take full advantage of that,” he said.
“The real potential lies in not limiting the benefits to a single desk or an individual employee’s workplace. Instead, companies need to redesign the entire work system and task flow so that artificial intelligence becomes part of the process.”
AI skills are spreading beyond the technology sector
Pracuj.pl data indicate that AI competencies are no longer limited to the IT industry.
Demand is also increasing in banking, finance and insurance, FMCG and consumer goods manufacturing, as well as retail.
These skills are increasingly expected not only from programmers and technical specialists, but also from professionals working in marketing, sales and e-commerce.
“Artificial intelligence will revolutionise every area in which we work, but we will not necessarily notice it happening,” Tkaczyk said.
“We will increasingly specialise in using artificial intelligence within our own industries and professions.”
The direction of change suggests that AI literacy may soon become similar to other basic digital competencies: not a specialist skill required only in technology roles, but an increasingly standard element of professional work across a broad range of industries.
