Over 70% of medium and large companies in Poland are taking action to meet the requirements of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), according to the third edition of the EY survey “How Polish Companies Are Implementing AI.” This represents an increase of 13 percentage points over the course of a year. At the same time, 32% of enterprises identified compliance-related issues as a barrier hindering the implementation of AI in their organizations.
The AI Act entered into force in August 2024. Its goal is to set standards for the safe and lawful use of artificial intelligence. The implementation of the regulation has been spread over several stages. According to the original assumptions, regulations regarding high-risk systems, among others, are to apply starting August 2026. A year later, the final implementation stage regarding systems covered by existing EU product safety regulations is scheduled.
Currently, work is underway at the EU level to postpone the schedule for the entry into force of these regulations. If the proposed changes within the Omnibus package are adopted, the application dates for subsequent groups of regulations will be modified accordingly.
“UNDER THE AI ACT, ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD TAKE CONCRETE STEPS, INCLUDING REVIEWING AND CLASSIFYING THEIR AI SOLUTIONS, INTRODUCING A QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND ESTABLISHING APPROPRIATE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES REGARDING RISK MANAGEMENT AND AI ETHICS, AMONG OTHERS. IT WILL ALSO BE NECESSARY TO ASSESS RISK MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENT OVERSIGHT AND CONTROL MECHANISMS FOR AI SYSTEMS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION,” SAYS JUSTYNA WILCZYŃSKA-BARANIAK, PARTNER AT EY, LEADER OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, TECHNOLOGY, AND PERSONAL DATA TEAM AT EY LAW.
Implementation Status and Challenges
The EY survey showed that 31% of companies have started the AI Act implementation process, and 40% are currently in the midst of it. This means that over 70% of organizations in Poland are working on adapting to the new regulations.
Over the last year, the percentage of firms that had already started implementation rose from 29% to 31%, and those in the process increased from 29% to 40%—a combined year-over-year change of 13 percentage points. Simultaneously, the group of organizations that only plan to do so has decreased (from 17% to 8%). It is also worth noting that the percentage of organizations that attempted implementation but paused work remains unchanged at 16%.
More than one-third of enterprises (34%) assessed that full adaptation to the AI Act will be labor-intensive and will force changes in both internal and business processes. For 23%, the task is difficult enough that they will reach out to external experts. Only 3% of firms indicate that the AI Act does not apply to them.
“IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE AI ACT HAS BECOME PART OF A BROADER TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION IN POLISH ORGANIZATIONS, AS WELL AS AN IMPULSE FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO ORGANIZE KEY AREAS RELATED TO THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THE LARGEST GROUP OF SURVEYED ENTITIES HAS TAKEN ADAPTATION STEPS, FACING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE REQUIREMENTS POSED BY THE AI ACT. THE SUSPENSION OF WORK BY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS MAY RESULT FROM DIFFICULTIES IN INTERPRETING REGULATIONS OR ORGANIZATIONAL LIMITATIONS,” ADDS JUSTYNA WILCZYŃSKA-BARANIAK.
Compliance with Regulations
More than half of the surveyed organizations implemented AI primarily in the IT area. AI was least frequently introduced into the compliance department and legal-procedural areas; only 8% of Polish firms took such actions, which is 3 percentage points more than a year earlier. This indicates a need for greater legal and process maturity in enterprises and an acceleration of processes in this area.
Regulatory limitations and uncertainty ranked as the third largest barrier hindering AI implementation—following issues related to security concerns and technological difficulties. These were identified by nearly one-third of respondents (32%). Regardless of the AI Act, other regulations also apply to artificial intelligence models, including GDPR (RODO) or NIS2.
“EFFECTIVELY ENSURING COMPLIANCE IN THE AI AREA IS A COMPLICATED PROCESS THAT REQUIRES AWARENESS OF THE COMPLEX REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT, THE SPECIFICS OF THE ORGANIZATION ITSELF, AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SECTOR IN WHICH THE ORGANIZATION OPERATES. THIS IS THE STARTING POINT THAT ALLOWS FOR A PROPER DIAGNOSIS AND THE DEFINITION OF A STRATEGY FOR THE EFFECTIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE AI ACT. THE RESULT OF THE ENTIRE PROCESS SHOULD BE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AI MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION, I.E., AI GOVERNANCE,” SUMMARIZES JUSTYNA WILCZYŃSKA-BARANIAK.
About the Survey
The survey—How Polish Companies Are Implementing AI—was conducted by CubeResearch on behalf of EY. The respondents were 499 Polish companies: 45% from the production sector, 33% from the services sector, 22% from trade. 56% of the enterprises were medium-sized companies, and 44% were large. The third edition was conducted in the last quarter of 2025.
