Latest / AI.pt / Portugal AI adoption reaches 27.4%, Government pilots AI for permits, Bain relocates global AI team
Transcript
- Maya: Hey everyone! Here's what's on the radar today on AI.pt. Portugal's AI use climbs to twenty-seven point four percent, the government pilots AI for building permits, and Bain & Company moves its global AI team to Lisbon. I'm Maya. James: And I'm James. Let's get into it. Maya: So, Microsoft's Global AI Diffusion Report puts Portugal at twenty-seven point four percent of working-age people using AI in the second quarter of twenty twenty-six, up one point from twenty-six point four. It tracks aggregated, anonymized Microsoft data. James: That's the part that stings, Maya. The raw number climbs every quarter, but Portugal stays twentieth in Europe and thirty-sixth worldwide. Globally usage hit eighteen point eight percent, and the gap between richer and poorer regions actually widened. Maya: Exactly right, and Microsoft pins that split on connectivity and digital skills. The Global North sits at twenty-eight point eight percent against sixteen point two in the South, stretching the divide to twelve point six points. James: And one bright spot, Maya. Inside the Global South, people lean harder on AI for learning: self-directed study ran twenty-nine point two percent above the global average, and schoolwork support thirty-two point three percent above. Maya: Now to something concrete, James. Portugal's government is advancing a pilot that puts AI into a group of municipalities to process licenciamentos urbanísticos, the local permits construction and renovation projects need before work can legally start. James: That's a real bottleneck, Maya. CNN Portugal reports the government advances the pilot into municipalities, while TugaTech frames it around the goal, using AI to accelerate that licensing step. Same initiative, two verbs. Maya: Fair to flag, James, that neither report explains how the current process works or why AI was chosen. Both just confirm the pilot applying AI to this permit step is underway across those municipalities. James: And a big vote of confidence for Lisbon, Maya. Bain & Company, the US strategy consultancy, is moving its global AI center there, per Expresso. That unit runs AI projects for Bain's operations in other geographies. Maya: And the growth is steep, James. Bain opened in Portugal in twenty twenty-two with four people, hit forty by twenty twenty-four, and counts around one hundred specialists today across management, engineering and economics. James: Exactly, and they're not stopping, Maya. The firm wants the Lisbon team at one hundred fifty people by the end of twenty twenty-seven, a roughly fifty percent increase from current headcount. Maya: That's your AI.pt daily brief. Check ai.pt for the full stories.