- Booking.com has partnered with OpenAI to offer training in Europe
- Six countries will receive free in-person training, virtual sessions and lessons from OpenAI Academy
- OpenAI also wants to boost EU research on the safety and well-being of young people and support their governments.
OpenAI has partnered with Booking.com to launch a new scheme designed to help 20,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Europe adopt and use AI tools in their business operations.
The new jointly developed program will provide free hands-on training to demonstrate some of the use cases of AI and its productivity, efficiency and competitiveness benefits.
It will be available in part through the relatively new OpenAI Academy, similar to US upskilling efforts, but there will also be in-person workshops and virtual sessions to reinforce learning.
Upon launch, the ‘SME AI Accelerator’ program will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The companies explained that the new program comes in response to the relatively low adoption of AI among SMEs: while 55% of the largest companies used AI in 2025, according to Eurostat data cited in the announcement, only 17% of SMEs did so. With SMEs representing 99% of all businesses in Europe, there is enormous scope for further training and deployment.
Still, Europe’s use of AI impresses on a global scale, with the EU using 17% more advanced thinking capabilities than the global average.
“AI is accelerating change across all sectors, creating transformative opportunities for growth and innovation for businesses of all sizes,” wrote James Waters, chief commercial officer at Booking.com. “Building a strong and successful AI ecosystem in Europe is vital to unlocking these opportunities.”
Dates, locations and actual organizations set up to support local delivery will be announced in the coming months.
The Europe-specific SME AI Accelerator is part of a broader EU Economic Plan 2.0 scheme, which also sets out plans to support research into the safety and well-being of young people and provide governments with access to OpenAI for Europe.
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