AI Skepticism as an Opportunity: 54 Percent of SMEs Demand European Standards Instead of Silicon Valley Dictates

Austria's small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly embracing artificial intelligence — but on their own terms. More than one in two respondents distrust AI providers outside the European Union (EU). What may appear at first glance to be reluctance turns out, on closer inspection, to be a deliberate move to protect intellectual property — meaning a company's ideas, data, and trade secrets. This is the finding of a recent survey conducted by market research institute YouGov on behalf of web hosting provider world4you. This stance is receiving tailwinds from Brussels: with the EU Tech Sovereignty Package presented at the beginning of June, a European set of measures for greater technological independence, the approaching EU AI Act, and the ongoing implementation of the NIS2 Directive (shared EU requirements for network and information security), the pressure on companies to take control of their own data flows is growing. world4you sees this development not as a hurdle, but as an opportunity for greater "AI Trust Made in Austria."

Distrust Is Not a Tech Boycott

The survey figures paint a clear picture. 54 percent of companies distrust AI providers outside the EU. For 50 percent of businesses, the fear of data theft or unauthorized access is the biggest obstacle to using AI.

That this caution is not directed at the technology itself is made clear by Sandra Trummer-Gabler, Managing Director of world4you: "Austrians are not technology refusers — they are security realists. Whoever entrusts customer data or calculations to a provider outside the European legal framework gives up a degree of control in the process. Caution is therefore not a stumbling block, but entirely appropriate and falls under entrepreneurial due diligence," says the Managing Director.

Brussels Is Changing the Rules of the Game

The regulatory framework lends further weight to this stance. The most significant strategic signal comes from the EU Tech Sovereignty Package, presented on 3 June 2026, through which the European Commission has declared digital independence an explicit goal. Its cornerstone is a uniform European framework that makes the sovereignty of cloud and AI services measurable for the first time — revealing where data is processed and who can access it. The motivation is clear: more than 80 percent of central digital products and infrastructure in Europe currently depend on providers outside the EU. This technological dependency carries risks that need to be curbed in the interest of European digital sovereignty, particularly given ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Trummer-Gabler puts the development in context: "What was previously considered isolated caution is now becoming a binding standard. Companies that can demonstrate early on where their data is stored and who has access to it will gain a competitive advantage, rather than having to resolve a compliance problem later under time pressure."

From 2 August 2026, the obligations of the EU AI Act will also apply to so-called high-risk systems — AI applications with significant potential for harm, such as in personnel selection or credit lending. At the same time, the NIS2 Directive (the national Network and Information Systems Security Act) is tightening cybersecurity requirements — meaning protection against attacks on IT systems. In Austria, it is being implemented through the NISG 2026.

Security Becomes a Budget Line Item

Businesses appear to already be drawing concrete conclusions: for 2026, more than a third of SMEs (35 percent) are planning targeted investments in both IT security and AI. Security and innovation are therefore no longer being played off against each other, but are being considered and funded in parallel. This is particularly noteworthy given that smaller companies typically direct their tight budgets clearly toward growth topics.

Bringing AI to Austria

This is precisely where world4you positions itself as a bridge between innovation and data protection. The company, headquartered in Linz and Vienna, combines web hosting, domains, and email services on a single infrastructure that adheres to high European data protection standards — and plans to offer AI features on the same foundation going forward. "We want to do our part to bring AI to Austria safely," summarizes Trummer-Gabler. "Our customers shouldn't have to choose between progress and data protection — with us, they'll be able to get both from a single source. That way, initial skepticism turns into trust, and that trust ultimately becomes a measurable locational advantage for the domestic economy."

About the survey

The data used is based on an online survey conducted by YouGov Deutschland GmbH on behalf of IONOS, the parent company of world4you. A total of 210 decision-makers from Austrian companies with up to 250 employees participated in the survey between February 3 and February 9, 2026.