AI users are not all alike: The characteristics of French firms buying and developing AI
Flavio Calvino, Luca Fontanelli · Research Policy · 19 Mar 2026
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Where this sits in the debate
- Will AI actually boost productivity and growth? · its finding: it depends (why studies differ)
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Abstract
In this work we characterise French firms using artificial intelligence (AI) in 2018 and explore the link between AI use and productivity. We distinguish AI users that source AI from external providers (AI buyers) from those developing their own AI systems (AI developers) based on the official French ICT survey, that provides information about the use of AI by firms. AI buyers tend to be larger than other firms, but this relation is explained by ICT-related variables. Conversely, AI developers are larger and younger beyond ICT. Other digital technologies, digital skills, and infrastructure play a key role for AI use, with AI developers leveraging more specialised ICT human capital than AI buyers. Overall, AI users tend to be more productive, however this is related to the self-selection of more productive and digital-intensive firms into AI use. This is not the case for AI developers, for which the positive link between AI use and productivity remains positive and significant. This relationship persists across multiple robustness checks, including analyses addressing endogeneity concerns.
About this publication
Leading field journal. A leading journal in economics or a neighbouring field (on the Tinbergen Institute’s A list or near the top of the RePEc ranking), or a top-rated computer-science venue.
Placed by: Leading field journal. How sources are ranked.
- Published
- 2026 (7 months ago)
- Citations
- 6 (OpenAlex)
Citations in context
6 citations — 98th percentile among the 188 indexed papers from 2026 in this collection. Citation counts favor older papers; this compares only same-year papers here, not the whole literature.
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