AI and EU Project Design: What Is Really Changing?

Between 2023 and 2025, the main EU funding programmes—Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, and LIFE—have been undergoing unprecedented shifts. Application numbers are rising sharply, success rates are declining, and executive agencies increasingly report large volumes of “above-threshold” proposals that cannot be funded due to budget constraints. The research presented on this page provides a comparative analysis of these trends and explores the possible role of generative artificial intelligence in shaping current project design practices.

The study draws on official European Commission datasets, reports from executive agencies, and insights from universities and European networks. Although no EU programme currently tracks whether a proposal was drafted using AI, the evidence reveals a consistent pattern: the spread of generative tools has lowered the marginal cost of producing project proposals, enabling more organisations to apply and encouraging the replication or adaptation of existing texts. Combined with budgets that do not increase proportionally, this dynamic contributes to a compression of success rates, with some calls reaching extremely low funding probabilities.

At the same time, the data clearly show that average quality is not deteriorating. On the contrary, thousands of high-quality proposals are left unfunded purely due to limited resources. The challenge for applicants is therefore to maintain distinctiveness, strategic focus, and European added value within an increasingly competitive landscape.

Alongside the comparative analysis, the research also presents the official position of ECON – European Cooperation Network on the ethical and transparent use of AI in EU project design. ECON advocates an approach grounded in responsibility, human oversight, inclusiveness, and traceability. AI is seen as a tool that can strengthen creativity and innovation, but only when its use is disclosed, governed, and integrated into rigorous quality assurance processes.

This report aims to equip organisations, researchers, and project designers with an up-to-date and evidence-based overview of the evolving funding environment, supporting more informed and strategic engagement in a rapidly changing ecosystem.

Ines Caloisi