Horizon Europe applications are skyrocketing. Is AI to blame?

11 Nov 2025 | News

Surge in proposals coincides with rising use of generative AI tools. But other factors are also at play

Photo credits: artiemedvedev / BigStock

Horizon Europe has been bombarded with applications this year, with success rates for some calls falling as low as 2%. National research funders are experiencing similar pressures.

For Christina Egelund, Denmark’s higher education and science minister, the cause is clear: artificial intelligence. "Our public research foundations are being run over with possibly AI-generated applications, which, of course, is irritating for them, and also causes difficulties on different levels,” she told Science|Business on the margins of the EU’s AI in science conference in Copenhagen last week. 

Her country is already working on updating its code of research conduct to tackle the issue, she added, without expanding on how this might be achieved.

The minister is not the only one worried. Consultants are watching the trend with concern. Roberto Zanon, who has worked with…