Microsoft report shows global AI adoption rose as regional gaps widened

New data from Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute shows generative AI adoption continued to rise in late 2025, but growth remained uneven, with a widening gap between advanced economies and the Global South.

Global adoption of generative AI increased in the second half of 2025, reaching 16.3 percent of the world’s population, according to new data released by the AI Economy Institute at Microsoft.

The figures suggest roughly one in six people worldwide are now using generative AI tools to learn, work, or solve problems, even as disparities between regions continue to grow.

Juan M. Lavista Ferres, Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft, shared the findings in a LinkedIn post alongside the release of the institute’s latest AI diffusion report, pointing to both accelerating uptake and a widening global divide.

Adoption rose, but gaps between regions increased

The report shows adoption grew by 1.2 percentage points globally in the second half of 2025, up from 15.1 percent in the first half of the year. However, usage among the working-age population reached 24.7 percent in the Global North, compared with 14.1 percent in the Global South, expanding the gap between the two regions.

Ferres wrote on LinkedIn, “Global adoption of generative AI kept climbing in the second half of 2025, reaching 16.3% of the world’s population, up from 15.1% in the first half.” He added, “roughly 1 in 6 people worldwide are now using genAI tools to learn, work, or solve problems.”

Countries with sustained investment in digital infrastructure, skills development, and public-sector AI adoption continued to dominate the rankings. The United Arab Emirates remained the highest-ranked country, with 64.0 percent of its working-age population using AI tools, followed by Singapore at 60.9 percent.

By contrast, the United States ranked 24th for working-age usage at 28.3 percent, despite leading globally in AI infrastructure and frontier model development. The data suggests innovation leadership alone does not guarantee widespread population-level adoption.

Policy and access shaped national outcomes

The report highlighted South Korea as the most significant mover in late 2025, rising seven places in the global rankings to 18th. Growth was linked to coordinated government policy, improved language performance in large language models, and wider integration of AI into schools, workplaces, and public services.

Ferres noted in his post that the data showed “a widening digital divide,” adding that “AI usage among the working-age population is now 24.7% in the Global North vs. 14.1% in the Global South.”

The analysis also pointed to the importance of accessibility in shaping adoption patterns. Open and free-to-use models were shown to scale more rapidly in markets underserved by traditional providers, particularly where payment barriers, language limitations, or platform restrictions limited access to commercial tools.

Open models shifted adoption dynamics

One of the clearest signals in the second half of 2025 was the rapid rise of DeepSeek, an open-source AI platform that gained traction across parts of Africa, China, and other regions with limited access to Western AI services. By removing cost barriers and releasing its model under an open license, DeepSeek expanded adoption in markets that had previously lagged.

Ferres added, “DeepSeek’s rapid rise is a reminder that diffusion is shaped as much by access and availability as by model quality, an open-source model and a free chatbot can remove barriers and scale quickly in markets underserved by traditional providers.”

The report concludes that while global use of generative AI is expanding quickly, future growth will depend less on model capability alone and more on infrastructure, language support, skills development, and public-sector deployment.

Ferres wrote, “If you’re working on AI strategy in 2026, this report is worth a read, especially for what it implies about infrastructure, skills, language, and public-sector adoption.”

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