ComputerWorld.com reported that “Global adoption of AI in the second half of 2025 rose by 1.2 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, a report released Thursday by the Microsoft AI Economy Institute (AIEI) indicates.” The January 8, 2026 article entitled “Global AI adoption is growing, and so is the digital divide” (https://www.computerworld.com/article/4114739/global-ai-adoption-is-growing-and-so-is-the-digital-divide.html) included “these findings from the Microsoft think tank, whose principle mandate is to shape what it calls an inclusive, trustworthy AI economy, despite one person in six now using generative AI (genAI) tools, there exists what it described as a “widening divide.””:
- Nations that invested early in digital infrastructure, AI skilling, and government adoption, such as the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Norway, Ireland, France, and Spain, continue to lead.
- The top 10 nations with the largest increases in AI adoption share are all high-income economies.
- While the US is the leader in both AI infrastructure and frontier model development, it fell from 23rd to 24th place in AI usage by its working age population, with a 28.3% usage rate. It lags far behind smaller, more highly digitized and AI-focused economies such as Ireland (44%), New Zealand (40.5%), Belgium (36%), and Canada (35%). South Korea (30.7%) led the world in growth, with usage surging by almost 5% in the second half of the year..
- A parallel development that reshaped the global landscape was the rapid rise of DeepSeek. Its success, the AIEI contends, reflects growing Chinese momentum across Africa, which is a trend that could continue in 2026.
Interesting news!
First published at https://www.vogelitlaw.com/blog/no-surprises-about-global-ai-adoption-or-digital-divide