The State of Global AI Diffusion in 2026
Microsoft On the Issues, Thursday, May 7th, 2026
Microsoft's Global AI Diffusion Report shows AI usage rose to 17.8% of the world's working age population in Q1 2026.
Microsoft published its latest Global AI Diffusion Report showing that global AI adoption increased by 1.5 percentage points in Q1 2026, reaching 17.8% of the world's working age population.
The UAE continues to lead with 70.1% AI usage, while the US moved up to 21st place with 31.3% usage.
The report highlights accelerating AI adoption in Asia due to improved multilingual capabilities, a widening AI gap between the Global North (27.5%) and South (15.4%), and a dramatic 78% year-over-year increase in software code production driven by AI coding tools, which paradoxically increased software developer employment to record levels.