AI Impact Summit: Mapping the AI boom in 5 charts

Indians have been among the fastest out of the block in acquiring AI skills.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimates that the artificial intelligence market will grow to $4.8 trillion by 2033. That’s a 25-fold increase in a decade, from $189 billion in 2023.

Lured by the explosive growth of what is seen as a once-in-a-generation technology, investors have poured more than $1 trillion into the sector since 2013. According to Goldman Sachs, an additional half-trillion dollars is expected to be invested in the sector in 2026 alone. Just four companies — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta — are expected to account for the bulk of that spending.

According to the Stanford University AI Index Report 2025, nearly half of all investment in the sector has taken place in the United States. China accounts for $120 billion in investment. With $12 billion invested, India ranks seventh in the global pecking order.

This concentration of investment in select geographies has created an ever-widening global divide. According to a Microsoft report, while the AI adoption rate reached 40 per cent in wealthy nations in 2025, it remained below 10 per cent in the poorest countries. At 16 per cent, India fell somewhere in the middle.

Indians have been among the fastest in acquiring AI skills, trailing only the US. Indian women, meanwhile, have adapted to this shift faster than their counterparts anywhere else in the world.

As a result, India’s AI-ready talent pool is growing rapidly. The Stanford report says that between 2016 and 2024, “several major economies registered substantial increases in their AI talent pools. The countries showing the greatest increases are India (252 per cent), Costa Rica (240 per cent), and Portugal (237 per cent).”