India’s AI profile up, but gaps remain

India has seen the highest increase globally in AI talent concentration between 2016 and 2024, at 252%, according to a report by Stanford released earlier this week. Despite this, the country is yet to break into the top 15 countries in AI talent concentration, with Israel and Singapore leading in this metric.

India ranks third in the share of AI-related research publications, accounting for nearly 10% of them globally. It follows China (23%) and Europe (15%) and is slightly ahead of the US, whose share has declined somewhat since 2021. In terms of relative AI skill penetration, India has dropped from number 1 to number 2 in this year’s report, with the US taking the top spot.

It ranks first, however, in the AI hiring rate YoY at 33%. India is one of the few countries for whom optimism around AI went down over time, however. The share of respondents from India who believe AI products have more benefits than drawbacks fell from 71% in 2022 to 65% in 2023 to 62% in 2024, as per the Stanford AI Index report.