India's AI profile rises, but gaps remain, finds Stanford study

Despite progress, India made up only 9.2% of global AI research in 2023, trailing China (23.2%) and Europe (15.2%)

- Leslie D'Monte

India is rapidly emerging as a key player in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem. It is seeing strong growth in both its AI workforce and how widely AI is being used. However, it trails in areas like private investments, patent output, research paper citations, and the creation of globally-recognized AI models, according to the Stanford University's Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence Index 2025 report released on Monday.

In 2024, India became the second-largest contributor to AI-related GitHub projects, accounting for 19.9% of global contributions—just behind the US at 23.4% and just ahead of Europe at 19.5%. This signals India's growing influence in the open-source AI community, a key driver of global innovation. The AI workforce, too, is shifting in India's favour. India saw the highest year-over-year growth in AI hiring at 33.4%, followed by Brazil (30.8%) and Saudi Arabia (28.7%).