GoKawiilThe capabilities of leading AI models continue to accelerate, and the largest AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are hurtling toward IPOs later this year. Yet resentment toward AI continues to simmer, and in some cases has boiled over, especially in the United States, where local governments are beginning to embrace restrictions or outright bans on new data center development.
It’s a lot to keep track of, but the 2026 edition of the AI Index from Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence center pulls it off. The report, which comes in at over 400 pages, includes dozens of data points and graphs that approach the topic from multiple angles, from benchmark scores to investment and public perception.
As in prior years (see our coverage from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), we’ve read the report and identified the trends that encapsulate the state of AI in 2026.
US companies lead in AI models
The United States has led the charge in AI model releases over the past decade, and that remains as true in 2025 as in any year prior. According to research institute Epoch AI, organizations based in the United States released 50 “notable” models in 2025. However, China’s output is beginning to close the gap.
Nearly all the notable models originated within industry (as opposed to academic or government institutions). Epoch AI tracked 87 notable model releases from industry in 2025, compared to just seven from all other sources. This is a major long-term trend. Models released by industry now make up over 90 percent of notable models, up from just under 50 percent in 2015, and zero in 2003.
China leads in robotics
While U.S. companies released the largest number of notable AI models, China has an equally clear lead in the deployment of robotics. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics, China installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024. Japan installed roughly 44,500, and the United States installed 34,200.
World AI compute capacity has grown 3.3x yearly since 2022
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