First scale-adjusted, contestable measurement of what 105 economies have actually built — not planned — finds public trust in AI runs opposite to ecosystem development, and AI governance is arriving ahead of the compute it governs
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, September 1, 2026 — Not one of the world’s AI ecosystems is strong across all seven of the pillars that determine whether artificial intelligence generates lasting economic value, according to the WITSA Global AI Index 2026, released today by the World Innovation, Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA) at the WITSA Global AI Summit 2026.
The Index — the global technology industry’s AI Ecosystem Development Index — tracks 128 economies and scores 105 of them; the remaining 23, where available data does not meet the scoring threshold, are listed by name and region and will be scored as data allows. It measures what economies have built, not what they have announced, across seven pillars: AI Infrastructure, AI Talent, AI Entrepreneurship, AI Use Cases, Data, Policy and Investments. Each scored economy receives seven pillar scores and an Ecosystem Development Score. The Index deliberately publishes no overall ranking.
Built on 83 indicators from more than 30 independent sources — including the ITU, World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, WIPO, ILO, UNDP, IMF and UNCTAD, alongside published national government data — the Index is scale-adjusted where relevant, so that capability is measured relative to population rather than in absolute terms. The methodology follows the OECD/JRC Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators and was reviewed by an independent Expert Panel of 22 members from 18 economies across six regions, screened for AI vendor ties and conflicts of interest. The full methodology, every indicator source and every imputed value are published with the report at www.witsa.org.
HEADLINE FINDINGS
No economy is complete. None of the 105 scored economies clears the top-quartile benchmark — the average score of the 26 highest-scoring economies on each pillar — across all seven pillars, including the highest-scoring economies. The United States falls short of the benchmark on Talent and Data, Singapore on Infrastructure and Data, and Sweden on Policy.
Public trust in AI runs opposite to development. Public trust in AI, measured by Ipsos and Gallup , is highest in emerging and newly developed economies and lowest in the most developed. The eight most trusting publics — led by China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia — are all emerging or newly developed economies; Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland record the lowest trust among scored economies. The mature economies' challenge is consent, the emerging economies' is capacity, and neither has both.
Governance is arriving before the compute it governs. 90 of the 105 scored economies score higher on the Security and Sovereignty sub-pillar than on Compute and Connectivity. Most economies now hold governance capacity for AI infrastructure they have not yet built.
The scarcest pillar is the most differentiating. Entrepreneurship is the world’s lowest-scoring pillar, with a global average of 30.6 out of 100, and — together with Investments — the pillar most strongly associated with overall ecosystem development.
Development compounds; it does not leapfrog. High Ecosystem Development Scores occur only where all seven pillars are strong. Excellence in two or three pillars does not produce a high score: economies with a wider-than-median spread between their strongest and weakest pillar score, on average, around seven points lower than those with a narrower spread.
Six regions, one shape. Regional averages span 56 points — North America 80.7 (2 economies), Europe 58.5 (37), Asia-Pacific 43.6 (23), MENA 40.5 (13), Latin America 32.0 (18) and Africa 25.0 (10) — but the profile is nearly identical: Data is the strongest pillar and Entrepreneurship the weakest in five of the six regions. North America, where Use Cases leads and Policy trails, is the exception.
THE SEVEN PILLARS
COMMENT
Dato’ Dr Sean Seah, Chairman, WITSA: “When WITSA’s member associations set out to build this Index, the question was not ‘how do we score countries?’ It was ‘how do we give governments a clear, credible picture of what their AI ecosystem looks like today, and what it needs to become?’ The Index gives that picture. Combined with the WITSA Global AI Ecosystem Network, it becomes a strategic map — where an economy stands, where the gaps are, and what the path forward looks like.”
Robert Janssen, Deputy Chairman, WITSA, and Chairman, WITSA AI Task Force: “WITSA has been mapping the impact of AI for years, through our policy papers and the AI events now in our portfolio. The Index is the next step in that commitment. The AI Task Force built the architecture of AI ecosystem measurement because the industry needed an instrument the technology sector itself could stand behind — one built on methodological rigor, not narrative convenience. The result is a seven-pillar, 16-sub-pillar, 83-indicator framework built to the OECD/JRC Handbook, designed to be longitudinal and validated by an independent Expert Panel. The framework and GAIN were designed together; one without the other is incomplete.”
Edward Brzytwa, Chairman, WITSA Global Policy Action Committee: “The WITSA Global AI Index gives policymakers a government-usable, independently validated dataset that measures AI ecosystem development — not AI spending, not strategy declarations, but the structural conditions that determine whether policy intentions convert into economic outcomes. The Global Policy Action Committee is committed to embedding this data in G20 digital economy working groups, ASEAN’s digital economy framework, the African Union’s digital transformation strategy, and development finance lending criteria.”
Dato’ Dan E Khoo, CEO, WITSA: “WITSA did not build another ranking. We asked a harder question: has this economy actually built the structural conditions for AI to generate value that compounds year over year? That is why the Index measures ecosystem development, not readiness. The findings carry a lesson for the most advanced economies as much as the emerging ones. Public consent is not the constraint facing the fastest-developing ecosystems; it is the constraint facing the mature ones. And the scarce pillars — entrepreneurship and investment — are where the differentiating margin sits. The Index tells every economy the truth about today. WITSA GAIN exists to help them act on it.”
Anders Halvorsen, Vice President, Global Public Policy, WITSA: “The methodology is published in full. Every indicator has a documented source. Every imputed value is flagged. And every economy has the right to contest a specific indicator value through the formal Data Review Process run by the Secretariat’s data collection team, on identical terms. Scoring is independent of any commercial engagement with WITSA. That transparency is not incidental — it is the mechanism that makes the Index credible and contestable in equal measure.”
FROM DIAGNOSIS TO ACTION
The Index is the diagnostic engine of the WITSA Global AI Ecosystem Network (WITSA GAIN), which helps economies at any stage of development translate their findings into an AI ecosystem development pathway — from briefings on an economy’s Index position to full Economy Reports and strategic roadmapping. Details are available at www.witsa.org.
Governments, ministries, regulators and national technology associations can download their Economy Profile at www.witsa.org, identify the highest-leverage development priorities it points to, and request a briefing or a Pathway recommendation at pathway@witsa.org or through their national WITSA member association.
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT WITSA
The World Innovation, Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is a global alliance of technology industry associations from 80 countries and economies across six continents. WITSA advances innovation, economic growth, and international trade and investment in the innovation and technology industry, and connects its national member associations to a global network of professionals and partners. WITSA’s catalytic platforms include its flagship World Congress on Innovation & Technology (WCIT), the WITSA Global AI Ecosystem Network (WITSA GAIN), the WITSA Global AI Summit and the WITSA World Cup for technology scaleups. Details are in www.witsa.org
MEDIA CONTACTS
WITSA Global AI Index: Anders Halvorsen, VP Global Public Policy — ahalvorsen@witsa.org
WITSA platforms and media: Azlina Ishak, Marcom Director — azlina@witsa.org
