Artificial intelligence has rapidly shifted from a niche innovation to a mainstream technology, transforming industries and daily life around the world. In particular, India has emerged as the global leader in AI usage, where adoption rates now outpace those in the United States and Europe. Since 2020, the number of AI users worldwide has nearly tripled, reaching over 350 million people.
According to data from Altindex.com, 41% of Indian respondents say they use AI tools as part of their daily routine—more than twice the rate reported in the U.S. or Europe. This rapid uptake highlights India’s central role in the global AI landscape and the country’s readiness to embrace digital transformation at scale.
Indians, Brazilians, and Mexicans Rely on Gen AI Tools the Most
Since ChatGPT came out almost three years ago, generative AI tools have become popular because they’re an easy way for people to see and try out AI. But the actual use of AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT is still surprisingly low, considering the buzz around them. The Statista Consumer Insights survey showed that roughly 3 in 10 U.S. adults had used ChatGPT or Meta AI last year, making them the two most popular options. However, trying AI tools is one thing, but using them on a daily basis is an entirely different story, with huge differences between the countries.
While the U.S. and Europe boast some of the biggest AI user bases globally, of 73 million and 58 million, respectively, India, which counts ten times fewer AI users, tops in global AI adoption. According to a Statista survey, Indians rely on gen AI tools the most, with 41% of respondents saying they use them daily. Brazil and Mexico also had higher adoption rates than the U.S. and Europe, at 33% and 24%, respectively.
At the same time, around 20% of Americans said that AI tools were part of their day-to-day life, twice less than in India. The top two European markets, Germany and the United Kingdom had similar shares of frequent AI users at 21% each. However, people in all these countries likely rely on AI-driven services far more than the survey suggests. Since AI is embedded in many everyday tools, most users aren’t even aware of how frequently they interact with it.
Over 1.1 Billion People to Use AI Tools in the Next Six Years
With the surging number of people embracing generative AI tools on a daily basis, the global AI user base will explode in the following years. According to the latest Statista estimates, more than 600 million people will embrace AI tools by 2030, pushing the total user count in the AI space to a jaw-dropping 952 million. That is 220 million more users than forecasted last year. Moreover, the same market projections show seven straight years of accelerating user growth ahead. With this pace of growth, the global AI user base is expected to surpass 1.1 billion by 2031, growing as quickly as social media and smartphones, and even faster than the early days of the internet.
