Microsoft Report: Global AI Adoption Hits 18.8% in Q2, Taiwan Rises to 19th at 33.8%

Microsoft (MSFT) reported global generative AI usage reached 18.8% of the working-age population in the second quarter, up 1 percentage point from the prior quarter, with nearly every economy posting gains. Taiwan's AI usage rate rose to 33.8%, up 2 percentage points, lifting its global ranking to 19th from 20th. The United Arab Emirates led all economies at 73.3%, followed by Singapore at 64.3%, Ireland at 49.9%, France at 49.6% and Norway at 49.4%. South Korea posted the largest absolute increase, up 3.5 percentage points to 40.6%. Saudi Arabia climbed five spots to 25th. Japan saw the largest relative gain, with usage rising 2.2 percentage points, roughly 10% quarter-over-quarter. Open-weight models are expanding rapidly, accounting for about 75% of token volume on OpenRouter, according to the report. Microsoft said API usage offers a broader gauge of AI diffusion beyond consumer adoption, though the data does not represent global market share.