Global adoption is growing, but the digital divide is growing

The divide between the global North and South

The most significant data from the report concerns theaccentuation of the digital divide. Adoption in the Global North grew almost twice as fast as in the Global South, establishing a gap of 10.6 percentage points. Currently, 24.7% of the working-age population in advanced nations regularly uses these tools, compared to 14.1% in developing areas.

In this scenario, leadership remains firmly in the hands of countries that invested early in infrastructure and skills. The United Arab Emirates remains in first place with a rate of 64%, followed by Singapore at 60.9%. In Europe, nations such as Norway, Ireland, France and Spain maintain prominent positions in the global ranking.

Success cases: South Korea and the DeepSeek phenomenon

South Korea represents the most significant growth case of the semester, climbing seven positions (from 25th to 18th place). With an increase of 4.8% in just six monthsthe country has benefited from targeted government policies and optimization of local language models.

In parallel, 2025 marked the rise of DeepSeek. Thanks to an open source license and the free service, this model has gained ground in markets historically less served by traditional or restricted providerssuch as China, Russia, Iran and several African countries. The rise of DeepSeek highlights how financial and technical accessibility is a key driver of technology diffusion.

Adoption in Italy

The Italian market shows signs of consolidation. The adoption of artificial intelligence in the country grew by 2 percentage points during the second half of the year, going from 25.8% to 27.8%. Although the figure is higher than the global growth average, the challenge remains of integrating these tools in a widespread manner into the productive and educational fabric to maintain international competitiveness. The analysis concludes that the next wave of diffusion will depend on the ability of systems to reduce barriers to entry. The challenge for next year will be to ensure that innovation does not accentuate existing inequalities, while maintaining a rigorous focus on ethics and safety.