Global corporate investment in artificial intelligence reached $581.69 billion in 2025, according to data published in Stanford University's 2026 AI Index Report, more than doubling the $253.02 billion recorded in 2024 and marking the highest annual total since tracking began in 2013.

The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI report, which draws on Quid data, breaks the 2025 total into $344.66 billion in private investment, $214.44 billion in mergers and acquisitions, and smaller shares from public offerings and minority stakes. For comparison, total corporate AI investment stood at just $14.57 billion in 2013.

The United States dominated the funding landscape. U.S. private AI investment reached $285.9 billion in 2025, roughly 23 times the $12.4 billion invested in China, and the country produced 1,953 newly funded AI companies during the year, more than 10 times the next closest nation.

Business adoption figures in the report point to where that capital is flowing. Generative AI is now used in at least one business function at 70 percent of organizations surveyed, and studies cited in the report found output gains of 14 to 15 percent in customer support, 26 percent in software development, and as much as 50 percent in marketing output. The report also found generative AI reached 53 percent adoption among the global population within three years of ChatGPT's launch, a faster diffusion curve than either the personal computer or the internet.

Source: Stanford HAI AI Index -- https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report/economy