India tops AI skills and hiring worldwide, ranks second in global competitiveness: Stanford report

New York: India has emerged as the global leader in the spread of artificial intelligence skills and AI-related hiring, according to an international assessment of countries leveraging AI technologies. The ranking comes as India prepares to host the International Artificial Intelligence Summit next week. 

The country has secured second place in economic competitiveness in the 2026 Global Vibrancy Index (GVI), released by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centred AI. Only the United States has achieved a higher score in this category.

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In the overall GVI standings, India now ranks behind only the United States and China, reflecting its growing presence in the global technology landscape.

Within the talent subcategory of the competitiveness criteria, India has moved ahead of the United States. This rise has been driven by strong performances in AI Skills Penetration and the AI Hiring Ratio indicators.

India is also second in the “AI-Related Social Media Conversations Net Sentiment”, “AI GitHub Projects” and “AI GitHub Projects Stars” sub-categories. GitHub platforms are widely used to integrate projects and make software components easily accessible.

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The Institute attributed India’s rankings to renewed major initiatives to strengthen its position in the global AI ecosystem.
“This focus illustrates how nations worldwide continue to treat AI as a strategic national priority,” the institution at the heart of Silicon Valley added.

India, which was ranked seventh when the GVI was released in 2017, has moved ahead of countries such as Japan, Germany, Singapore and Britain in the latest edition. The advancement has been driven by progress in research and development.

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India is set to host the India AI Impact Summit from February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Being hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the IndiaAI Mission, the summit will bring together governments, industry leaders, researchers, startups, students and citizens from across the world.

It is envisioned as a pivotal global platform to shape a future-oriented agenda for inclusive, responsible and impactful AI and aims to move beyond high-level discussions and deliver tangible outcomes that can support economic growth, social development and sustainable use of AI.

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The Summit will be structured around three core pillars -- People, Planet, and Progress -- with discussions focusing on employment and skilling, sustainable and energy-efficient AI, and economic as well as social development. Seven thematic working groups, co-chaired by representatives from the Global North and Global South, will present concrete deliverables, including proposals for AI Commons, trusted AI tools, shared compute infrastructure, and sector-specific compendiums of AI use cases.

IANS