Latest 2021 Stanford AI Study Gives Deep Look into the State of the Global AI Marketplace

Despite major disruptions from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global investment in AI technologies grew by 40 percent in 2020 to $67.9 billion, up from $48.8 billion in 2019, as AI research and use continues to boom across broad segments of bioscience, healthcare, manufacturing and more. The figures, compiled as part of Stanford University's Artificlal Intelligence Index Report 2021 on the state of AI research, development, implementation and use around the world, help illustrate the continually changing scope of the still-maturing technology. The 222-page AI Index 2021 report, touted as the school's fourth annual study of AI impact and progress, was released March 3 by Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. The report provides a detailed portrait of the AI waterfront last year, including increasing AI investments and use in medicine and healthcare, China's growth in AI research, huge gains in AI capabilities across industries, concerns about diversity among AI researchers, ongoing debates about AI ethics and more. "The impact of AI this past year was both societal and economic, driven by the increasingly rapid progress of the technology itself," AI Index co-chair Jack Clark said in a statement.