Key AI Trends Across Asia from the HAI 2025 AI Index Report

The recently released Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) AI Index Report 2025 offers its most comprehensive look yet at the state of AI globally. As AI continues its rapid integration into our economies, societies, and daily lives, understanding regional dynamics is crucial. This post delves into the report's findings, focusing specifically on the key trends, achievements, and challenges highlighted across Asia.  

Research & Development: A Tale of Volume, Influence, and Catch-Up

Asia, particularly China, features prominently in the global AI research landscape.

• Publication Powerhouse: China continues to lead the world in the sheer volume of AI research publications (23.2% of the total in 2023) and citations (22.6%).  

• Patenting Prowess: China also dominates AI patent grants, accounting for nearly 70% of the global total as of 2023. On a per capita basis, South Korea stands out as a top producer.  

• Influence vs. Volume: While China leads in quantity, the report notes that US institutions contributed the most highly influential (top-100 cited) AI publications over the last three years.  

• Notable Models - US Leads, China Closes Gap: The US remains the leading source of "notable" AI models (40 in 2024), significantly outpacing China (15). However, the performance gap is narrowing rapidly. Chinese models have nearly reached parity with US counterparts on key benchmarks like MMLU and HumanEval in 2024, erasing the double-digit percentage point differences seen in 2023.  

• Emerging Players: Model development is becoming more global, with notable launches originating from Southeast Asia as well. Researchers from Hong Kong and China also contributed significant benchmarks like MVBench for video understanding.  

Investment & Adoption: Government Support and Real-World Deployment

Investment patterns and adoption rates reveal differing regional priorities and scales.

• Investment Scale: While US private investment in AI reached $109.1 billion in 2024, dwarfing China's $9.3 billion, government initiatives signal strong state-level commitment in Asia. China launched a massive $47.5 billion semiconductor fund, and India pledged $1.25 billion towards AI.  

• AI in Daily Life: The report highlights the real-world deployment of AI in Asia, citing Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi fleet operating across numerous Chinese cities.  

Public Opinion: High Optimism in Asia

Public perception of AI varies significantly across the globe, with Asian nations showing notably higher levels of optimism.

• Benefit vs. Harm: Strong majorities in China (83%), Indonesia (80%), and Thailand (77%) view AI products and services as more beneficial than harmful. This contrasts sharply with lower optimism in Western countries like Canada (40%) and the United States (39%).  

AI in Specific Sectors: Healthcare Leadership

Asia is taking a leading role in applying AI within specific domains, particularly healthcare.

• Clinical Trials: China leads globally in the number of AI-related clinical trials (105 in 2024), ahead of the US (97). Taiwan is also noted among the leading geographic areas for these trials.  

Responsible AI: A Global Challenge with Local Manifestations

While the report highlights intensifying global cooperation on AI governance, challenges like misinformation are evident worldwide, including Asia.  

• Election Misinformation: The tracker documented AI-generated election content incidents in numerous countries, including Asian nations like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan.  

Conclusion: Asia at the Forefront

The AI Index 2025 underscores Asia's dynamic and increasingly central role in the global AI ecosystem. Fueled by significant government investment, leading research output in volume, rapidly improving model capabilities (especially in China), and strong public optimism, the region is a major hub of AI activity. While the US still leads in frontier model development and highly cited research, Asian nations are demonstrating impressive progress and leadership in specific areas like patenting, clinical AI applications, and real-world deployment. As AI continues to evolve, Asia's trajectory will undoubtedly be a critical factor shaping the technology's future impact.

Read the full report here: https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report