South Korea ranked 12th in the world in the share of its population using generative artificial intelligence, posting the largest increase among major countries for the third consecutive time.
The AI Economy Institute, Microsoft's think tank, released the findings on the 28th in a report titled "AI Diffusion Report: Q2 2026 Trends and Insights." The report draws on Microsoft telemetry data to measure the share of the working-age population using generative AI products worldwide.
Korea's share of generative AI users stood at 40.6% as of June, up 3.5 percentage points from the previous quarter. The country climbed four places in the country rankings, from 16th to 12th. It marked the third straight quarter in which Korea recorded the biggest gain among major countries. Over the past year, the share has risen by about 15 percentage points.
The United Arab Emirates held its position as the global leader at 73.3%, followed by Singapore at 64.3%, Ireland at 49.9% and France at 49.6%. Saudi Arabia rose five places from 30th to 25th compared with the previous quarter. Japan's share increased 2.2 percentage points, from 22.5% in the first quarter to 24.7% in the second.
Globally, generative AI usage rose 1.0 percentage point, from 17.8% in the first quarter to 18.8% in the second. The gap between the "Global North," made up largely of advanced economies, at 28.8%, and the "Global South," made up largely of emerging economies, at 16.2%, is widening. It expanded from 10.6 percentage points in the second half of last year to 12.1 percentage points in the first quarter and 12.6 percentage points in the second.
Usage patterns also differed. Microsoft's analysis of how people use Copilot, its consumer AI service, found that users in the Global North more often turned to AI for consumer purposes such as shopping, searching and writing feedback. In the Global South, by contrast, a relatively higher share of use was for educational purposes, including self-directed learning and school assignments.
The report said the pattern suggests that in regions at an earlier stage of AI adoption, learning support is becoming the main entry point for people encountering AI for the first time.
