Prime Highlights
- Kenya records 97.5 percent monthly AI adoption, ahead of the United Arab Emirates at 94.2 percent and Indonesia at 93.6 percent.
- Report finds 4.02 billion adults worldwide, or 48.6 percent of the global population, use AI monthly.
Key Facts
- Kenya ranks first worldwide in monthly AI adoption, leading a broader global surge in AI usage.
- Kenya advances a new national AI policy, strengthening governance alongside its fast growing adoption.
Background
Kenya emerges as the world’s most AI-engaged nation, with nearly all of its online adults now using artificial intelligence tools every month.
The Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update Report, published by DataReportal alongside We Are Social and Manochi, shows that 97.5 percent of surveyed internet users in Kenya used at least one AI tool in the past month, the highest adoption rate among the 54 countries tracked.
The finding draws from GWI’s Core survey, which polled more than 240,000 people aged 16 and above across the world’s largest economies. Those markets together represent more than 80 percent of the global internet population.
Kenya ranks ahead of the United Arab Emirates, which places second at 94.2 percent, and Indonesia, third at 93.6 percent.
Kenya’s strong showing arrives amid a broader global surge in AI adoption. The report estimates that 4.02 billion adults worldwide, or 48.6 percent of the global population, now use some form of AI at least once a month, counting tools built into everyday software such as Microsoft Office, Google Workspace and Canva alongside standalone platforms like ChatGPT.
Active use of generative AI platforms has more than doubled over the past year, growing 141 percent to reach 2.42 billion users globally.
Kenya’s ranking builds on the country’s strong record of adopting new technology, a pattern already shown with mobile money.
The achievement comes as Kenya advances a new national AI policy, backed by government, academia, startups and international partners, aimed at building strong governance for the technology.
