Stanford AI Index: China Narrows Performance Gap with U.S. Amid Sharp Drop in American Researcher Inflows

AI Performance Gap

China has nearly closed its gap to the U.S. in AI bot performance, according to the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence 2026 AI Index report.

The flow of AI researchers into the U.S. has dropped 89% since 2017, and that decline is accelerating 80% in the past year, according to the report. The U.S. is home to the most AI researchers and developers of any country by far, per the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence 2026 AI Index report.

Researcher Education and Return Trends

An April 2025 Hoover Institution report was conducted in partnership with Stanford HAI.

China has built a massive cohort of homegrown talent, with nearly all researchers behind the company's five foundational papers educated or trained in China, according to the April 2025 Hoover Institution report. About a quarter of the researchers were educated in U.S. institutions, and most returned to China, creating a “one-way knowledge transfer” in China’s favor, according to the report.

Fortune Events Background

In 2001, a publication first convened “The Smartest People We Know,” bringing together CEOs and founders, builders and investors, thinkers and doers. Since then, an event has been the place where bold ideas collide. From June 8–10, it will return to Aspen —where it all began—to mark 25 years.