AI BriefingChina Rapidly Closes AI Gap With US
Key point
The Stanford AI Index 2026 found that the US-China AI gap has virtually disappeared.
Details
According to Stanford HAI's 2026 AI Index, China is rapidly closing the AI performance gap and has nearly caught up to the US lead.
- Arena score gap: In May 2023, GPT-4 led China's best model by over 300 points, but by March 2026, the gap had narrowed to just 39 points.
- Number of models: The US still leads with 50 top-tier AI models compared to China's 30.
- Paper citations: In 2024, China's share of AI citations was 20.6%, versus the US's 12.6%.
- Robot installations: China's industrial robot installations exceeded 295,000 units, far surpassing the US's 34,200 units.
On the capital side, US private AI investment reached $285.9 billion in 2025, far exceeding China's $12.4 billion, but China is ramping up its offensive in power infrastructure and AI startup investment.
Talent flow has also slowed. The report noted that the number of AI researchers moving to the US has fallen 89% since 2017, with the pace of decline accelerating by 80% over just the past year. However, the US still receives more incoming researchers than it loses.
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