The Stanford AI Index Report 2026
Measuring trends in Artificial Intelligence
You can't see the whole labor market without looking at AI.
Understanding how AI has already reshaped the world of work is the first step to navigate what comes next. Job postings and skills data cut through the hype, offering a clear signal of where AI is actually taking hold. When new AI skills begin to appear in job postings, it indicates that organizations have moved beyond experimentation and are making real, strategic investments in the technology.
The annual AI Index Report from the Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) at Stanford University tracks, aggregates, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence. Its mission is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, broadly sourced data so that for policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and the general public can develop a more thorough and nuanced understanding of this complex field.
The report aims to be the world’s most authoritative source for data and insights about AI—and for where it intersects with the labor market, Stanford has turned to Lightcast. Drawing on billions of job postings collected daily—analyzing demand signals, skills, and workforce shifts in real time—Lightcast identifies emerging patterns long before they appear in traditional statistics, offering an early view into how AI is transforming work globally.
Report Highlights
AI Skills Shift Toward Execution, Not Experimentation
As AI moves toward integration into more workflows in more business functions (as opposed to the high-tech fringe where it operated until recently), skill demand has evolved in response. Instead of focusing on technological breakthroughs, postings for AI jobs increasingly request skills that emphasize building and managing systems at scale.
Python was the most in-demand specialized skill, showing up in 258,674 postings, which is up 391% from the 2013-15 baseline and nearly 30% from 2024. Some of the fastest long-term growth came from deployment-oriented capabilities such as Amazon Web Services, scalability, and workflow management. This indicates AI is moving beyond experimentation and into infrastructure, operations, and execution.
Explore more Lightcast research into AI skills and jobs
Agentic AI Emerges as a Hiring Signal
This year, Lightcast added Agentic AI as a new AI skill cluster, bringing the total number of AI clusters tracked in the Stanford AI Index to 10 and the total AI skills monitored to more than 300. The update includes 24 newly added skills and reflects a visible shift in employer demand.
Many of these skills saw enormous growth from 2024 to 2025, including Agentic AI itself, AI Agents, and LangGraph. By contrast, ChatGPT, Conversational AI, and Chatbot all saw a decrease from 2024 to 2025, reflecting how AI use cases and applications have expanded well beyond the chat interface.
Explore the full Stanford AI Index
Global Growth
Demand for AI talent continued to rise around the world, with AI skills claiming a larger share of overall job postings in market after market. Singapore led the field, with 4.7% of all postings mentioning AI skills, followed by Hong Kong (3.5%), Luxembourg (3.4%), and Spain (3.3%). The United States reached 2.6%, ahead of Chile (2.4%) and the United Kingdom (1.9%). The broader story is one of continued international growth—but also clear differences in intensity. While AI has become a global workforce trend, some economies still move much faster than others in translating that momentum into labor-market demand.
AI Talent Concentrates in Large States
AI hiring in the United States remains highly concentrated in a small number of established hubs—and that pattern has held steady over time. California continues to lead by a wide margin, with 170,881 AI job postings in 2025 (17.18% of the national total), followed by Texas (80,547; 8.10%) and New York (66,029; 6.64%). Together, these states account for roughly one-third of all AI hiring in the country. While other regions are seeing incremental growth, the overall geography of AI demand has not fundamentally shifted.
However, some smaller markets, such as Washington, D.C. (6.18% of postings) and Delaware (4.43%), stand out for their high concentration of AI skills relative to their total job markets.
In An AI World, The Old Rules Don't Apply.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the three "Fault Lines" permanently reshaping the global labor market. Every organization and region will be affected differently. Explore the research to see what you can do to prepare.
AI Insight Built For You
The AI Index shows where the world is heading. We show what it means for you. Lightcast experts are ready to generate detailed AI research for your region, industry, or organization using the same models and techniques we used for Stanford—grounded in real labor market intelligence. We assess readiness, surface risk, benchmark your position, and map a clear talent strategy, so that you know where to focus and what to do next.
In Good Company
Lightcast has been contributing to Stanford’s annual AI Index Report since 2021, alongside several Analytics and Research Partners. Others include Accenture, GitHub, LinkedIn, McKinsey & Company, and the International Federation of Robotics.
The Stanford AI Index shows us a picture of where AI is now, so we can see where it will go in the future.
The revolutionary growth of AI means new skills being taught, sourced, and demanded by the private and public sectors. As these trends reshape industries and influence policy, the AI Index Report provides insight to guide help strategic decisions. At Lightcast, we're proud to contribute, because labor market data is a fundamental piece of that puzzle, instrumental in understanding the evolving demand for AI-related skills.
The 2026 Stanford AI Index Report is available now (Find our work in Chapter 4).