A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analysis found that a majority of practitioners in the field of artificial intelligence now hail from China. The share of Chinese-origin researchers in the global pool rose to 57% in 2025, an 11 percentage point increase from 2022, while the corresponding share for the U.S. fell to 13%. China also holds a 41% share of postgraduate AI talent compared to 34% in the U.S.

China also surpassed the U.S. as the top destination for elite AI talent in 2025. The country's share of top-tier destinations grew to 40.6% from 27.1% in 2022, while the U.S. share of elite destinations dropped from 46.4% to 34.2% over the same three year period.