Atlas report
AI researchers in United States
Per million inhabitants, the United States has 323 AI researchers in the index against 56 worldwide, 5.8 times the world figure.
The short answer
109 698 researchers in the index have an institution in the United States, the 2nd largest count among 40 countries.
Per million inhabitants, the United States has 323 AI researchers in the index against 56 worldwide, 5.8 times the world figure.
Among people who started since 2024, the subject gaining fastest in the United States is Mobile Agent-Based Network Management: its share of newcomers is 5.1 times what it was over the three previous years, with 116 people starting on it.
What stands out
With 4.2% of the world's people and 24% of its indexed AI researchers, the United States runs at 5.8 times its demographic weight.
Industry employs 18% of the United States's indexed AI researchers; worldwide the share is 9.7%, so the country runs at 1.8 times the average.
The subject where the United States weighs most against the rest of the world is Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning: 2.5% of its subject assignments work on it, 1.2 times the world share of 2.0%.
Subjects
Topic Modeling is the largest subject in the United States, carried by 9.9% of its subject assignments.
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 22 206 | 9.9% | 9.3% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 12 342 | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Multimodal Machine Learning Applications | 8 839 | 4.0% | 3.8% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 6 768 | 3.0% | 3.6% |
| Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning | 5 565 | 2.5% | 2.0% |
| Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning | 5 274 | 2.4% | 2.4% |
| Teaching and Learning Programming | 710 | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization | 501 | 0.2% | 0.2% |
Newcomers by year
The United States gained 24 937 new researchers since 2024, 1.8 times the 13 912 of the three years before; the world ratio is 1.6.
The 2025 intake for the United States was 0.8 times the average of the three previous years, against 0.7 worldwide.
| First publication | New in United States | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 3 547 | 27% |
| 2020 | 3 732 | 28% |
| 2021 | 3 882 | 25% |
| 2022 | 5 304 | 24% |
| 2023 | 4 726 | 24% |
| 2024 | 5 238 | 28% |
| 2025 | 4 017 | 27% |
Institutions
6.7% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by Google (United States).
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| Google (United States) | 3 407 | 3.1% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 2 012 | 1.8% |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | 1 892 | 1.7% |
Compared with its peers
Read against China and Germany, the two nearest countries by headcount, the differences are in the rates, not the totals. Reports: AI researchers in China.
| United States | China | Germany | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 109 698 | 135 666 | 21 587 |
| Per million inhabitants | 323 | 96 | 255 |
| In a company | 18% | 5.5% | 10.0% |
| Early career | 50% | 39% | 54% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.0 |
Method
A country is where the institution sits, which undercounts people who have moved and not yet published from their new address. Subjects follow the OpenAlex taxonomy and a person can carry several. Newcomers are dated by first publication. Populations are UN 2024 estimates. The index is built from arXiv, OpenAlex, ORCID and DBLP and grows every night, so counts move between two refreshes. See the atlas for the whole picture and how to find and hire AI researchers for the method behind a search.
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in United States?
- 109 698 researchers in the Founding Hires index have an institution in United States, 24% of all profiles with a known country, as of September 2026. The index counts people who published AI research, so this is a floor on the field, not a census.
- What do AI researchers in United States work on?
- The most common subject is Topic Modeling, 9.9% of the country's researchers. The subject where the country weighs most against the world is Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning.
- Which institutions in United States have the most AI researchers?
- Google (United States) (3 407), Carnegie Mellon University (2 012), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1 892).
- Is AI research growing in United States?
- Yes, faster than the world. Since 2024, 24 937 people in United States published for the first time, against 13 912 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.8 where the world sits at 1.6.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
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