BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 60 percent of global AI researchers come from the United States and China, according to a report presented at the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference.

The Global Artificial Intelligence Research Situation Report (2015-2024), jointly released on Thursday by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Investment and Technology Promotion Office and Chinese tech company Dongbi Data, analyzed data about nearly 200,000 scholars across 3,847 institutions in 175 countries and regions, along with 97,000 AI research papers.

Data showed that AI researchers from the U.S. and China collectively account for 57.7 percent of the world's total. The U.S. leads with over 63,000 professionals, followed by China with nearly 53,000. AI researchers from European countries account for approximately 18.3 percent in total.

The report concluded that Asia is emerging as a major hub for technological innovation.

China's pool of AI researchers surged from fewer than 10,000 in 2015 to over 52,000 in 2024. In regard to the quantity of papers, the Chinese Academy of Sciences topped global institutions with 585 high-impact papers, according to the report. ■