A4EAI Research Tool

The AI Equity World Map

Who is shaping AI, and who is being shaped by it? Click any country to explore its story.

How to read this map

A snapshot of who is ready for AI, and who risks being left behind.

This map scores countries from 0 to 100 on four dimensions of AI equity: whether governments are ready, whether people can access AI, who has a say in how it is governed, and whether a country is building AI or only using it. Higher scores mean a country is better placed to shape AI on its own terms.

The numbers below compare the Global North (high-income economies) with the Global South (developing and emerging economies). The equity gap is the difference between their average scores. The wider the gap, the more the benefits of AI are concentrated in a few places.

  1. 1
    Pick a dimensionChoose AI Readiness, Access, Governance or Co-creator Index. The map colours change to show that score.
  2. 2
    Explore a countryClick any country to see its score and story. Use the score key to read the colours; countries shaded as No data have not been scored yet.
  3. 3
    Read the analysisBelow the map, the A4EAI Equity Analysis explains what the gap means and what it would take to close it.
Select a dimension, click to learn more about what it measures
🏛️
AI Readiness
Is the government ready to use AI?
▾
AI Readiness measures whether a country has the government strategy, technology sector, and data infrastructure needed to actually deploy AI in public services. A high score means a country has a national AI strategy, a skilled digital workforce, and the data systems to make AI work. A low score means these foundations are missing or deeply underdeveloped, no matter how much political enthusiasm exists.
Source: Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2024, a peer-reviewed annual benchmark used by UNESCO and the G20, covering 40 indicators across 188 countries (CC BY-SA 4.0).
🌐
AI Access
Can ordinary people actually use AI?
▾
AI Access measures whether everyday people can actually reach and use AI tools, not just whether the internet technically exists. It factors in how affordable data is, whether AI tools work in local languages, and whether political restrictions block access to global platforms like ChatGPT or Claude. A country with fast internet but no AI tools in its language scores lower than connectivity data alone would suggest.
Source: A4EAI composite score, ITU 2024 connectivity data, Alliance for Affordable Internet, GSMA Mobile Intelligence, and Freedom House internet freedom ratings.
⚖️
AI Governance
Who has a say in how AI is governed?
▾
AI Governance measures whether a country has real rules around AI, and whether citizens and civil society have a genuine voice in shaping those rules. Importantly, this dimension applies a penalty for countries that deploy AI for mass surveillance or authoritarian control. Having an AI strategy on paper means very little if it serves repression rather than people.
Source: A4EAI composite, OECD AI Policy Observatory, UNESCO Readiness Assessment Methodology, Oxford GARI governance pillar, Freedom House, and the AI Now Institute.
🔬
Co-creator Index
Is this country building AI or just using it?
▾
The Co-creator Index is A4EAI's most distinctive measure. It asks: is this country actually producing AI, building models, publishing research, shaping global standards, or simply consuming AI tools built entirely by others? The Global South is increasingly incorporated into AI as a market and a data source, while being excluded from authorship. This index makes that structural divide visible.
Source: A4EAI composite, Stanford HAI AI Index 2024, CSET research database, Epoch AI model registry, and ISO/IEC JTC1 AI standards participation records.
Score key
0–19 Critical
20–34 Severe
35–49 Developing
50–64 Emerging
65–79 Advanced
80–100 Leader
No data
A4EAI Equity Analysis
Loading analysis…

AI Readiness scores from the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2024 (CC BY-SA 4.0). Access, Governance & Co-creator are A4EAI composite scores. Full methodology →