Counting the notable AI models released in 2025, Stanford's AI Index puts the United States on 59, against China's 35
The Stanford AI Index 2026 report tracks developments in AI research and development, including notable models. In 2025, the United States produced 59 notable AI models, while China produced 35. This data contributes to the report's finding that the U.S. leads in notable model development, contrasting with China's lead in publication volume, citations, and patent grants.
Verified 2026-08-01
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The US still releases more leading AI models than China, though China remains a strong second.
More on Models
- AI models can now win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad, yet Stanford's 2026 AI Index found they still fumble a task most children master early. Across ClockBench's 180 clock designs and 720 questions, the top model, GPT-5.4 High, read analog clocks correctly only 50.6% of the time, versus 90.1% for humans
- After briefly nearly closing in 2024, the performance gap between the best closed-weight and open-weight AI models widened again on the Arena leaderboard. As of March 2026, Stanford's 2026 AI Index finds the top closed model leads the top open model by 3.3%, up from a 0.5% lead in August 2024
- Stanford's 2026 AI Index tracks how AI models perform on GPQA Diamond, a set of PhD-level chemistry and physics questions designed to resist Google searches. Mean model accuracy on the benchmark reached 93% in 2025, compared with an expert human validator baseline of 81.2% -- AI models now beat PhD-level experts by 12 points on GPQA Diamond
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