12 Graphs That Explain the State of AI in 2026

# AI Is Getting Powerful Fast, but the US and China Are Racing to Dominate American companies are still building most of the world's advanced AI systems, though Chinese competitors are catching up quickly. Meanwhile, tech giants like OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing to go public this year, even as some U.S. cities are pushing back against the massive data centers these AI systems require. Stanford's latest annual report on AI shows the technology is advancing rapidly across the board, but questions about who controls it and where it gets built are becoming increasingly important.