United States
Developed in collaboration with Stanford’s Institute for Human Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the AI Index Report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence. Its mission is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, and globally sourced data for policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and the general public to develop intuitions about the complex field of AI.
The report aims to be the world’s most credible and authoritative source for data and insights about AI. The 2021 report shows the effects of COVID-19 on AI development from multiple perspectives. The Technical Performance chapter discusses how an AI startup used machine-learning-based techniques to accelerate COVID related drug discovery during the pandemic, and our Economy chapter suggests that AI hiring and private investment were not significantly adversely influenced by the pandemic, as both grew during 2020. If anything, COVID-19 may have led to a higher number of people participating in AI research conferences, as the pandemic forced conferences to shift to virtual formats, which in turn led to significant spikes in attendance.