From 10% to boom: AI’s rapid rise

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the United States is accelerating, with the adoption rate rising from 9.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 to 9.7 per cent in the third quarter, according to a report by investment bank and financial services firm UBS. The report projects that the industry is on track to achieve the key 10 per cent adoption milestone by the end of 2025, a threshold often regarded as the tipping point before widespread exponential growth in technology cycles.

The UBS report highlights that AI’s adoption pace has been significantly faster than that of previous technological shifts. Generative AI has taken just three years to approach the 10 per cent adoption rate in the US, compared with five years for smartphones and 24 years for e-commerce. The report draws parallels with the smartphone boom, noting that once smartphones crossed the 10 per cent adoption mark, penetration surged from 10 per cent to 68 per cent over the subsequent five years. This growth was driven by a rapidly maturing ecosystem including app stores, larger devices, and affordable platforms such as Android.

According to UBS, the AI ecosystem is showing signs of readiness for a rapid scale-up. Key drivers include advances in reasoning and generative AI models, strong enterprise commitments from both large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises, and robust funding trends that are fostering innovation and reducing costs. The report also references the recent quarterly Business Trends and Outlook Survey by the US Census Bureau, which tracks AI adoption across more than one million firms, showing steady sequential improvement in adoption rates.

UBS further notes that companies operating in the intelligence and application layers of the AI stack are likely to benefit disproportionately from the next wave of growth as the industry enters the so-called “exponential adoption phase.” The report emphasises that the speed of adoption, combined with enterprise engagement and technological advancements, positions AI among the fastest-adopted technologies in US history.

Globally, the United States leads in AI adoption, though other nations including Israel, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea are also showing high rates of enterprise adoption. Factors accelerating AI adoption include technological readiness, infrastructure, regulatory support, robust funding, and clear business value demonstrated by early adopters.

The UBS report concludes that AI’s rapid adoption trajectory underscores its potential to move swiftly from early use to mainstream integration, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing technological transformation of businesses and industries across the United States.