South Africa’s AI usage increased to 23.1% in the first quarter of 2026 from 21.1% during the second half of last year, with the country ranking 46 out of 147 economies.This is according to the Microsoft Global AI Diffusion first quarter 2026 Trends and Insights report, released this week.It says AI adoption continues to accelerate globally, rising to 17.8% of the population in the first quarter from 16.3%. The gap between the Global North and Global South is, however, widening, with adoption growing more than twice as fast in higher-income regions — highlighting persistent challenges in connectivity, infrastructure and digital skills.“AI is moving rapidly from experimentation to practical, everyday use, but the benefits are not yet evenly shared. For South Africa, the rise in local AI usage to over 23% is encouraging progress, yet our position globally underscores the urgency of investing in digital infrastructure and skills,” said Microsoft South Africa commercial solutions and AI officer Ravi Bhat.“We view this phase of AI growth as an opportunity to help ensure AI supports inclusive growth, innovation and long‑term competitiveness across South Africa’s economy.”In the first quarter of 2026, 27.5% of the population in the Global North used generative AI, up from 24.7% in the second half of 2025. In the Global South, usage rose to 15.4% from 14.1%.This divide reflects the systemic challenges facing the South, underscoring the need to address foundational gaps in electricity, connectivity, digital skills, and local language access, the Microsoft report says.The clearest sign of AI’s near-term economic impact is software development, in which new coding models and agentic tools are dramatically increasing code production, repository creation and AI-assisted development activity.Africa is emerging as a powerful force in the global software economy, with an estimated 4.7-million developers by 2024, according to a report by consulting firm Boston Consulting Group.South Africa, with more than 500,000 developers and a growth rate of nearly 15% between 2019 and 2024, ranks alongside Egypt and Nigeria as one of the continent’s largest developer hubs, reflecting the maturity and depth of their established tech ecosystems. Overall, between 2019 and 2024, Africa’s developer base expanded at an annual rate of 21% — the fastest of any region — creating a strong foundation for participation in an increasingly AI-accelerated future.While businesses in South Africa figure out how to make the most of AI, a new technology, the government is under pressure to create rules that protect rights such as those of privacy while encouraging innovation and investment.It was, however, forced recently to withdraw its newly gazetted national AI policy after the department of communications & digital technologies said it had discovered fake and fictitious sources cited in the document, probably introduced by AI.