Sri Lanka sees slow growth in AI use

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama

Sri Lanka is gradually adopting artificial intelligence (AI), but the country remains behind many others in the world. According to the Microsoft AI Economy Institute, the share of Sri Lankans using generative AI tools rose slightly from 6.2% in early 2025 to 6.6% by the end of the year. The findings were published in the report titled “Global AI Adoption in 2025.”  

Although this is a small improvement, it is still far below the global average of 16%, and behind regional neighbours like India (15.7%) and Bangladesh (7.1%).  

Experts say a digital divide is widening between the Global North and the Global South. Adoption in the Global North grew nearly twice as fast, with 24.7% of the working-age population using AI tools, compared to 14.1% in the Global South. Leading countries like the United Arab Emirates (64%) and Singapore (60.9%) have advanced due to strong government policies, investment in digital infrastructure, and AI education programs. Other nations, such as South Korea, have boosted AI use by developing models in local languages, making AI more practical for daily life.  

For Sri Lanka, experts suggest making AI more accessible, promoting affordable and localized AI tools, and encouraging wider participation from communities with limited access to technology. Without such measures, Sri Lanka risks falling further behind as global AI economies continue to grow rapidly.  

The report also notes that global adoption of AI continued to rise in the second half of 2025, increasing by 1.2 percentage points, showing that generative AI is steadily becoming part of mainstream use worldwide.