Brookings categorizes a couple dozen countries by AI proficiency. The US is highest on technical measures but fails to reach the “leader” quadrant because it scores poorly on “people” measures like number of STEM graduates.
You can quibble with the methodology, but I see it as in line with something Paul Romer noted last year: the US is the leader in science (the production of new ideas) but, when it comes to how those ideas spread and are applied, the US is lagging.
beyond the times 