Nearly all chief economists — 97% — expect AI adoption to accelerate over the next 12 months, the World Economic Forum’s September 2026 Chief Economists’ Outlook says. That is the strongest consensus recorded on any issue in the survey. The report was released on September 22, 2026, with ANI coverage on September 28.

About 69% expect AI to unlock meaningful productivity gains, with benefits spreading across all industries within three years. On the US-China race, 69% expect Chinese large language models to fully catch up with US counterparts within 12 months.

The outlook is split on data centres: 78% expect data-centre investment to contribute significantly to global growth, but 61% do not expect it to generate a comparable share of job creation. Some 79% expect local community pushback against data-centre expansion, 78% expect upward pressure on electricity prices, and 58% expect water costs to rise.

On the broader economy, 56% expect the global outlook to remain stable or improve — a sharp improvement from May, when 89% expected weakening. Geopolitical conflicts remain the top source of uncertainty, named by 97% of respondents.