Generative AI use rises with income levels, but with wide variations Source: Microsoft (2025). AI Diffusion Report: Where AI Is Most Used, Developed and Built. AI Economy Institute. Not every technology fits this trend. Electric vehicles (EVs) stand out as a relatively new investment to build. In addition, policy incentives encouraging EV adoption have only emerged more recently, further explaining their delayed take-off. Even so, the overall trend is unmistakable: new technologies are reaching more places faster than ever before. The world is catching up more quickly - and the distance between invention followership across regions. Advanced economies consistently emerge as early adopters, typically embracing new technologies 20-80 years before the global average, while Africa shows the opposite pattern, adopting most technologies 10-50+ years after the global average, These differences matter greatly for global development. Countries that adopted technologies such as electricity, railways or fixed-line telecommunications much earlier than others the internet and mobile phones, have spread far more quickly across borders. This has made it easier for many developing economies to adopt new technologies sooner and, in some cases, leapfrogging older ones in the process. 23