More than a third of the world’s population is now using generative AI tools each month, according to the latest Digital 2027 report from We Are Social and Meltwater, which also found Singapore ranking among the highest adopters of ChatGPT globally.

Now in its 15th year and its biggest edition yet, the report estimates that 3.24 billion people – 38.9 per cent of the global population – actively use generative AI tools, up 57.2 per cent over the past 12 months with 1.2 billion new users added. Global internet users have reached 6.15 billion, or 73.9 per cent of the world’s population, while active social media users now exceed 5.81 billion.

Singapore ranks among the world’s heaviest AI users

Singapore stands out in the regional data. The city-state ranks 13th globally for ChatGPT usage, with 48.7 per cent of Singaporeans aged 16 and above having used the platform in the past month – well above the global average of 34.7 per cent. Across Southeast Asia, internet adoption sits at 82.8 per cent of the population, while 97.4 per cent of Singaporeans are web users.

Singaporeans are also slightly more likely than the global average to use AI for everyday search: 63.4 per cent use AI to find information, against a global average of 60.4 per cent. However, they are marginally less likely to use AI when researching a purchase, at 23.0 per cent versus a global average of 26.0 per cent. Unlike most of the world, which leans on social media for brand discovery, Singaporeans use search engines slightly more – 33.7 per cent versus 31.4 per cent for social.

Other Singapore-specific findings

• 55.3 per cent of Singaporeans buy something online each week, just below the global average of 55.7 per cent
• 63.4 per cent pay for some form of digital content each month, trailing the global average of 69.3 per cent
• 73.4 per cent of Singaporeans say they are concerned about online misinformation

AI reshapes how brands are discovered

ChatGPT remains the dominant generative AI platform, attracting twice as many monthly active users as its nearest rival, though Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude are gaining ground – Gemini’s mobile app user base has grown fourfold over the past year, with its web user base now more than 60 per cent the size of ChatGPT’s.

“AI is changing how people discover brands, but social remains central to where people spend their time and form preferences,” said Suzie Shaw, CEO of We Are Social APAC. “The brands that win won’t just be the ones that appear in AI-generated answers, but the ones people are genuinely interested in, talking about and recommending in the first place.”

“Across APAC, where digital behaviours and platform preferences vary widely between markets, brands can no longer rely on a single channel to reach their audiences,” said Mimrah Mahmood, Meltwater’s APAC Vice President of Enterprise Sales. “With generative AI adoption surging nearly 60% in the last year, the customer journey is being rewritten in real time.”

A Singapore-specific country report is due to be released next month with further detail on local digital trends and behaviours.