Top AI Cities Focus on Healthcare, Education, and City Management

Singapore was ranked the world’s top AI city in 2025, followed by Seoul, Beijing, Dubai, and San Francisco, according to Counterpoint Research. The 2025 Global AI Cities Index is a study of AI adoption in the largest one hundred metropolitan areas in the world.

Counterpoint analyzed over 5,000 initiatives in the private and public sectors, the strength of communications infrastructure, university output, and the strength of the startup ecosystem, among other factors. The study also analyzed how AI technology is being leveraged in twenty industry verticals, as the intelligent digital transformation of the public and private sectors is a key component of an AI City.

The healthcare sector was the most prominent among all industry verticals in the study, as the world’s leading AI Cities have turned to AI to provide more accurate and more efficient methods to improve the well-being of their residents. Smart Hospitals & Clinics was the most popular initiative (34%) as AI Cities have recognized the need to digitize and automate healthcare functions. AI is also increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool (12%) to detect cancer and other ailments both more accurately and more efficiently. Using AI for drug discovery (6%) is also an emerging sector in this field. In terms of global leaders, Seoul was the leader in AI + Healthcare initiatives, followed by Singapore and Madrid.

Education was the second-most popular vertical for AI City activity as Counterpoint Research found 290 AI + Education initiatives in the world’s top 100 metropolitan areas. Introducing AI into the K-12 curriculum was the most common (29%) initiative taken by AI cities. The study also analyzed AI City activity by vertical. Introducing AI-based tools such as personalized AI tutor-chatbots and other learning aids into the classroom at all levels was the third-most common initiative recorded. Beijing was the overall leader in AI + Education, followed by Seoul and Madrid.

AI + City Management was the third most popular vertical for AI City activity, as Counterpoint Research found 238 initiatives in the world’s top 100 metropolitan areas. Using AI for traffic management was the most popular application of AI in City Management, representing 22% of all programs analyzed in the study. But AI is starting to be used for more innovative City management applications as well. The second most popular application of AI in City Management (17%) was to use it for better decision-making. Creating chatbots for residents to give them better access to government services was the third most popular initiative, representing 12% of all AI + City Management initiatives. Bengaluru was the overall leader in AI + City Management initiatives, followed by Tokyo and Seoul.