Ask the world whether it is excited about AI in daily life and just under half say yes. Split that by country and a striking pattern appears. The most enthusiastic markets are not the wealthy ones where the technology was built, they are the fast growing economies. Nigeria leads the world at 77 percent, followed by Ghana, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa, all well above the global average. The United States sits at 33 percent and the United Kingdom lower still at under 30 percent.
Enthusiasm is a leading indicator of use
Excitement is not just a mood, it is a forecast. People who are enthusiastic about a technology adopt it faster, use it more often and trust its answers sooner. That is already visible in the usage data, where past month ChatGPT use is highest of anywhere in the world in Kenya. Where enthusiasm leads, behaviour follows, and behaviour is what reshapes how brands get discovered.
For an operator on the continent this flips the usual story. The assumption that new technology arrives late here does not hold for AI assistants. On the measures that matter, engagement and enthusiasm, several African markets are ahead of the West, not behind it. That shift in how buyers discover brands is covered in the rise of AI agents in brand discovery.
What this means for your business
If your customers are in these high enthusiasm markets, the move to assistant-led discovery is not a distant trend to watch, it is a current reality to act on. The brands that make themselves legible to AI now will compound an advantage as adoption keeps climbing from an already high base. Waiting for the West to lead the way is, in this case, waiting for a signal that has already passed you. The broader picture is set out in a billion people now use AI assistants.