Claude in Israel: A Study on the Startup Nation

Last updated: October 27, 2026. Originally published April 4, 2026.

Summary

Israel ranks first in the world on Anthropic's AI Usage Index at 4.9x, ahead of Singapore (4.19x) and the United States (3.69x). 95% of Israeli tech workers use AI tools regularly, and Israeli startups raised $13.2 billion in the first nine months of 2026. This October 2026 update adds Microsoft's Q2 2026 adoption data, new funding figures, a sourced FAQ and primary-source links.

In this study

1. Which country is the most AI-intense in the world?
2. What changed in October 2026?
3. What are the key findings?
4. What does Israel's share of global Claude volume actually mean?
5. Why does Israel lead?
6. What do Israeli AI leaders say?
7. How are Israeli brands built in an AI-first world?
8. What should Israeli founders and operators do?
9. Where can I download the full study?
10. Which other 5W research covers AI and Israel?
11. Frequently asked questions
12. Methodology and sources

Which country is the most AI-intense in the world?

Israel is the most AI-intense country on earth. On Anthropic's AI Usage Index (AUI), which measures how much each country uses the Claude AI model relative to its share of the world's working-age population, Israel ranks first with a score of 4.9x, ahead of Singapore (4.19x), the United States (3.69x), and every other country measured. The gap between Israel at the top of the index and Tanzania at the bottom (0.03x) is roughly 150x.

5WPR and Louder have published a joint research study examining why. The short version: Israel builds more startups per capita than any country on earth, and it now uses AI more intensely than any country on earth. Those facts are not independent. They are the same fact, measured twice.

What changed in October 2026?

Six data points have moved since the study was first published in April 2026. The 4.9x AUI score itself comes from Anthropic's November 2025 country sample, which remains the figure used throughout this study.

Funding totals depend on the tracker. CTech Data counted $15.6 billion raised in 2025, while IVC-LeumiTech counted $10.7 billion for the same year.

What are the key findings?

• Israel ranks #1 in the world on the Anthropic AI Usage Index at 4.9x, per the November 2025 sample of 116 countries released by Anthropic in January 2026.
• 95% of Israeli tech-sector workers use AI tools regularly; 78% use them daily (Israel Innovation Authority / Brookdale Institute, November 2025).
• Approximately 70% of Israeli tech workers report substantial improvement in output quality from AI tools; 40% report AI cuts their work time by more than 50%.
• 38.7% of Israel's working-age population used generative AI in Q2 2026, more than double the 18.8% global rate (Microsoft AI Economy Institute).
• Israel is one of only seven countries globally with a locally developed model in the top 200 AI models worldwide (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report 2025).
• 342 Israeli generative AI startups have collectively raised over $20 billion.
• Israeli startups raised $15.6 billion in 2025 and generated $74 billion in exits (Startup Nation Central), and $13.2 billion in the first nine months of 2026 (CTech Data).

What does Israel's share of global Claude volume actually mean?

In absolute terms, Israel represents roughly 0.5% of global Claude conversations, a small share, because Israel has only about 10 million people and a working-age population of roughly 6 million. That 6 million is approximately 0.11% of the world's working-age adults. At an AUI of 4.9x, the math works out to Israeli users generating roughly one in every 185 Claude conversations on earth, drawn from roughly one in every 900 working-age adults.

The United States, by contrast, accounts for 21.6% of global Claude volume because it has both a large population and high per-capita usage. India is the second-largest absolute user at 7.2%, but has low per-capita intensity (AUI of approximately 0.22x). The AUI cuts through population size to measure how deeply AI is embedded in a country's working life. By that measure, Israel is unmatched.

Why does Israel lead? The Startup Nation compound

Four structural conditions explain the ranking, and all four strengthened through 2025 and 2026.

Startup density

More than 6,600 active Israeli startups, 14 times the European per-capita concentration. Israel ranks first globally for R&D expenditure as a share of GDP. Half of all 2025 Israeli tech capital went into deals larger than $100 million, concentrating toward scale-stage companies that drive the most aggressive AI adoption. In 2026, mid-stage companies raised about $1.8 billion in Q3 alone, roughly 49% of the quarter's total (IVC-LeumiTech).

Workforce depth

The Israel Innovation Authority and Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute survey of more than 500 tech workers (full survey PDF), published in November 2025, found that 82% of daily AI users apply the technology across three or more categories of work, and 25% use it across six or more. 86% of workers aged 25–34 report daily AI use. For comparison, the Microsoft / LinkedIn 2025 Work Trend Index put worldwide high-tech AI use at 75%. Israel's tech workforce is running 20 points above that global baseline.

A maturing AI sector

342 Israeli generative AI startups have collectively raised over $20 billion. Cybersecurity and generative AI together accounted for roughly 70% of all capital raised in Israel in 2025. Recent headline exits include Google's acquisition of Wiz, Palo Alto Networks' acquisition of CyberArk, and Nvidia's acquisitions of Run:ai and Illumex. In January 2026, Cyera raised $400 million at a $9 billion valuation, and a further $600 million in June took that valuation to $12 billion.

Global recognition

Microsoft's AI Diffusion Report 2025 places Israel in a seven-country group, alongside the U.S., China, France, South Korea, the U.K., and Canada, with a locally developed model in the global top 200 AI models. Israel's flagship model, AI21 Labs' Jamba Large 1.7, trails OpenAI's GPT-5 by just 11.6 months. On Microsoft's 2025 Adoption Index, Israel ranked 15th globally at 33.9% of adults, above the U.S. (26.3%) and China (15.4%). By Q2 2026, Israel's adoption rate had risen to 38.7%.

What do Israeli AI leaders say?

"The AI survey reveals the depth of the transformation underway in Israeli high-tech. Almost all workers in the sector already use these tools, and this is not a future projection but a present reality reshaping high-tech employment."

Dror Bin, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority

"Israel is among the world's leading countries in infrastructure, models, and implementation. Israeli high-tech continues to be the engine of growth for the economy, and the work being done here in artificial intelligence demonstrates our strategic global role."

Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft; Managing Director, Microsoft Israel R&D Center

"Israel is at the forefront of AI adoption alongside superpowers like the U.S. and China, and that's a huge advantage."

Alon Haimovich, General Manager, Microsoft Israel

"Israel has always operated ahead of the curve. With AI, the country isn't just keeping up, it's defining what comes next. The same grit, creativity, and speed that built the Startup Nation are now shaping how Israeli brands reach the world."

Dolev Raphael Drai, Founder, Louder

"Israel builds more startups per capita than any country on earth. It now also uses AI more intensely than any country on earth. Those two facts are not independent. They are the same fact, measured twice."

Ronn Torossian, Founder and Chairman, 5WPR

How are Israeli brands built in an AI-first world?

Israeli brand-building teams are using AI from the first week of the company, not after a Series B. Three mechanics stand out.

Smaller teams reach global scale faster

Israeli cyber startup Above Security raised a $43 million Series A with just 10 employees at eight months old. Cyera went from a $3 billion to a $9 billion valuation in under a year, and to $12 billion by June 2026. Ten-person Israeli teams are producing the output that fifty-person teams produced five years ago.

Hebrew and English as a native pair

Frontier language models have improved sharply on Hebrew. Israeli teams now operate across both languages in the same workflow, collapsing the tradeoff between depth in the Israeli market and reach in the global one.

The information layer is changing underneath Israeli brands

When AI usage runs 4.9x expected inside Israel, Israeli buyers, journalists, analysts, and investors are increasingly forming first impressions of a company from an AI answer rather than a website or press release. A brand's position inside that information layer, meaning how accurately and prominently it appears in AI outputs, is starting to matter as much as its more traditional assets.

What should Israeli founders and operators do?

1. Treat AI as infrastructure, not tooling. If AI is a productivity add-on in your team, you are behind the Israeli median.
2. Publish primary-source material. LLMs synthesize answers, and brands that publish credible original content become the preferred citations.
3. Operate in Hebrew and English as a native pair from day one.
4. Compress team size deliberately. Redirect the savings toward strategic hires, strategic partnerships, and founder time on the road.
5. Measure what LLMs say about you. A citation audit shows what buyers, journalists and investors actually read in AI answers. See 5W's AI citation audit and its GEO practice.

Where can I download the full study?

The full 13-page study is available as a PDF in English and Hebrew. It includes the complete 116-country AUI leaderboard, sector-by-sector analysis of the Israeli AI ecosystem, profiles of ten category-defining Israeli AI brands, additional data from Anthropic's March 24, 2026 Economic Index update, and five practical takeaways for founders.

• Download English PDF

Which other 5W research covers AI and Israel?

This study measures AI adoption, meaning how intensely Israel uses Claude. Companion 5W studies measure the AI visibility and commercial side of the same story:

• Israel Is Running Ahead on Claude, and the Numbers Prove It: a company-by-company look at the 50 Israeli startups building, securing, and commercializing the Claude-class AI wave, led by AI-security lab Irregular
• AI and the Israeli Brand: the GEO and earned-media reallocation opportunity for Israeli brands, sector by sector
• AI and Israeli Marketing: how generative AI is reshaping discovery and marketing spend in the Israeli advertising market

The same Israeli tech story, state by state in the United States:

• Israeli Tech in Florida: $7.3 Billion
• Israeli Tech in Texas
• Israeli Tech in Virginia: $2.3 Billion, 119 Companies
• Israeli Tech in Georgia: 33 Years, 50+ Companies, $5.4B in Bilateral Trade

For Hebrew-language AI citation audits by category (banking, airlines, and more), see The Olam's Answer Index series.

Related analysis across the 5WPR network

• Israel Is the Startup Nation. It's Now Also the AI Nation., Ronn Torossian, op-ed
• Israel Uses AI More Than Any Country on Earth. Here's What Living There Has Taught Me., Medium
• Follow the research on Instagram: @louder.creators

Frequently asked questions

What is the Anthropic AI Usage Index?

The Anthropic AI Usage Index (AUI) compares a country's share of Claude.ai usage with its share of the world's working-age population. A score of 1.0 means usage is proportional to population, and Israel's score of 4.9x means Israelis use Claude nearly five times more intensely than their population share would predict.

Which country uses Claude the most per capita?

Israel, at 4.9x on the AUI. Singapore follows at 4.19x and the United States at 3.69x, based on Anthropic's November 13-20, 2025 sample of 116 countries, published in January 2026.

Is Israel's number one ranking still current?

The 4.9x score remains the figure from the November 2025 country sample. Anthropic's newest Economic Index report, "Cadences," was published on June 26, 2026 and moves to hourly sampling and survey data.

What share of Israeli tech workers use AI?

95% of Israeli tech-sector workers use AI tools regularly and 78% use them daily, according to the Israel Innovation Authority and Brookdale Institute survey of 523 tech workers published in November 2025. Among workers aged 25 to 34, 86% report daily use.

Why does Israel lead in AI usage?

Four conditions compound: startup density, workforce depth, a maturing AI sector and global recognition. Israel has more than 6,600 active startups, the highest R&D spending as a share of GDP, and a tech workforce running 20 points above the global high-tech baseline for AI use.

How does Israel compare on Microsoft's AI adoption measure?

In Microsoft's Q2 2026 report, 38.7% of Israel's working-age population used generative AI, more than double the global rate of 18.8%. The UAE led at 73.3% and Singapore followed at 64.3%.

How much did Israeli startups raise in 2026?

CTech Data counts $13.2 billion across 192 disclosed rounds in the first nine months of 2026, and IVC-LeumiTech reports $3.6 billion in Q3 alone, up 53% year over year. Totals differ by tracker, so compare figures from the same source.

What does this mean for Israeli brands?

Israeli buyers, journalists and investors increasingly form first impressions from AI answers. Brands that publish credible primary-source content and audit what AI engines say about them are the ones that get cited. 5W's GEO practice and AI citation audit are built for that work.

Where can I read the full report?

The 13-page study is available as an English PDF and includes the complete 116-country AUI leaderboard, sector analysis and profiles of ten Israeli AI brands.

Methodology and sources

About the authors

5WPR
5W Public Relations (5WPR) is an independent PR, creative and GEO agency founded in 2003 and headquartered in Florida, with an office in New York. 5W does all of its work in house, from media relations to site building and content. The agency serves clients across consumer, B2B, technology, healthcare, public affairs, and crisis communications, and has offered an expanded service in the Israeli market since 2025. Contributing author: Ronn Torossian, Founder and Chairman of 5WPR and author of For Immediate Release. See all 5W authors.
Louder
Louder is a creative and content studio that operates at the intersection of strategic storytelling and social impact. Part of The Phygital Jewish group, the studio specializes in developing high-impact campaigns and digital content for Jewish-owned businesses, international organizations, and government agencies. Founded by Dolev Raphael Drai.

Published by 5WPR Research Division. Questions: research@5wpr.com