75% of humanitarians now use AI regularly – yet fewer than one in ten work in an organisation where AI is widely integrated

2026 humanitarian AI pulse survey insights signal practitioner-led AI adoption continues to outpace organisational action

A research briefing note published today by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and Data Friendly Space reveals widening gaps between individual adoption of AI tools and organisational integration. While 95% of respondents have used AI tools for work – with three in four doing so daily or weekly – only 9% report AI as widely integrated across their organisation, and fewer than one in four have a formal AI policy in place. Meanwhile, practitioners’ conviction in the benefits of AI has surged, and agentic AI has entered the ecosystem.

The Humanitarian AI paradox is deepening

The January 2026 pulse survey of 1,729 practitioners across more than 120 countries is the first follow-up to the May/June 2025 global foundational study – the world’s first global baseline of AI adoption across the humanitarian sector. The 2025 study identified the ‘Humanitarian AI paradox’: individual AI adoption outpacing organisational readiness, including governance, literacy, and integration. Evidence across both survey waves – with a combined 4,268 responses over an eight-month period – confirms the paradox is deepening: the gap between individual practice and organisational readiness continues to widen.

Rising confidence in AI demands skilling opportunities and guardrails

A key change since the 2025 survey is attitudes towards the benefits of AI in humanitarian work. 65% of respondents feel it has improved their operational efficiency, an increase of 18% since 2025, and 54% believe it has led to better decision-making, marking a shift in the collective question of ‘should we use AI’ to ‘how can we use it safely and responsibly?’ 

This confidence appears to be leading practitioners to experiment with more advanced AI tools. Three out of 10 respondents are using custom AI agents such as those built on Microsoft Copilot Studio or OpenAI API. Yet AI expertise remains rare – just 3% consider themselves expert users, a marginal decline from 2025 – and two-thirds of the workforce remain largely self-taught. In the survey’s open comments, training and online courses were the most common keywords: a clear signal of unmet demand.

This developing picture highlights the critical importance of skilling opportunities, organisational governance, and oversight.

AI adoption is not following a Global North-to-South diffusion pattern 

Rather than being driven by headquarters, the accessibility of commercial AI tools means individual adoption is being driven by operational pressures across the sector. Respondents from local organisations report higher daily AI usage than international organisations, and the highest growth and most intensive daily usage is concentrated in regions with acute humanitarian needs, despite operating in contexts facing infrastructure and connectivity barriers. The highest daily usage rates are in operationally demanding contexts: Kenya, Sudan, and Bangladesh.

This distributed adoption brings governance challenges into sharp relief. Organisational AI governance remains a challenge across all organisational types and contexts. Policy coverage varies significantly – from 13% among local organisations to 39% in UN agencies – highlighting the need for collective standards, coordinated support, and shared approaches across the humanitarian ecosystem.

Ka Man Parkinson, Communications Lead at the Humanitarian Leadership Academy said: 

“We’re very grateful to the humanitarians from more than 120 countries who made this research possible. Individual endeavours continue to drive AI adoption across the sector – energy and efforts that must now be harnessed into organisational initiatives to shape safe, scalable, and contextualised use of AI. The strength of engagement across the Global South underscores that design, decision-making, and deployment must be truly inclusive if AI is to support humanitarian work worldwide. We know the sector is under inordinate pressure – and this is why collective attention and common approaches matter. Leadership action in 2026 is critical to building this foundation.”

Madigan Johnson, Head of Communications at Data Friendly Space said:

“We truly appreciate the continued global engagement with this research, which has revealed fascinating insights. The cohort of respondents who participated in both our 2025 and 2026 surveys provides us a powerful longitudinal signal. Those who stayed engaged show markedly higher daily AI use, stronger governance, and significantly more organisational training investment. It points to what becomes possible when individuals and their organisations commit together over time.”

The briefing note outlines the themes and identifies four priority areas for sector action: governance, skilling and training, organisational integration, and the localisation and contextualisation of AI into humanitarian work. The briefing note is available to download via the research landing page, which also houses the 2025 foundational report and supporting resources. An updated interactive dashboard containing the 2025-2026 data, as well as French and Spanish language briefing notes, are scheduled for release in March-April 2026.

About the research 

The January 2026 pulse survey was conducted by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and Data Friendly Space, building on the May/June 2025 foundational study – the first global baseline of AI adoption across the humanitarian sector. Since the report’s release in August 2025, the research has achieved significant global reach and impact: informing academic research in Türkiye, Colombia, Switzerland, and Germany; supporting an Arabic-language AI training initiative for local responders in Sudan; contributing to civil society advocacy in Ukraine; and shaping high-level and practitioner dialogue on responsible humanitarian AI at global conferences and webinars; as well as through a six-part podcast series with a focus on global and African humanitarian AI perspectives.

Contact

info@humanitarian.academy or hello@datafriendlyspace.org