a16z AI Top 100: Global AI Splits into Three Poles, with DeepSeek as the Only Product Connecting the US, China, and Russia

According to 1M AI News, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) partner Olivia Moore released the sixth edition of the Global AI Consumer Product Top 100 list (data as of January 2026), showing the global AI market splitting into three camps. Western products (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity) share a highly similar user base, mainly from the United States, India, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia, with no significant usage in China and Russia. China is led by Bean, Kimi, DeepSeek. Russia is emerging as a third pole, with Yandex Browser's AI assistant Alice boasting 71 million monthly active users, entering the global mobile Top 10, and Sber's AI chat product GigaChat making its debut on the web. a16z said Russia replicated China's path but at a quicker pace: "Sanctions created a blank slate, and local products filled it within two years."

DeepSeek is the only product spanning all three camps. Its web traffic comes from China (33.5%), Russia (7.1%), and the United States (6.6%), with similar distribution on mobile.