The 2026 AIDE Index scores every S&P 500 company on AI adoption across four pillars and 11 sectors, using only observable data. Here's how to navigate the rankings, understand the scores, and find what matters most to you.
June 1, 2026
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2026 AIDE Index · Companion Guide
Your map to the rankings: how to find your company, read your sector, and understand what each score actually means.
The 2026 AIDE Index is live. For the first time, every company in the S&P 500 has been scored on AI adoption using only publicly observable data. No surveys, no self-reporting, no access to proprietary systems required.
This post explains how to find out:
Where does my company rank?
How does my sector compare?
What does the score actually mean?
And what should I do with this information?
Start With the Full Rankings
The rankings page gives you the complete S&P 500 view: all sectors scored on the AIDE Index, sorted, and linked to sector-specific deep-dives. You can filter down to a single sector, compare scores across the two dimensions, or scan the full leaderboard. Within the sectors you'll find each company entry shows its AIDE Index (Sector) score, its archetype classification, and a pillar breakdown.
The most important thing to understand about the scores: they are sector-normalized. A score of 80 in Health Care means something different than a score of 80 in Information Technology, because both are measured against that sector's peer group, not against the full S&P 500. This is intentional. Comparing them within their own peer group reveals what matters: relative position and strategic differentiation.
For cross-sector comparison, look at archetype classifications and pillar patterns, not raw scores.
Navigate to Your Sector
Each of the 11 GICS sectors has its own dedicated page with full company rankings, archetype distributions, pillar breakdowns, and sector-level context.
Every AIDE Index score is built from four pillars, each carrying equal weight.
Pillar 1 · Literacy
Answers the question: do the company's leaders actually know AI? This is not about title or press statement, it's about measurable credentials, documented expertise, and professional engagement with AI topics, assessed at the individual executive level across the full board and top management team.
Pillar 2 · Advocacy
Answers: do leaders publicly champion AI? This looks at LinkedIn posts, articles, conference appearances, investor communications, and other public forums where executives either are or are not driving the AI conversation.
Pillar 3 · Orientation
Answers: is the organization strategically committed to AI? This pulls from hiring signals, earnings call language, partnership announcements, and strategic communications to measure how deeply AI is embedded in the company's stated priorities.
Pillar 4 · Implementation
Answers: what has the company actually built? Patents filed, website AI content, customer-facing AI products, operational deployments, and infrastructure investments, the hard evidence of what exists, not what is planned.
The methodology page documents every step of this process: how channels are scored (on a 0–5 calibrated scale, multiplied to produce 0–100 channel scores), how pillar scores are aggregated, how sector normalization works, and how the final AIDE Index score is derived. Full methodology transparency is a core commitment, a benchmark that can't be independently verified shouldn't be trusted.
Understand the Four Archetypes
Beyond the numeric score, every company is classified into one of four archetypes based on its position across the Leadership and Company dimensions.
AI Trailblazers
High Intent · High Integration
Have high scores on both dimensions. Leadership is aligned, and the organization is building at scale. These are the companies where AI is most deeply embedded.
AI Visionaries
High Intent · Low Integration
Score high on leadership intent, the executives know AI, champion it, and talk about it, but the company's operational and implementation signals haven't caught up. This may reflect genuine early-stage transformation, or a communications posture that outpaces execution.
Stealth Adopters
Low Intent · High Integration
Invert the Visionary pattern: high operational and implementation scores, lower leadership communications. These companies are often building more than their public profile suggests. For investors and competitors, they're worth close attention.
Emerging Adopters
Low Intent · Low Integration
Have lower scores on both dimensions, watching and waiting, with limited public evidence of operational AI commitment on either side.
Go Deeper Than the Rankings
The rankings and sector pages are the starting point.
For organizations that want to understand their own position, or the position of their portfolio companies, competitors, or clients, the AIDE Institute offers custom AIDE Assessments: board-ready AI maturity diagnostics that benchmark your organization against sector peers using the full AIDE Index dataset, including AIDE Matrix positioning, executive AI literacy scores by individual, and actionable recommendations.
We also partner with investors, consultancies, policymakers, and media organizations on data access, custom briefings, and ongoing research relationships.
About the AIDE Institute: The AI-Driven Enterprise (AIDE) Institute is an independent research organization that measures, benchmarks, and accelerates the transition to AI-first organizations worldwide. The AIDE Index covers the full S&P 500 and is built exclusively from publicly observable data, no surveys, no self-reporting, no proprietary access required. Leadership: Paul Cheek (Co-Founder & CEO, MIT Senior Lecturer), Felipe Ost Scherer (Co-Founder & Chief Research Officer), Kate Reed (Co-Founder & Head of Insights). Contact: hello@aideinstitute.com · aideinstitute.com
