The State of AI in the Cloud 2025

As DeepSeek adoption surges, security and governance challenges persist.

Based on the sample size of hundreds of thousands of public cloud accounts, our second annual State of AI in the Cloud report highlights where AI is growing, which new players are emerging, and just how quickly the landscape is shifting.

85% of organizations are using some form of AI. As this technology cements itself, its potential for innovation—and disruption—has never been greater. Wiz Research has been tracking the security implications closely, uncovering everything from the exposed DeepSeek database leaking sensitive data to a critical NVIDIA AI vulnerability. These findings reinforce a key theme of the report: AI software brings massive opportunities—but also serious risks.

Fact 1

DeepSeek’s staggering growth

The release of DeepSeek-R1 prompted a surge in adoption, with its newest model netting around 130,000 downloads on HuggingFace. Roughly 7% of organizations using self-hosted AI models are currently using models developed by DeepSeek, representing a more than 2X increase in January 2025 alone.

But the rise of DeepSeek also underscores that innovation should not come at the cost of security, and AI systems on the whole warrant much closer oversight.

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Fact 2

Adoption rises, but OpenAI is still #1

AI adoption in cloud environments continues to rise, with 75% of organizations now using self-hosted AI models and 77% utilizing dedicated AI/ML software. OpenAI and Azure OpenAI SDKs maintain their dominance, used by 67% of cloud environments.

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Fact 3

Open & closed source AI

The AI landscape is a blend of open and closed-source technologies, with 8 out of the top 10 most popular hosted technologies being associated with open-source models. This mix reflects the industry's dynamic nature, where open-source tools and proprietary models coexist and often complement each other in cloud environments.

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Fact 4

Self-hosted AI gains popularity

Self-hosted AI adoption is on the rise. Among the most prevalent model types, BERT has become even more dominant, rising from 49% to 74% year-over-year. Other changes: Mistral AI joined the top 10 and Alibaba Cloud's Qwen2 emerged as a new contender.

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Conclusions

AI fosters creativity, competition, speed, and a slew of opportunity. As adoption accelerates, organizations face familiar challenges around governance, security, and cost management. The rapid introduction of AI tools, often without established standards, raises questions about visibility, risk management, and responsible usage.

Security teams and developers will need to work together to address emerging risks, including data exposure and unauthorized AI use within cloud environments.