A new study revealed that artificial intelligence understands Polish commands better than any other tested language, while English ranked only sixth. Conducted by the University of Maryland and Microsoft, the research compared how 26 different languages perform when used to prompt AI systems.
Researchers expressed surprise at the outcome. “Our analysis showed results that defied expectations. English, often considered the global language of technology, placed sixth, while Polish led across all long-text evaluations,” the authors stated.
They tested leading AI models—including OpenAI, Google Gemini, Qwen, Llama, and DeepSeek—using the same prompts in every language.
Machines Master Polish Better Than Humans
The tests showed Polish achieved 88% average accuracy, making it the top performer. “AI follows Polish instructions with exceptional precision,” the Polish Patent Office wrote in a Facebook post. “People may find Polish complex, but AI handles it effortlessly.”
This result astonished linguists because AI systems train on far less Polish data compared to English or Chinese. Despite that limitation, the models displayed strong comprehension and consistency.
Chinese, surprisingly, performed among the weakest, landing near the bottom of the rankings.
Global Ranking of AI’s Language Skills
The research ranked the most effective languages for interacting with AI as follows:
- Polish — 88%
- French — 87%
- Italian — 86%
- Spanish — 85%
- Russian — 84%
- English — 83.9%
- Ukrainian — 83.5%
- Portuguese — 82%
- German — 81%
- Dutch — 80%
The authors concluded that artificial intelligence does not always favor the world’s most common or simplest languages. Instead, it thrives in unexpected ones—like Polish—proving that machines may interpret linguistic complexity very differently from humans.
