What do you mean by 'working'? As far as I can tell the function works as it is intended to. If you mean that the AI isn't keeping up with you, all you can do is raise the difficulty so they have more resources with which to pay for research. The AI also seems to neglect research when it is at war, so if you are constantly fighting with them and getting far ahead in research, that's a possible source of it also.

I often play very slow tech games since it pressures me to actually use more techs as I get them and not just plow ahead 5-10 techs down the line to advanced weapons that can blow up my enemies as soon as I start making miltary.