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Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence in Latin America
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be described as the next big thing, the technology most likely to drive comprehensive and far-reaching change across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) during the coming decade.... Read More
According to The Economist, the term artificial intelligence was first used in 1956 at an academic gathering in Dartmouth College in the US when John McCarthy, a young researcher, wanted to kickstart a discussion about “how to make machines use language, [and] form abstractions and concepts” to enable them to “solve the kinds of problems now reserved for humans”.... Read More
Many companies are using AI in the region to further develop their businesses and capture efficiency improvements.... Read More
In 2023 and 2024 a research team formed by Chile’s National Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) and the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) began publishing an annual Latin America Artificial Intelligence Index (known by its Spanish acronym ILIA) covering 19 of the region’s countries.... Read More
It is generally accepted that AI brings potentially vast opportunities and increased efficiency, while at the same time posing significant risks of various types of harm.... Read More
One way of illustrating the rapid development of AI capabilities is to ask Chat GPT a question.... Read More
Rodrigo Durán, a manager at Chile’s CENIA, highlights a study which seeks to quantify AI gains.... Read More
Initial analysis of worldwide adoption of AI has led to worries that millions of jobs currently performed by humans may be automated and, in effect, taken over by AI.... Read More
In a recent blog IMF economists identify labour sector informality as one of the major obstacles to AI take-up in Latin America and the Caribbean.... Read More
The sense that the US retains a commanding lead in the AI race suffered a significant blow in early 2025 when DeepSeek, a small Chinese computer lab using open sources, released its R1 LLM model.... Read More
Chile’s National Centre for Artificial Intelligence has been involved in a project over the last two years to create Latam-GPT, a new large language model which specifically focuses on Latin American culture and outlook.... Read More
Electricity consumption in the world’s data centres will double between now and 2030, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) which says that the growth will be concentrated in the US and China.... Read More
Speaking in April, Henna Virkkunen, European Commission vice president for technology sovereignty, said the AI race is far from over.... Read More
A wide range of regulatory and legislative approaches to AI are being discussed in the LAC countries.... Read More
Brazil’s AI regulation effort, Bill 2,338/2023, has been working its way through congress.... Read More
As the second largest Latin American economy, sharing a border with a technology powerhouse to the north, it might be expected that Mexico would be a leader in the regional AI race.... Read More
Chile is widely seen as the regional leader in AI regulation.... Read More
In December 2023 Argentina transitioned from a centre-left Peronist (Partido Justicialista – PJ) government to a far right, pro-market administration under Javier Millei.... Read More
In late 2019 Colombia’s National Policy for Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence was launched.... Read More
This report has highlighted some of the key issues around the introduction of artificial intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean.... Read More
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- Introduction
- The slow-burn rise in AI
- Case studies: what is AI being used for in LAC?
- Is Latin America ready?
- The opportunity and risks of AI
- AI in LAC, as seen by ChatGPT.
- Quantifying the gains
- Will the bots destroy Latin American jobs?
- The big AI obstacle in LAC: labour informality
- The DeepSeek challenge
- The promise of Latam-GPT
- Rising data centre energy demand
- The European strategy
- Latin America faces regulatory challenges
- Brazil: pushing new legislation
- Mexico: slow development
- Chile: leader in regulation
- Argentina: seeking low regulation to attract investors
- Colombia: more than half the country’s companies are investing in AI
- Conclusion – a game of high stakes