News
Latin America AI Adoption Accelerates
Source: cepal.org
Published on October 3, 2025
Updated on October 3, 2025
Latin America Accelerates AI Adoption
Latin America is rapidly embracing AI, with countries like Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay emerging as pioneers in the region. The third edition of the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index (ILIA 2025), released by ECLAC and CENIA Chile, highlights the region’s progress in AI preparedness, adoption, and governance across 19 countries.
The report reveals that Latin America and the Caribbean are adopting AI at a pace that outstrips their digital presence. Despite representing 11% of global internet users, the region accounts for 14% of visits to AI solutions. This growth is driven by pioneers like Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay, which have scores above 60 on the AI maturity index.
Regional AI Trends and Categorization
The study categorizes countries into three groups based on AI maturity: pioneers, adopters, and explorers. Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay lead as pioneers, while Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic are classified as adopters. Over a third of the countries analyzed fall into the explorer category, marked by developing ecosystems and limited capabilities.
Despite the progress, the region faces significant challenges. Talent shortages, limited investment, and governance issues hinder broader AI adoption. Advanced AI training is scarce and concentrated in a few countries, exacerbating the talent gap. Since 2022, the brain drain of specialists has further widened this gap compared to global averages.
Investment and Governance Gaps
Latin America and the Caribbean represent 6.6% of global GDP but receive only 1.12% of global AI investment. This disparity limits the region’s ability to expand productive and innovative AI initiatives. Many countries have AI strategies, but these often lack funding, implementation, and evaluation, reducing their effectiveness. Environmental and gender equality considerations are also frequently overlooked.
Policies in the region tend to focus on regulation rather than ecosystem development for productivity and well-being. This imbalance restricts the potential for AI to drive broader economic and social benefits.
Future Prospects for AI in Latin America
Despite these challenges, AI adoption in Latin America presents opportunities for innovation and productivity growth. ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, emphasized that AI could help the region overcome development challenges if digitalization policies align with productive development, infrastructure, talent, and governance improvements.
"AI has the potential to transform sectors like education, healthcare, and social protection," Salazar-Xirinachs noted. "However, this requires strategic investments and a focus on ecosystem development."
CENIA’s ILIA Director, Álvaro Soto, highlighted the shift in focus from AI preparedness to the actual impacts of AI in the region. While there is growing interest, he noted a lack of urgency and insufficient AI investment relative to GDP per capita.
Claudia Gintersdorfer, the European Union's Ambassador to Chile, underscored the EU’s support for ILIA, emphasizing its role in guiding a fair, inclusive, and people-centered AI transition.
The ILIA 2025 launch brought together government officials, international organization representatives, and leaders from the private sector and academia, underscoring the collaborative effort needed to advance AI in the region.