I was somewhat surprised to receive an invitation to participate in Web Summit Rio, a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am neither an AI researcher nor a software engineer. Not even a founder of a technology company, as most participants in the summit. My professional life has been devoted to politics, academia, diplomacy and business. Perhaps that is precisely why I was invited to participate in the debate and offer a regional perspective.
Because the most important question raised by Artificial Intelligence may not be a technological question. Probably, it is a development question. And ultimately, it is a governance question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I reported on my blog, a few months ago, I visited China. In Hefei, I stood in front of a humanoid robot capable of folding clothes, opening bottles, serving water and performing complex tasks with remarkable dexterity. In Shanghai, I encountered service robots moving autonomously through restaurants and hotels. A few weeks later, Tesla introduced Optimus. The technology was impressive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what struck me most was not the robots. It was the speed of change. And the realization that our institutions are evolving much more slowly than the technologies they are expected to govern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout history, humanity has experienced moments like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comparison between the invention of the printing press and the rise of artificial intelligence, for example, has become commonplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The printing press did not simply improve communication. It helped trigger a chain of transformations that eventually contributed to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, modern capitalism and representative democracy. But centuries separated Gutenberg from those institutional outcomes.
Today, the transition from the Internet to artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics is unfolding within a single generation. That acceleration helps explain what I would call institutional fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The institutions we inherited were designed for an industrial economy. The world now emerging is increasingly organized around data, algorithms, networks and intangible assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Latin America, however, the challenge is even more specific. Our region is not confronting only a technological revolution. It is confronting a long-standing productivity problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, growth depended heavily on adding workers rather than generating sustained productivity gains. That demographic advantage is fading. Future prosperity will increasingly depend on our ability to create more value with the same resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is where Artificial Intelligence becomes relevant. According to estimates from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, AI could generate between US$1.1 trillion and US$1.7 trillion in additional annual economic value across Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those numbers are extraordinary. Yet there is a paradox. The region is adopting AI. But it is still creating relatively little value from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lesson is important. Adopting artificial intelligence is not the same as transforming through artificial intelligence. Using AI is not the same as generating development. And possessing algorithms is not the same as increasing productivity.
Why?
Because the principal bottlenecks are not technological. They are human and institutional. There is a shortage of talent, organizational capabilities and scaling capacity. In other words: the problem is not the availability of intelligence but the capacity to convert intelligence into prosperity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For that reason, I believe we often frame the debate incorrectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We ask who will build the most powerful models or control the data. We ask who will own the computing infrastructure. All those questions matter. But the decisive question is another one entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do we possess institutions capable of translating technological potential into productivity, wellbeing and development?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the real challenge. The challenge is not simply regulating artificial intelligence. It is governing a historic transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As during previous periods of transformation, we will need new capabilities, new forms of cooperation and, eventually, new institutions. We will need digital literacy, trusted oversight mechanisms and international cooperation.
And we will need institutions capable of ensuring that technological power serves society rather than society serving technological power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not blind faith in technology or resistance to change. But the capacity to make sound decisions amid uncertainty. The courage to act before complete information becomes available. The humility to learn while acting. And the wisdom to adapt as reality changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artificial intelligence may be the most powerful technology of our time. But technology alone does not create prosperity. Institutions do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The countries that succeed will not be those that simply adopt AI. They will be those that learn how to govern change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The real race may not be for artificial intelligence. The real race is, probably, for institutional adaptation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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