Investment in AI in Latin America would bring improvements to productivity, which would allow workers to focus on areas that bring more value.
The president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) Luis Alberto Moreno indicated that the investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) could facilitate trade negotiations and accelerate the economic growth of the region.
The IADB official was at the inauguration of the 11th International Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the IADB and the OECD in Paris, France. In the event, Luis Alberto Moreno spoke of the importance of smartphones in the region, since they have favored financial inclusion for the population.
On AI, Moreno described the technology as “a unique hybrid of capital and labor that creates a completely novel productive force.” Half of the estimated growth that the AI can bring is due to improvements in productivity.
Without a strategy, AI could increase income gap
In Latin America, there are several initiatives to develop AI-based technology. In Chile, 7 out of 10 companies plan to invest in this sector. However, the region is still behind in this area. The OECD as a whole directs 2.4% of GDP to the industry, while in Latin America, investment is only 0.7%.
The president of the IADB also regretted that until now, technological progress in Latin America has only increased the income gap and inequality in the region.
“We have already lost the train of the Industrial Revolution once. We can not miss this train of the Technological Revolution, “he said.
One way to modify this situation, suggested in the forum, is to seek links with the universities so that they allow the transfer of technology. In the continent, there are several initiatives to achieve this goal.
For Moreno, the incorporation of new technologies in the productivity of the continent will deepen the value chains, since they can analyze the flow of data obtained through the commercial exchange, tariff positions, technical standards, among other sources.
However, if governments do not take the necessary measures to improve education in technology and create strategies to take advantage of this technology in a fair manner, AI could widen inequality gaps.