Latin America and the Caribbean should become a “leading region in the implementation and development” of Artificial Intelligence (AI), asserted Colombia’s Minister of Information Technologies and Communications (MinTIC), Mauricio Lizcano, on Thursday in Cartagena de Indias.
The senior official, who inaugurated the ‘Latin American and Caribbean Ministerial Summit on Artificial Intelligence: ColombIA,’ highlighted that this technology should benefit “everyone equally, promoting competitive, inclusive, and sustainable development.”
“Artificial Intelligence is the most disruptive technology in human history because it has the capacity to create languages (…) As generative AI, which is beginning to develop its language today, advances, there will come a time when it will be very difficult to distinguish between machine and human,” the minister added.
From Consumption to Production
Lizcano urged the attendees—including 22 ministers and nine deputy ministers from 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as six representatives from multilateral organizations—to “move from being solely consumers of technology to becoming producers of it.”
“This summit is a unique opportunity for our countries to unite, work together, share knowledge and lessons on the implementation of public policies, and strengthen strategies around this disruptive technology,” said the minister.
This call for action occurs against the backdrop that AI should benefit “everyone equally, promoting competitive, inclusive, and sustainable development” in a stagnant region that has struggled to “find a path to development and prosperity.”
“Today we are called to act as a bloc to set a position as a continent, no longer waiting for developed countries to determine our destiny, which accentuates social and technological gaps. Therefore, we must create enabling spaces for the financing of emerging technologies and encourage data sovereignty in Latin America,” he emphasized.
AI Dialogue
The summit, which will conclude on Friday, will focus on three “fundamental pillars”: the creation of “enabling ecosystems that help strengthen the environment and support the development of Artificial Intelligence,” according to Lizcano.
It also aims to advance “digital education” through the “training and adoption of Artificial Intelligence at all educational levels: primary, secondary, and higher education.”
The final pillar is “governance,” which seeks to establish regulatory frameworks in the region to ensure “responsible and ethical” use of AI.
The summit is supported by the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the European Union (EU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Participants include UNESCO’s Director of the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Esther Kuisch-Laroche; the U.S. Department of State’s Director of Technology Policy, Critical and Emerging Technologies, Justin Reynolds; and the Director of the Andean Countries Office of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Ítalo Cardona.
Also present are the Chair of the OECD AI Governance Task Force, Juraj Corba, and the Director of Public Policy for Latin America at OpenAI, Nicolás Robinson Andrade.
