Artificial intelligence in Latin America: The state of play

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly important for Latin American companies, as 48% of corporate functions have Al implementations in-process or completed and 46% are planning implementations, according to a survey by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Tata considered responses from 166 participants across Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Chile.

See the survey in the Documents box in the top right corner.

But even with implementations complete, companies still have to work on getting results. Half the respondents said they need better metrics to measure the success of AI implementation and 27% mentioned the need for financial key performance indicators, 13% for non-financial KPIs and both were important for 10%. 

INITIAL PHASE

According to the survey, 28% said they are in the initial exploration phase and 19% in the phase prior to adoption, which involves cleaning up data and migrating it to the cloud. 

A recent survey conducted by IBM showed that 37% of companies in the region are implementing and 45% are exploring generative AI.

TCS found that a quarter of regional executives expect half their employees to use genAI daily within the next three years. Around 37% expect up to 75% of employees to use genAI daily and 23% expect even more use. 

Most of implemented AI projects are focused on revenue growth, 55% on revenue and innovation, 17% on innovation and optimization in equal parts, and another 17% on lowering costs and optimizing operations. The remaining 10% focus on innovation first and optimization second. 

Consultancy IDC expects Latin American companies to spend US$459mn this year on AI services.