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AI in Latin America: latest AI news

AI across Latin America: data centres and investment in Brazil and Mexico, jobs, elections and deepfakes, and the policies shaping who benefits.

1. 1 Nov, 14:30 IST

   Monday, November 2, 2026

   Brazil courts AI data centres with tax breaks and cheap power as US towns push back

   Source: Fortune

   Fortune reports Brazil's REDATA law, signed on 15 September, cuts taxes on qualifying data centre equipment, while its electricity costs less than half the US level. Companies must offer at least 10% of qualifying computing services to Brazilian customers and invest 2% of the equipment value in local research.

   Why it mattersData centres are the warehouses of computers that run AI. Brazil hopes they bring jobs and cheaper local cloud services, but Fortune notes officials are split on whether household electricity bills could rise as demand grows.

2. 29 Oct, 02:36 IST

   Thursday, October 29, 2026

   Mexico says companies plan more than $8bn in new data centres

   Source: Mexico News Daily

   Mexico's Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said companies have announced plans to invest more than US $8 billion in data centre projects (large buildings full of computers that run cloud and AI services), Mexico News Daily reports. He said the firms are working with the state power company CFE on electricity supply; the state of Querétaro is the main hub.

   Why it mattersData-centre building brings construction and technical jobs to places like Querétaro, but it also uses a lot of power and water. The government's own energy ministry has flagged pressure on electricity capacity and water supply, a strain that local communities may feel.

3. 28 Oct, 04:30 IST

   Wednesday, October 28, 2026

   Indeed says AI should never make hiring decisions on its own

   Source: Mexico Business News

   Speaking about hiring bottlenecks in Mexico, Indeed executive Lisa Henken told Mexico Business News that no one in the industry should let AI make hiring decisions, whether rejecting or hiring a candidate, and that "the human must be the decision-maker." She said Indeed designs its systems to avoid automated rejections and uses AI for skills-based matching and candidate coaching. This is the company's own account of its tools.

   Why it mattersIf you are job hunting in Mexico or anywhere else, more of your applications are being screened by software. A major job site publicly saying people, not algorithms, should decide who gets hired gives candidates a standard to hold employers to, though it is a company pledge rather than a law.

4. 26 Oct, 19:17 IST

   Tuesday, October 27, 2026

   Brazil's Itaú buys AI startup NeoSpace for $580 million

   Source: Bloomberg

   Markets: Bloomberg reports Itaú, a Brazilian bank, is buying Brazilian AI startup NeoSpace for $580 million (paywall).

   Why it mattersBig bank AI deals can change who gets hired in finance tech and which local startups cash out. For customers it may mean more automated loan and fraud checks. Not investment advice.

5. Monday, October 26, 2026

   UN's ITU warns AI is widening the gap between rich and poor nations

   Source: Al Jazeera

   Tomas Lamanauskas, deputy head of the ITU (the UN's telecoms and internet agency), told Al Jazeera in Doha that AI risks widening the gap between rich and poor countries. He said Africa and Latin America together hold just 3.3 percent of the world's data centre capacity, 2.2 billion people still have no internet, and about 29 percent of working-age people in developed countries use generative AI (tools like ChatGPT that write text or make images) versus 16 percent in developing nations.

   Why it mattersIf AI makes workers more productive mainly in rich countries, people elsewhere could fall further behind on jobs and services, which is why the UN is pushing for more investment in internet access, skills and local languages.

6. Monday, October 26, 2026

   UN index: Chile, Brazil and Uruguay lead Latin America's AI race

   Source: ECLAC (UN)

   The fourth Latin American AI Index from ECLAC (the UN's economic commission for the region) and Chile's CENIA ranks Chile, Brazil and Uruguay as the region's AI 'pioneers' among 20 countries. Brazil holds 87.7% of the region's identified GPUs (the chips that run AI), and estimated AI use is 27.6% of large companies but only 6.8% of small ones. Published 20 October.

   Why it mattersMost of Latin America has an AI strategy on paper, but only Brazil and Colombia have set budgets for it, and small businesses, which employ most people, are being left behind.

7. Monday, October 26, 2026

   Data centres become a US midterm election issue

   Source: BBC

   The BBC explains that data centres, the warehouse-sized buildings full of computers that run AI services, have become an election issue in the US ahead of the 3 November midterms, with 16 states proposing laws to ban or pause new ones. It says there are about 12,250 worldwide, together thought to use more electricity than France, with opposition also seen in Mexico, France, Indonesia and the UK.

   Why it mattersAI's growth depends on these buildings, but their power and water use can affect local electricity bills and the environment, so where they are built is becoming a choice voters care about.

8. Sunday, October 25, 2026

   Brazil's presidential runoff puts AI, deepfakes, Meta under scrutiny

   Source: UPI

   Brazil votes in its presidential runoff on Sunday 25 October. UPI reports the electoral court received a record 804 election-related legal filings, many over deepfakes (AI-made fake videos, images or voices), and Meta faces scrutiny over how its platforms treat the two candidates. A Brazilian fact-checker counted 920 AI-made or AI-altered political posts during the first round.

   Why it mattersBrazil is one of the first big elections where AI fakes are a central fight, and courts there have banned deepfakes in campaign ads. What happens there will shape how other countries handle AI in their own elections.