In the latest Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index (ILIA), Colombia ranks fourth, behind Chile, Brazil and Uruguay. However, its position is considerably higher than Mexico’s, which ranks eighth.
The ILIA measures the level of preparedness, development and governance of artificial intelligence in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is promoted by Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with support from other public and private entities.
Classification into pioneers, adopters and explorers
The ranking, which has a maximum score of 100 points, divides countries into three categories according to their level of maturity: pioneers, adopters and explorers.
The pioneers, with scores above 60 points, are Chile (71.4), Brazil (68.4) and Uruguay (67.0). They show “a high and relatively consolidated performance in infrastructure, talent, research, innovation and governance.”
The adopters, led by Colombia, have developed relevant capabilities but still face gaps that “limit a broader deployment of AI.” With scores between 35 and 60 points, this group includes Colombia (56.8), Costa Rica (56.0), Argentina (55.6), Peru (52.7), Mexico (52.0), Ecuador (51.8), the Dominican Republic (45.1), Panama (39.3), El Salvador (37.9) and Trinidad and Tobago (35.5).
The third category, explorers, includes countries at an early stage of development that face constraints in infrastructure, research, adoption or governance. Countries scoring below 35 points fall into this category: Paraguay (32.6), Jamaica (32.4), Cuba (30.9), Guatemala (29.9), Bolivia (26.4), Honduras (26.2) and Venezuela (23.2).
In the ILIA 2026 report, ECLAC stated that mobile network and 5G coverage are relevant to the use of artificial intelligence applications. The countries with the highest coverage are Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia and Peru.
Regarding the professional training of AI experts, the report states that “the region has an average of 12.4 points out of a total of 100 points. The best-positioned countries are Paraguay (28.2 points), Brazil (24.5), Costa Rica (22.6), Colombia (19.6), Mexico (15.8), Trinidad and Tobago (14.6) and Chile (14), all above the regional average.”
Regional cooperation has strategic value
The ILIA warns that sovereignty in artificial intelligence does not necessarily mean achieving technological self-sufficiency. Rather, it means countries having the effective capacity to make decisions and preserve alternatives in an environment of high technological interdependence.
For Latin America and the Caribbean, this means combining the strengthening of domestic capabilities with external relations that preserve alternatives, expand countries’ room for maneuver and increase their capacity to act.
In this context, regional cooperation takes on strategic value. Institutional frameworks that encourage the sharing of infrastructure, knowledge, talent and technological capabilities can help address challenges that are difficult to solve individually while strengthening the region’s influence in dealings with global actors.
From this perspective, sovereignty is measured not only by the degree of technological independence but also by the region’s capacity to act within an interdependent system.
For the ILIA, this means complementing the measurement of existing capabilities with information about the technological relationships that determine how much room countries have to establish alliances, preserve and promote local alternatives, and uphold their decisions.
Connectivity versus computing capacity
According to the report, the gap between Latin America and the Caribbean and countries outside the region is smaller in connectivity than in other advanced digital infrastructure. Some countries in the region even exceed those outside it on specific indicators.
The difference widens considerably, however, when examining the processing capacity available for developing and deploying AI systems. Even when considering only the nine countries in the region with installed capacity, the average for countries outside the region is between 11 and 51 times higher, depending on the indicator. When all 20 countries in the region are considered, this ratio rises to between 24 and 113 times.
The disparity is compounded by a marked concentration of regional capacity. Eleven countries have no infrastructure in any of the four areas analyzed, while Brazil accounts for 92% of GPU capacity and, together with Ecuador and Chile, accounts for 97.4%.
The comparison therefore reveals two distinct scenarios: Latin America and the Caribbean is approaching the levels of countries outside the region in connectivity, but the differences in computing capacity are significantly greater. Moreover, the region’s available infrastructure is concentrated in a small number of countries.