fAIr LAC: Responsible and Widespread Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Date issued
Jan 2020
Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a unique occasion to promote equality of opportunities and improve the quality of life of all people of Latin America and the Caribbean. Beyond its techno-logical possibilities, the responsible and human-centered use of AI is essential, although it also poses major challenges. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) advocates building a shared understanding of AI, its possibilities, and its uses, as well as its risks and the potential actions to mitigate them.

Towards this end, the IDB, in cooperation with partners and strategic allies, is leading the fAIr LAC initiative to promote the responsible use of AI in order to improve the delivery of social services (mainly in the sectors of education, health, social protection, and labor markets, and for issues related to gender and diversity). The initiative also aims to create development opportunities to reduce gaps and attenuate growing social inequalities. Working jointly with the private and public sectors, civil society, and academia, the fAIr LAC initiative will lead the implementation of AI system experiments and pilot projects. Similarly, it will create models for ethical evaluation and other tools for governments, entrepreneurs, and civil society to deepen their knowledge of the subject, provide guidelines and frameworks for the responsible use of AI, and look to influence public policy and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This document addresses some of the challenges and opportunities that AI has to offer to society, along with the lines of action that the fAIr LAC initiative proposes for Latin America and the Caribbean.