Regulatory paths for artificial intelligence in latin american countries with data protection law frameworks: limits and possibilities of integrating policies

Many Latin American countries are investing on artificial intelligence (AI) plans or strategies focusing on improving their economic development. One crucial feature of any of those public policies is the regulatory framework. Besides the widespread mention of ethical guidelines, one can explore other regulatory paths, like personal data protection law, and economic incentives. The paper describes the AI public policies of the region’s countries that have data protection legal systems. It uses a qualitative methodology to assess AI policies and strategies in Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil, describing their regulatory possibilities regarding data protection usage. After this description, the paper presents a debate about the limits and problems with using data protection to regulate AI. It concludes that the countries gave little space to assess technological investments as a regulatory possibility, even though all the other means rely on them to become effective. Also, it states that these investments must incorporate some social value dimension to actually benefit the countries.