Colombia’s AI Ambitions Appear to be Founded on Vaporware
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Loading... - Mirabella Borgia
- 01 Aug 2024
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The Colombian government has big plans for AI at a national level. Plans which at the moment have the classic features of vaporware.
Colombia’s Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications (MinTIC) announced in January its plan to build what it termed a “Center for AI Excellence” in Bogota, the country’s capital. Two months earlier, it made a similar announcement for another AI Center; this one in the city of Zipaquira, located less than 30 miles north of Bogota.
A total of 50 billion Colombian pesos will be allocated for each installation, reaching a total investment of 100 billion Colombian pesos (US$25.4 million). Both AI Centers are expected to begin edification this year.
MinTIC stated the idea is to increase Colombia’s capabilities in AI and beyond, covering cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics, IoT, cybersecurity, generative AI, robotics, digital twins, augmented reality and quantum technologies.
“Colombia’s Centers for AI Excellence will be hubs of interdisciplinary collaboration where AI experts, data scientists and software engineers will co-create and drive generic tech innovations at a country-wide level,” MinTIC told NSAM in a written statement. “These generic solutions will be developed in collaboration with experts working at Colombia’s providers of AI solutions and with researchers from MinCiencias [Colombia’s Science, Tech and Innovation Ministry].”
The project sounds promising and very ambitious. A bit too ambitious, some would say. We reached out to MinTIC to get more details on how these Centers for AI Excellence will work and who’ll be involved. The ministry’s responses show that the project isn’t as clear-cut as its initial announcement made it out to be.
Not for Everyone
Although Colombia’s Centers for AI Excellence were promoted as projects aimed at fostering tech education and closing the digital gap, the ministry underscored that they will be used mostly as research and development hubs which gather industry, government and academia. Access to the public will be quite limited; so much so that MinTIC could not offer an estimate of the people that would benefit from the conferences and programs to be offered in the installations.
“The public won’t have unlimited access to these AI Centers. It will be open at specific times only, for conferences, speeches and training programs,” MinTIC explained in its statement. “Therefore, we can’t yet speak of a specific volume of people to be trained.”
Little else has been shared publicly about both projects. While the building of the two centers seems to be a given at this point, no specifics have been put forth regarding the experts involved, their activities or even what results will look like.
NSAM asked about how many experts on AI and other emerging technologies mentioned will be involved in the project. MinTIC did not answer directly, sharing only that “about 1,728 experts with residence in Colombia” answered the call to help with skills development in both AI centers.
The Hundred Mini Tech Centers
Aside from the two major Centers for AI Excellence in Bogota and Zipaquira, the Colombian government plans to install smaller-scale versions termed “microcenters”.
“These microcenters will function under a system of shared responsibilities and cooperation with benefitted public entities,” MinTIC informed in its statement to NSAM. “They’ll have free Internet access, formation rooms, creation and co-creation. This will allow people of all ages to learn how to use AI and tools for tech development.”
The ministry has yet to determine where these 100 centers will be set up. It has only been established that they would have to be built “mainly in urban areas where fixed wireless Internet service is guaranteed.” Sandra Urrutia, Colombia’s former TIC Minister, told reporters that about 40% of the country’s population has no Internet access. In rural areas, she added, that number is close to 70%.
These 100 microcenters are as ambitious and relevant a project –if not more– as the two main AI Centers for Excellence. Nevertheless, Colombian authorities seem to still be working out the details.
“MinTIC’s Infrastructure Directorate is currently evaluating the potential reach and conditions for participation in this project,” the ministry stated. “MinTIC is moving forward in the design of this project. Once we’re done with the structuring phase, we’ll have information on the implementation times and the expected impact. We’ll also publish job ads for these microcenters.”
A Concerning Lack of Detail
AI emerged at the tail-end of 2022 as the next big thing in technology. For Latin American nations, AI positioned itself as a true opportunity to level the playing field in the race for technological development; a race in which, historically, most of the region has lagged behind.
There has been no shortage of “AI strategies” and AI-related projects announced the world over. In Latin America alone, we’ve seen attempts at legislation and industrial policy for AI in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, to name a few.
It isn’t uncommon for announcements of this sort to come off as vague. Government authorities in general rarely have the expertise required to draft appropriate policy aimed at emerging technology such as AI, cybersecurity, IoT, etc. The results tend to be grandiloquent projects with little impact.
We don’t see Colombia’s recent AI projects collapsing onto a pile of smoke, but MinTIC’s responses to our queries show that crucial components are still being figured out. To that one must add the structural issues yet to be eased. The closing of the digital gap is particularly important for the consolidation of a nation-wide strategy for AI development in Colombia.
“These sorts of projects cannot be built by decree. They’re built by the cohesion of industry, academia and the population itself,” commented Mauricio Velásquez, Managing Director at Bogota-based consultancy Velasquez & Company. “We can’t move forward in technology if the basics of education and technological access have yet to be covered.”
“A lot is said, and little is done. It’s no minor issue,” he added. “We have yet to close the connectivity gap in some regions. Without doing so, we won’t be able to join the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Who’ll take charge of that process?”
Colombia is already positioned as one of Latin America’s most vibrant locations for tech, this in spite of what local market players have characterized as the absence of government support. We expect AI and other disruptive technologies to take a hold in the country thanks to the efforts of industry and the entrepreneurial spirit of its population.
Nevertheless, a push from the government would allow the local tech industry to make the leap faster and perhaps with a stronger landing. Colombian authorities will have to keep their eye on the ball if the AI Centers are to amount to something truly transformative for its economy and its society.
