FEATURE: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Brazil leads AI readiness in Latin America, according to a new Salesforce study, but gaps in innovation and investment threaten long-term competitiveness.
A solid regulatory foundation, but slow uptake
Among the dimensions measured, Brazil performs comparatively well in regulation. With a score of 8.5, the country sits just shy of the global average( 8.6). This is notable given ongoing debates over AI regulation worldwide and the common perception that Brazil’ s complex regulatory environment tends to hinder technology development.
Brazil is emerging as Latin America’ s most advanced market for AI adoption even as it lags far behind global leaders in the critical areas of innovation and investment.
That is the central takeaway from the Global AI Readiness Index, a new study released by Salesforce that evaluates how prepared 16 major economies are to integrate AI – particularly autonomous AI agents – into their business and public-sector systems.
The index places Brazil 13th out of 16 countries in overall AI maturity. While this ranking reflects challenges that are familiar across developing economies, Brazil distinguishes itself within its region. With a score of 18.0 points, the country leads the three Latin American markets analysed ahead of Mexico( 15.3) and Argentina( 14.1).
The report offers a granular view of how Brazil compares across five core dimensions: regulatory framework, diffusion and adoption, innovation, investment and human capital. These dimensions – supported by 31 indicators – provide a roadmap of what the country has achieved and where its biggest bottlenecks lie.
Salesforce emphasises that Brazil’ s regulatory footing is“ close to what is seen in the world, especially in Europe” where governing frameworks for emerging tech are more consolidated. This alignment positions Brazil favourably as governments and companies prepare for the rise of AI agents – systems capable not only of processing and generating data but of planning, reasoning and autonomously executing tasks end-to-end.
According to the study, corporate adoption of AI agents is expected to grow 327 % within two years, unlocking potential productivity gains averaging 30 % across industries. These systems, which can coordinate multi-step workflows and make decisions with minimal intervention, are seen as the next frontier of AI-driven transformation for both public and private organisations.
Yet Brazil’ s relatively strong regulatory context has not yet translated into widespread adoption. The country scores just 5.0 in diffusion and adoption well below the global benchmark( 5.8). Human capital – measured through the availability of skilled professionals, research capacity and workforce readiness – also lands below the global average, with Brazil scoring 3.5 compared to 4.5.
Innovation and investment: Brazil’ s weakest links
Where Brazil falls furthest behind is in innovation and investment scoring 0.5 and 0.4, respectively.
Brazil emerges as Latin America’ s AI leader but investment and innovation gaps remain
24 INTELLIGENTCIO LATAM www. intelligentcio. com