Brains, ambition, and chaos: Can Argentina lead in AI?

Next on our AI Around the World journey: Argentina. It is one of my favorite countries and a place I’ve had the chance to live in. I’ve always been drawn to its contrasts, socially, politically, economically, and the same holds true when it comes to AI.

At first glance, Argentina is not the most obvious contender in the global race for AI leadership. The economy is volatile, public research funding is shaky, and brain drain is a constant threat. Yet beneath the surface lies a story of talent, resilience, and ambition. Argentina combines some of Latin America’s best STEM education and English proficiency with a tech-savvy, creative population. It is the birthplace of Mercado Libre and home to more than 200 startups, around 20 of them focused on AI. But here is the paradox. While the country produces top-tier engineers and data scientists, many leave. While local AI applications emerge across fintech, biotech, and civic tech, scaling is often hampered by economic instability. Argentina dreams big, sometimes with nuclear-powered data centers in Patagonia, but struggles to hold things together on the ground.

So the real question is: Can Argentina’s AI potential survive its own volatility? And if so, what can we learn from its ability to innovate through constraint?

From Research Roots to Startup Strides: Argentina’s AI Landscape Today

Argentina’s engagement with artificial intelligence began in academia and public research. The country’s strong university system, including the University of Buenos Aires and UTN, nurtured early AI research groups decades ago. A landmark moment came in 2015, when Buenos Aires hosted the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence – the first time this top global AI conference was held in South America. This underscored Argentina’s status as a regional intellectual hub for AI, supported by organizations like the Argentine Association of AI (part of SADIO) and a network of over 300 research institutes under the national science council CONICET.

By the late 2010s, Argentina’s government also recognized AI as strategically important. In 2019, it released a National AI Strategy, outlining a multi-stakeholder plan for inclusive and sustainable development. That same year saw the launch of the “Innovative Argentina 2030” initiative and the establishment of a national AI Innovation Hub, signaling high-level commitment.

Today, Argentina presents a study in contrasts. On one hand, it is regarded as a tech entrepreneurship leader in Latin America. It experienced a wave of successful tech startups roughly 15 years before Brazil or Mexico’s boom, meaning many Argentine companies are relatively mature and have naturally integrated AI into their operations. According to Global Finance, this early momentum positioned Argentina as a quiet powerhouse. Homegrown firms like Mercado Libre and Globant are using AI at scale, from real-time recommendation engines to fraud detection. Mercado Libre reports that its machine learning models filter out 98 percent of fraudulent or non-compliant listings, analyzing over 5,000 variables in under a second.

Argentina’s diverse industry mix gives AI a broad playground:

• Agriculture and Biotech: Agri-tech startups such as Bioceres and agronomy institutes use AI for crop modeling and biotechnology research.

• Satellites and Space: Companies like Satellogic embed AI in imaging and earth-observation data analysis.

• Fintech: A booming fintech scene employs AI for credit scoring and fraud prevention, with Argentina leading the region in fintech adoption.

• IT Services and Software: Firms like Globant and startups such as Mutt Data export AI solutions globally. Mutt Data built one of Latin America’s most advanced generative AI systems for retail marketing.

On the other hand, widespread AI adoption across the economy remains limited. Surveys indicate that only about one in ten Argentine companies uses AI in operations, which is roughly half the global average, according to the Buenos Aires Times. Similarly, just 13 percent of Argentine workers report using AI regularly, far below the Latin American average of 26 percent. This lag is partially due to the dominance of small and mid-sized enterprises with limited resources, and an economy where urgent needs often overshadow tech upgrades.

Still, awareness is growing. The government and private sector are responding with incentive programs and support for grassroots communities. In major cities, developer meetups like the Argentina Data Science Meetup and Google Developer Groups help spread AI knowledge locally. Hackathons and events such as the annual AISummitBA and regional IEEE conferences keep talent engaged and motivated.

In short, Argentina’s AI ecosystem has a deep pool of talent and research capability, but much of it remains underutilized. It is a country rich in potential, still searching for the conditions to fully activate it.

AI in Action: How Argentina Turns Constraints into Innovation

Despite its economic challenges, Argentina has produced impressive AI use cases across business, society, and government. Here are some standout examples of how the country is applying AI with creativity and impact.

Mercado Libre’s AI-powered Marketplace

Latin America’s largest e-commerce platform, headquartered in Buenos Aires, relies heavily on AI to ensure trust and personalization. Its machine learning models perform real-time content moderation by scanning millions of listings to detect counterfeits or prohibited items. According to Mercado Libre’s transparency report, only 0.74 percent of listings had to be removed due to proactive AI filters that automatically paused suspicious ads. The company also uses AI for personalized product recommendations and dynamic pricing. With hundreds of millions invested in AI R&D, Mercado Libre shows how a home-grown firm can compete with global tech giants.

Smart Traffic and Green Cities

In the public sector, Buenos Aires is using AI to address urban challenges. A recent collaboration with Google’s Green Light project optimized traffic signals to reduce congestion and emissions. By adjusting the timing of lights on a major avenue using Google Maps data and AI analysis, the city achieved 14 percent fewer stops, over 2,300 hours of travel time saved, and 7,000 liters of fuel avoided each year. Buenos Aires is one of 17 global pilot cities, and early data shows up to a 10 percent reduction in emissions at optimized intersections. Another civic innovation is Boti, a WhatsApp-based chatbot that uses AI and NLP to answer citizens’ questions about city services in real time, making local government more accessible.

AI for Social Good and Healthcare

Argentina’s tech community is also advancing AI in social and healthcare settings. Entelai, a Buenos Aires-based startup, offers AI-powered medical imaging diagnostics that help radiologists detect conditions ranging from early-stage cancers to neurological lesions faster and more accurately. These tools are already being used in hospitals across Argentina and Latin America. In media, the newsroom of local outlet 0221 in La Plata implemented AI to transcribe interviews, suggest tags, and personalize news, boosting productivity and reader engagement. Fintech startups are also embracing AI to improve financial inclusion. For example, Afluenta uses AI-based credit scoring to reach underbanked individuals, and Ualá employs AI chatbots to offer accessible customer service.

State Projects and AI Security Initiatives

Under the current administration, Argentina has launched novel and sometimes controversial AI programs in the public sector. In 2024, the government created a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Unit for public security, aimed at predicting crime hotspots and guiding police deployment through data analysis. The Buenos Aires city government is also developing an AI-based system to analyze historical crime patterns. These predictive policing initiatives, while inspired by programs abroad, have sparked local debate over effectiveness and ethics.

On a more visionary level, President Javier Milei has proposed positioning Argentina as a global AI and data hub, leveraging the country’s low-cost energy and cool climate. One bold idea is to build nuclear-powered data centers in Patagonia, using small modular reactors to power AI supercomputing infrastructure. If realized, Argentina could become the first country to combine modular nuclear energy with AI infrastructure. While critics question the feasibility and timeline—the project targets 2030 and faces serious technical hurdles—it reflects the kind of unconventional thinking shaping Argentina’s AI strategy.

From e-commerce and urban tech to healthcare and national security, these examples showcase Argentina’s unique blend of innovation, necessity, and ingenuity. What ties many of them together is collaboration. Startups often work alongside government and academia, creating locally adapted solutions. Argentina’s strong community ethos—visible in its AI meetups, hackathons, and developer events—ensures that progress doesn’t happen in isolation. Instead, it is built collectively, through open source, university programs, and public debate.

Regulating AI in Argentina: Cautious Progress, Public Pushback

Argentina is still shaping its approach to governing AI, trying to balance innovation with oversight. While the country does not yet have a dedicated AI law like the EU’s AI Act, it has laid important groundwork.

Argentina’s National AI Strategy, launched in 2019, emphasized ethical and inclusive AI as a driver for economic and social progress. Building on this, the government published non-binding ethical guidelines and endorsed UNESCO’s Recommendation on AI Ethics, aligning itself with international standards of fairness, transparency, and accountability. In September 2024, the Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP) introduced a Guide for Responsible AI for public and private sectors. It calls for transparency and data protection in all AI systems, identifies key risks such as bias, poor data quality, and privacy violations, and recommends measures like impact assessments and interdisciplinary oversight prior to deployment.

Although this guide is not legally binding, it signals a shift toward formal regulation. Argentina also benefits from a relatively strong starting point: its Personal Data Protection Act, in effect since 2000, was one of Latin America’s first and is considered “adequate” by the EU. Efforts are underway to update it for the age of big data and AI, aligning it more closely with GDPR standards.

Institutional capacity is still developing. Under the previous government, an AI Coordination Office was created within the Ministry of Science, and multi-sector committees were formed to advise on AI policy. The current administration under President Javier Milei has shifted focus, aiming to reduce regulatory burdens and encourage investment. In 2024, the government passed the Investment Promotion Law (RIGI), granting 30-year tax breaks for tech investments over $200 million. While this indirectly supports AI and data center growth, authorities also acknowledge the need for safeguards in high-risk AI applications, particularly those affecting fundamental rights. Argentina participates in international AI bodies like the OECD AI Policy Observatory and the Global Partnership on AI, signaling a desire to harmonize with global norms even before domestic legislation is fully in place.

Past controversies have shaped Argentina’s public discourse on AI. One widely criticized case occurred in 2017, when the province of Salta partnered with Microsoft to use AI to predict teenage pregnancies in vulnerable populations. The pilot project failed dramatically. It violated privacy, stigmatized young girls, and lacked informed consent. The backlash turned the case into a cautionary example of techno-solutionism in social policy.

Another high-profile controversy involves facial recognition in Buenos Aires. In 2019, the city introduced an AI-powered system (SNRP) to catch fugitives. It wrongfully arrested an innocent man due to a name mix-up and was later revealed to have been used for unauthorized surveillance of journalists, activists, and politicians. Civil rights groups sued. In 2022, a judge suspended the program, citing multiple violations of privacy and legal safeguards. As of early 2024, the system remains offline, pending a full audit and the introduction of stricter controls.

These incidents have triggered intense public debate. NGOs like Amnesty International Argentina warn that predictive policing tools could reinforce structural inequality and erode civil liberties. The government, in contrast, argues that the system helped apprehend over 1,700 suspects before being halted. As a result, Argentina is now considering legislation specifically regulating facial recognition and AI in law enforcement.

In terms of liability, the legal framework is still catching up. Existing laws on consumer protection and product liability may apply indirectly, but there is no dedicated AI liability statute yet. However, the current ethical guidelines emphasize human accountability. AI decisions must be traceable, and a human authority should remain responsible for outcomes in high-stakes situations. The judiciary has also demonstrated its willingness to intervene to protect civil rights, as shown in the facial recognition case.

In summary, Argentina’s AI regulation is best described as progressive but cautious. The country is learning from its missteps, gradually putting safeguards in place, and trying to build a framework that encourages innovation without losing public trust. The goal, as one policymaker put it, is to regulate technology without stifling it. A delicate balance, and one Argentina is still learning to strike.

What’s Next for AI in Argentina?

Looking ahead, Argentina’s AI trajectory will depend on how it navigates opportunities and challenges in the coming years. There is considerable optimism, but also sober realism.

Ambitions and Opportunities:

The current administration has declared its intent to make Argentina a global AI and tech hub. President Milei, an economist-turned-politician with radical ideas, touts Argentina’s advantages: “We have everything to become an AI powerhouse,” he says, pointing to the country’s skilled human capital and abundant energy. Indeed, Argentina’s tech talent is renowned - thousands of highly skilled developers and AI researchers (often bilingual) are in Argentina, and the country consistently wins coding competitions in the region. There’s a strong culture of STEM education and even a push to train 1 million people in digital skills by 2026 under ongoing initiatives.

Another advantage is energy: Argentina has vast natural gas reserves (Vaca Muerta shale) and a long history in nuclear energy. Milei’s team is aggressively pitching big tech investors to build data centers in Argentina, sweetening the deal with promises of cheap (and potentially green) energy. The plan to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) for powering data centers is part of this vision. If it materializes, by the early 2030s Argentina could offer a unique value proposition: reliable, carbon-free power in a politically stable enclave (Patagonia) for energy-hungry AI compute clusters.

Moreover, the government’s pro-business pivot, slashing capital controls and deregulating, could attract foreign investment that previously shunned Argentina’s volatile economy. Companies like Salesforce have already announced a US$500 million investment over five years in Argentine operations, focusing on AI innovation and workforce development. And tech giants including Google, Amazon, and OpenAI have been courted by Argentine officials; there’s speculation that at least some will establish regional AI R&D centers or cloud infrastructure in Argentina to diversify beyond Brazil/Chile.

On the innovation front, Argentine startups see a “GenAI boom”: with the rise of large language models, there’s fertile ground for Spanish-language AI applications. Entrepreneurs are building AI tools tailored to Latin American Spanish and local needs – from legal AI assistants to agricultural prediction models. Argentina’s share of deep-tech startup investmentin LatAm (about 30% of the region’s total) is notable. Sectors like biotech (where AI aids in drug discovery and precision farming) and creative industries (gaming, digital content powered by AI) are poised for growth.

Another promising trend is regional collaboration: Argentina works closely with neighbors like Uruguay and Chile on AI research projects and is part of the Latin American AI Initiative (LAIA) which aims to create a regional framework for AI ethics and talent exchange. All these factors could help Argentina leapfrog its current adoption gap and truly integrate AI across its economy and society.

Challenges and Risks:

Yet, hurdles abound. The most immediate is the country’s economic instability and brain drain. Hyperinflation and budget cuts have hit the science and tech sector hard in recent years. In 2024, public R&D funding saw its steepest drop in decades (down ~33% from the prior year). CONICET and other research institutes had major funding slashed, and researchers’ salaries plunged, prompting many to seek opportunities abroad. Paradoxically, even as Argentina talks up AI, it risks hollowing out its domestic scientific capacity if these trends continue. The brain drain of AI talent to the US or Europe is a real threat – Argentina will need to offer competitive opportunities or risk losing its human capital edge.

Political uncertainty is another challenge: while the current government is pro-tech, frequent shifts in economic policy in Argentina could unsettle long-term projects. Investors, too, may be cautious until Argentina demonstrates sustained stability and rule of law (for instance, the ambitious nuclear-AI hub plan raised eyebrows because Milei simultaneously cut funding to existing nuclear projects, sending mixed signals).

Regulation is a double-edged sword on the horizon. As AI use grows, there will be pressure to enact stricter laws for example, to prevent misuse of AI in surveillance or to protect jobs from AI-driven automation. Argentina’s lawmakers will have to craft regulations that reassure the public (on privacy, bias, job displacement) without chilling innovation or driving AI businesses away. They will also have to harmonize with global standards: if Europe’s AI Act or similar frameworks become de facto standards, Argentine firms will need to comply when exporting AI products or handling EU data. The country’s relative lack of AI-specific regulation so far has been a benefit to innovation, but it cannot remain a Wild West indefinitely. Striking the right regulatory balance is a looming challenge, especially given Argentina’s polarized politics.

Furthermore, societal readiness is a factor. Public awareness of AI’s benefits and risks in Argentina is growing, but education is needed to avoid misconceptions. Initiatives to upskill workers (so they can collaborate with AI, not be displaced by it) will be crucial to ensure inclusive growth. There are concerns about AI exacerbating inequality if only big companies or elites harness it. Civil society voices, like those of Amnesty International or local digital rights NGOs (e.g. Fundación Vía Libre), will likely keep pushing for an AI development model that is people-centric and rights-respecting.

This could actually become a competitive advantage: Argentina could carve out a reputation as a producer of “ethical AI”, given its early adoption of ethics guidelines and active civil society engagement.

Argentina’s AI Tango: Between Talent and Turbulence

Argentina’s AI journey is a story of resilience, ambition, and local ingenuity in the face of global forces. It reminds us that even amid inflation, political shifts, and tight budgets, serious innovation can happen when talent, urgency, and community come together.

The country’s greatest asset is its people. Highly educated, globally connected, and shaped by decades of navigating volatility, they are the drivers behind world-class AI use cases in e-commerce, biotech, media, and public services. Argentina shows how innovation can emerge not despite adversity, but because of it.

Another key takeaway is the strength of grassroots tech culture. From local meetups to diaspora networks like the “Unstoppable Entrepreneurs” series in New York, Argentina’s tech ecosystem is powered by knowledge-sharing, open collaboration, and an unusually high degree of civic engagement. Building an AI ecosystem, as we see here, is not just about venture capital but values and context.

Argentina’s approach to AI governance also offers honest lessons. From the failures in Salta’s predictive policy to the paused facial recognition program in Buenos Aires, the country has confronted tough questions about privacy, ethics, and bias. What stands out is not perfection, but process: a willingness to debate openly, to hit pause when needed, and to craft frameworks with transparency in mind. In a world rushing to regulate, that grounded reflex is worth noting.

The message for others is clear: digital sovereignty and AI capability are not exclusive to the wealthiest or most stable nations. They grow where there is vision, talent, and a collective commitment to shaping the future with intention. Argentina may not yet be among the top-tier AI nations, but it has earned its place as a regional reference and global wildcard bridging developed and developing contexts with solutions rooted in real-world needs.

As we observe and analyze AI landscapes around the world, Argentina teaches us that being part of the AI conversation doesn’t require Silicon Valley infrastructure. It requires people, purpose, and the courage to do things differently. Whether in Berlin or Buenos Aires, those are the foundations that will shape the next chapter of the AI age.

For observers like us at PANTA, Argentina is not just a case study in what’s possible but rather a cautionary tale about what’s at stake when potential is not backed by continuity. It reminds us that AI progress demands more than ambition. It requires trust, infrastructure, and the political will to stay the course when headlines fade.

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AI Around the World is a new series by PANTA. In each edition, we take a deep dive into one country: How is AI understood, promoted, regulated, and used there? We tell stories about technology and society, about political strategies and practical applications. Not from a bird’s-eye view, but up close. Because if we take artificial intelligence seriously, we must think globally and understand it locally.