The Ethical Considerations of AI in Latin America

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the ethical implications of AI applications in the Latin American context, focusing on the particular challenges relevant to the region. Although awareness of the ethical issues associated with AI has been increasing, the issues in Latin America are compounded by locally relevant concerns associated with the power differential between the developers of AI applications and the Latin American users; the lack of access to education in general, which restricts access to information about the actual capabilities and limitations of AI systems; and the relatively low importance of the voices and cultural patterns of communities that are culturally distinct from other settings in the Global South (e.g., overgeneralizing understandings of Latin America as similar to Africa or Asia). In this work, we present three general categories of ethical issues classified according to their association with the extent of understanding of AI and how it is trained, and to their societal impacts across Latin American societies. We highlight the need to further understand the challenges relevant to the region, which can serve as a reference for future conversations with diverse and underrepresented communities.