Raul Salgado Espinoza
Professor of International Relations at the Latin American Faculty of Social Science
From the perspective of asymmetry theory, global AI governance is marked by power asymmetries, with significant gaps between technology holders and those seeking to govern it, and between technology-producing and technology-consuming nations. Current global AI governance exhibits three typical models: the US corporate self-regulatory model, China’s state-led model emphasizing data sovereignty, and the EU’s privacy and data regulation-oriented model. The vast majority of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are consumers rather than producers of AI technology, contributing only 2.7% of global scientific output, with investment at merely 1.7% of that of the United States and 5% of China’s, and suffering from severely limited innovation and development capacity. The region’s AI governance in civil and military domains remains fragmented, with no consensus on issues such as lethal autonomous weapon systems. As the technological gap continues to widen and North-South socioeconomic inequality deepens, the region’s dependency on major powers and multinational corporations intensifies, placing cultural diversity and governance autonomy at risk. In response, Latin American countries generally adopt multilateralism as their guiding principle, advancing AI governance within international organizational frameworks.
