An artificial intelligence model created with characteristic data from Latin America to ensure the region’s multicultural reality is not left behind in the development of this technology will be launched in mid-2025, Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) announced Thursday.
The project, named LatamGPT and coordinated by Cenia, has the support of more than 30 institutions from Latin America and the Caribbean, and more than 60 experts from the region, according to the center.
“When we talk about Artificial Intelligence, it must project the world we are, its diversity. And in Latin America’s case, not just speak Spanish or Portuguese, but understand our identity, contribute from our culture and worldview,” stated Chilean Science Minister Aisén Etcheverry, quoted in the release.
Unlike other closed models, “LatamGPT will be open, which means it will allow more people in Latin America and the Caribbean to study, use, and improve it, building upon it.” LatamGPT references the conversational robot ChatGPT developed by the U.S. company OpenAI.
“It’s important that we can develop capabilities here to have certain independence and make decisions about how this technology impacts society,” said Álvaro Soto, director of Cenia, a Chilean organization comprised of several universities and partially publicly funded. “Until now, we haven’t had a regional language model, and this task cannot be taken on by just one group or country: it’s a challenge that requires the effort of the entire region,” said Soto, mentioned in the release.
Universities, foundations, libraries, government entities, and civil society organizations have joined this effort. An alliance bringing together institutions from Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, Argentina, and Costa Rica.
They have “managed to gather more than 8 TB (terabytes) of plain text information, equivalent to millions of books,” states the release. This information will be managed at the University of Tarapacá’s Supercomputing Center in northern Chile, which is building infrastructure for AI development.
Etcheverry added that they aim for this tool to operate under “strict ethical frameworks,” without providing more details about the regulations that will govern LatamGPT.
