European Union-style artificial intelligence regulation is unlikely to take root in Latin America despite some influences from last year’s landmark AI Act in individual countries, according to a group of digital and privacy professionals speaking at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of AI bills are currently being discussed in the region, according to Diego Alvarez, the country manager of Ecuador at Niubox and a founder of the Ecuadorian Data Protection Association. Many of the proposals would create legal frameworks with a risk-based approach, but only one country, Peru, has managed to pass an AI law so far.
Another notable AI governance-focused bill in Brazil has been moving slowly through the National Congress. While it was recently toned down, the forming of a special committee to further explore the bill indicates some level of priority.
GPS 2025 panelists said the region's disparate cultural, economic and regulatory capabilities would make porting the EU AI Act directly as impractical.
For one, trust in government institutions is not nearly the same as the EU, said Javeria Sepulveda, a founding partner at Chile-based Bitlaw, noting people in places such as Mexico are facing an increase in surveillance activities from authorities. "Telling citizens the government will monitor AI, it might not go down well because the social contract is just different,” she said.
Sepulveda added many countries are still building their regulatory capabilities and would be stressed if they had to handle a regulation like the AI Act, which relies on a multilevel enforcement scheme and places local enforcement in the hands of data protection authorities.
"So, if we bring in heavy compliance periods before institutions are ready, we might end up shutting out players and slowing down innovation," she said. "Instead of trying to shoehorn a new model into a different landscape, what we have to do is cherry pick principles at work, risk-based classification, human rights efforts and transparency, of course, but then scale them in ways that match our local legal and political realities."
The conversation highlights the tensions around where the world should go when it comes to AI legal frameworks nearly a year after the EU AI Act was approved. While international groups have studied best practices for governance, the AI Act is still the only major regulation of its kind.
EU lawmakers have faced criticism for considering loosening parts of its requirements. The move to scale back regulation stems from pushback by technology companies and the U.S., citing fears of stifling innovation.
Allende & Brea Partner Mariano Peruzzoti, CIPP/E, noted the EU can impose stringent regulations on companies in part because of the size of its well-established digital market. Latin America does not have the same footing to use as leverage.
"Investments are very important, and we cannot compete with Europe," he said. "We cannot justify putting in danger any investments in the sense that having a very strict regulation will probably let the investors consider that this is not that good market."
Peruzzoti added AI regulation may fare better if individual countries look at their existing laws and see where AI might fit or amend those rules to incorporate AI under current regimes.
But while Latin America will likely not create microchips or build big foundational models, Niubox's Alvarez said the region can position itself as a user of the technology and encourage investment in infrastructure, like data centers. He noted countries may already have laws capable of handling AI risks — but how responsive they are might depend on when they were enacted.
"Those countries that have pre-(EU General Data Protection Regulation) regulations … the scenario there is more complicated, and those countries will not have enough elements to (handle) the AI discussions," Alvarez said. "And then we have the countries that are post-GDPR that have post-GDPR regulations, that probably have some pillars on initial steps for starting these kinds of conversations."
Caitlin Andrews is a staff writer for the IAPP.
