Mexico lags behind Chile and Brazil in AI talent development

Mexico is behind Chile and Brazil in the development of talent to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, according to the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC).

This indicator measures the penetration of technological skills associated with AI, among other variables.

Despite the fact that training is vital to avoid job losses, in Talent Development Mexico has 51.3 points, while Chile and Brazil register 74.4 and 64.9 units, respectively, on a scale from zero to 100, where the closer to this score the greater the progress.

“Both Brazil and Chile obtain the best scores based on their performance in Infrastructure and Talent Development.

“Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico are above the regional average (which is 36.9 points),” ECLAC warned.

Latin America has an overall index of 2.16 percent, lower than the 3.59 percent of the rest of the world.

Mexico below Chile and Brazil in the development of talent for AI
The arrival of AI has put professionals and workers on alert, who believe that they may be replaced by this technology in positions that perform repetitive or routine tasks.

The human capital company Manpower considered that some profiles that could be compromised by the development of AI are graphic design and data visualization; writers and proofreaders; translators; administrators and accountants.

To reduce the risk of being replaced by AI, workers should rely on this technology to improve and make work more efficient, it added.

“These jobs will not disappear, but without ‘upskilling’ they are likely to find it difficult to hire in such a diverse labor market,” he said.

Training is not a priority in companies and there is no correlation with the curricula of most educational institutions.

Those who decide to train do so on their own without the support of employers.

This is the case of Nancy, who decided to invest 28,000 pesos in a course on social networks and digital environments at UNAM, because the company where she works does not provide training and she fears losing her job if she lacks the right knowledge.

Fernando Hernández, Commercial Director of UVM For Business, said that corporations only train 5 percent of their personnel.

“There are 22,000 people a year who seek our diplomas, but of these 20,000 pay for them themselves and the rest are paid for by the companies,” he said.

This university designed diploma courses that adapt to the demands of companies to bring professionals up to date in AI and technology.

“The problem is the issue of ‘upskilling’ and ‘reskilling’: when an employee takes on a new challenge, a management position, but has no leadership training. Or someone who was a management graduate and must be in a technology environment must learn fast to be able to face the challenges,” Hernandez stressed.

Mario Chao, CEO of NTT DATA Mexico, a digital and business services company, said that there are massive information processing issues that are automatable and will eliminate a number of administrative jobs.

The trend is to upgrade technical capabilities that can use the information or results of these algorithms to make better decisions.

“AI will not replace a professional, it will be another professional with AI tools,” he considered.

TYT Newsroom