Costa Rica’s Position in Latin America’s AI Landscape: Strengths, Challenges, and Future

The Latin American Index of Artificial Intelligence (ILIA) has assessed Costa Rica's standing in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), comparing it with other Latin American countries. The study, carried out by Chile's National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) and presented by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), includes 12 countries in the region and positions Costa Rica in eighth place with an index of 38.97 points, while Chile tops the list with 73.21 points.

Strengths and Challenges

Costa Rica stands out for its strengths in devices and data centers, but faces challenges in creating advanced human capital, research, development, and adoption of AI in the private sector. Despite having a high proportion of the population with internet access, the country is below the regional average in download speed and has not implemented 5G technology. In terms of computational infrastructure, despite having supercomputers and a good number of data centers, it falls below the average in cloud services.

AI Talent Development

With regards to the development of AI talent, although ICT courses are included in the school curriculum, there are no open AI courses and it lacks undergraduate programs in AI at the region's top universities. Costa Rica has a Master's program in AI, but no Doctorate, reflecting a low number of MSC and PhD graduates compared to the Latin American average. The country is average in publications and active researchers in AI, but with a low research impact, having only one AI research center.

Looking Forward

Despite high performance in open-source productivity, it is observed that the quality of open source and the number of patents are below the regional average. It is concluded that it is crucial for Costa Rica to move towards a national AI strategy and promote collaboration to maximize its potential.

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