Artificial intelligence is transforming higher education in Latin America, with Chile and Mexico leading in AI design and implementation. This article examines pioneering AI initiatives at two universities: the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. Their experiences offer valuable insights and frameworks for AI integration in higher education across the Global South and emerging economies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving a profound transformation across Latin America, with Chile and Mexico emerging as key pioneers in AI integration. According to the 2024 Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index, published by Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile leads the region, and Mexico ranks sixth in AI implementation.

At the tertiary education level, this technological shift presents unprecedented opportunities to address long-standing sociopolitical challenges and economic inequalities by enhancing educational access. This is particularly crucial for Chile and Mexico, where tertiary education attainment among the working-age population (25–64 years) remains low: 25 percent in Chile, and 21 percent in Mexico. While younger generations show improving rates (33 percent and 28 percent respectively for ages 25–34), both countries still face substantial educational gaps and workforce skill shortages, despite improved generational outcomes.

These opportunities, however, unfold against significant structural challenges. With research and development investment at just 0.3 percent of GDP in both countries—far below the OECD average of 2.7 percent—universities in Chile and Mexico face considerable historical and structural shortcomings. These challenges are particularly concerning as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) accelerates, bringing unprecedented technological transformation through AI, cloud computing, robotics, and digital interconnectivity. The limitations include chronic underinvestment in research infrastructure, lagging national AI and future workforce planning agendas, broadening gaps with industrialized economies as the pace of global sociotechnological change accelerates, and significant skills gaps to navigate the paradigm shift.

Despite these structural and institutional constraints, public and private universities in Chile and Mexico have launched ambitious initiatives to close the technological and digital divide in preparation for the 4IR. Their objective has been to accelerate innovation through AI by systematically prioritizing technology in pedagogy and research, fostering strategic partnerships with industry leaders, building internal capabilities to address emerging technological challenges, upskilling their workforces for digital transformation, and updating curricula to align with 4IR capabilities. Two leading institutions exemplify these approaches: The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), a private university, and Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or Tec de Monterrey, a private institution in Mexico.

Recent AI Initiatives and Outcomes

PUC launched its flagship AI initiative, ConectIA, in May 2024, targeting comprehensive AI integration across the university by 2026 through a strategic partnership with Microsoft. This initiative employs advanced machine learning algorithms to implement a proactive 360-degree student monitoring system that systematically identifies academic risk factors and enables targeted intervention through personalized support services. In parallel, PUC established AcademiaIA, an innovative learning and development platform designed to enhance digital literacy and to develop AI capabilities across its workforce. The platform has already yielded significant outcomes, including the development of 190 specialized courses and educational modules, alongside AI microcredentials that equip staff with a comprehensive understanding of AI fundamentals, applications across business operations, ethical implications, and governance frameworks. Ensuring sustained collaboration, it is characterized by robust cross-institutional ownership across faculties, libraries, provosts, and various other university divisions.

PUC’s Strategic Plan (2020-2025) integrates digital transformation with societal impact as a means to advance local social dimensions in the 4IR. Through Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence, PUC has set into motion a groundbreaking collaboration with Indigenous Mapuche and Rapa Nui communities to codevelop large language models (LLMs) to revitalize Indigenous history, languages, and knowledge. The initiative was launched in August 2024, and while outcomes are yet to be determined, it demonstrates the university’s objective to adopt AI for empowering society and amplifying Indigenous and underprivileged voices. This includes the support of Indigenous self-determination through language preservation and knowledge systems dissemination. The collaboration represents a significant paradigm shift in how academic institutions can leverage AI for cultural preservation and social justice. By prioritizing Indigenous perspectives and knowledge systems in AI development, this initiative advances technological innovation while establishing new frameworks for ethical, community-driven AI deployment in Latin America. This emphasis on codevelopment with Indigenous communities sets a precedent for future technological initiatives that seek to bridge digital divides while respecting and promoting cultural sovereignty.

Tec de Monterrey, Latin America’s top-ranked institution in the 2025 QS World Rankings, is redesigning over 44 university degree programs to integrate AI by 2026. AI implementation includes embedding it into modules in pedagogical strategies and innovation, learning content, digital experiences, and evaluation and feedback. Such novel technological and pedagogical initiatives form part of a broader strategy encompassing five institutional priorities: enhancing teaching-learning processes, developing an AI-proficient graduate workforce and staff, increasing AI research and development, promoting ethical AI use, and optimizing operations through AI solutions. With 31 campuses across 25 Mexican cities, the scale of Tec de Monterrey’s AI agenda is unparalleled in Mexico.

As part of this technological strategy, Tec de Monterrey became in 2023 the first university in Latin America to develop and deploy its own GenAI model, TECgpt, with its companion TECbot through advanced internal engineering and data capabilities, partnerships, and drawing on PUC’s trusted data sources. This experimental, personalized system serves staff, faculty, and students and works as a single source of information for all inquiries, representing the most tangible outcome of Tec de Monterrey’s ambitious digital transformation roadmap. The implementation has the potential to reduce academic staff’s workload by automating routine and repetitive inquiries and freeing faculty time to focus on teaching delivery and innovation.

Another initiative is the Futures Design Lab, an interdisciplinary hub leveraging AI and technological innovation to tackle complex societal challenges. One of its projects addresses Mexico’s severe water crisis, facilitating the codesigning of solutions with government agencies and industry partners. The project integrates advanced AI analytics with experiential learning through AI-created avatars, enabling students to simulate real-world scenarios and develop practical solutions. This demonstrates how universities can enhance student learning, while addressing pressing national issues, and establish a replicable model for university-industry-government collaboration in solving critical infrastructure challenges.

The Path Ahead

The AI initiatives at PUC and Tec de Monterrey illustrate divergent yet complementary approaches to technological integration in Latin American higher education. Despite comparable historical and structural constraints—minimal research and development investment (0.3 percent GDP) and low tertiary education attainment—these institutions have pioneered distinct pathways for AI implementation. PUC’s strengths lie in its cross-institutional ownership model, integrating AI initiatives across portfolios while simultaneously leveraging technology for Indigenous knowledge preservation and community empowerment. Tec de Monterrey, on the other hand, demonstrates innovation leadership through in-house development of pioneering solutions like TECgpt and TECbot, while excelling in developing comprehensive technological infrastructure and fostering outcome driven industry partnerships.

Despite the successful early outcomes, there are serious historical and socioeconomic limitations for technological and AI integration in Latin America, as in the rest of the Global South. Successful and impactful integration of AI requires a nuanced approach that extends beyond technological solutions, encompassing concrete political commitment, economic and social support, and prioritization by the state, civil society, and the market. In higher education specifically, this necessitates strengthening institutional sociotechnological capabilities, contextualizing AI innovation within distinct historical and sociocultural realities, and developing cross-sectoral partnerships that leverage national skills and workforce while addressing regional development priorities. As regional AI adoption accelerates, these early initiatives offer valuable frameworks for other Global South institutions navigating similar structural challenges while pursuing digital transformation in the 4IR.

Alejandra Gaitan Barrera is senior strategy and transformation manager at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

Govand Khalid Azeez is a political economist and philosopher, currently a lecturer in the Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Sydney, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

The opinions presented in this piece are solely those of the authors and do not represent the stance of the university or any institution with which they are associated.