Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) announced that a new AI model, specifically designed with Latin American data to reflect the region’s rich multicultural identity, will be launched in mid-2025, The Tico Times reported.
Designed with regional data, the model aims to preserve the region’s linguistic and cultural diversity, ensuring its inclusion in global AI advancements.
‘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,’ said Chilean Science Minister Aisén Etcheverry.
He also stated that artificial intelligence should reflect the world’s diversity, emphasising that in Latin America’s case, it must go beyond just Spanish or Portuguese, embracing the region’s identity, culture, and unique perspective.
CENIA’s LatamGPT project is backed by over 30 institutions and 60 experts from Latin America and the Caribbean, the Center announced. A diverse coalition of universities, foundations, libraries, government agencies, and civil society groups from across Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United States, and Uruguay has come together to support this initiative.
The project has collected over 8 terabytes of plain text data, equivalent to millions of books. This vast resource will be managed by the Supercomputing Center at the University of Tarapacá in northern Chile, which is developing infrastructure to support AI advancement.
‘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.
‘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,’ he added.
The National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), established in Chile in 2022, is a leading research institution dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in the region.
