How Automation Is Being Imposed by Decree.
- Victory
- May 1
- 4 min read
Updated: May 29
(And why Latin America must act now—even if no one believes it can)
A few months ago, at a tech fair in Austin, I approached a representative from RIVIAN, the American electric vehicle company. At the time, the global tariff shifts hadn’t yet been announced, but something was clearly brewing. I asked him—half prediction, half provocation—if he felt lucky that President Trump would likely legislate protections for companies like his. He looked at me. Said nothing. Just smiled. A blend of discomfort and complicity—the kind of smile that always signals the inevitable.
That smile revealed more than any official briefing.
Because what we’re witnessing isn’t trade policy. It’s a strategic transition. Silent. Inevitable.
Tariffs are no longer diplomatic tools. They’re structural redesign mechanisms. The goal isn’t to protect industries, but to reengineer the very conditions of production. To force—without stating it—that manufacturing returns home, but without people. The future forming today isn’t one of revived factories. It’s one of autonomous assembly lines. Industrial software nodes. Choreographies without workers.
Strategic automation is displacing the very concept of labor. And in this new order, human employment is no longer essential—not out of cruelty, but by design.
The unsettling part? This transformation isn’t happening through disruption—it’s happening by default. Tariffs raise import costs, supply chains relocate, investment flows return… but no one promises new jobs. Just efficiency. Just autonomy.
This marks the true inflection point: this isn’t another tech revolution. It’s the first wave of automation mandated by industrial policy.
Latin America: The Window Between Giants
While global powers clash and restructure, Latin America faces a unique crossroads: to accept the low-growth forecasts that predict its stagnation… or to seize the opportunity to move strategically, against the odds.
Yes, the numbers are not encouraging. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects regional GDP growth of 2.4% in 2025, driven primarily by domestic consumption and looser monetary policy. The IMF is more conservative, estimating just 2.0%, citing global factors such as political and trade uncertainty and volatile commodity prices.
But the real signal lies in what’s not forecasted.
Because as global players are distracted with geopolitical rivalries and AI redefinitions, a window opens for those not bound to the frontlines. Not to compete with size—but with strategy. Not to replicate the old industrial model—but to leap ahead. To reinvent.
The data paints a clearer picture when you ask: who’s ready to interpret it and act? In 2025, these are the industries with the highest potential across Latin America:
Renewable EnergyIn Colombia, clean energy capacity is expected to rise by 36%, with $500 million invested in renewable projects. In Chile, foreign investment in energy grew by 131% in 2024, driven by major green hydrogen initiatives.
Banking & FintechIn Argentina, financial intermediation surged by 30.2% year-on-year as of February 2025.Across the region, enterprise tech investments—including cloud services and network infrastructure—are projected to grow by 12% in 2024.
Entertainment & MediaGiants like Globo, Caracol, and TV Azteca continue to dominate traditional media, while gaming startups gain ground with a digitally native audience.
Health & BiotechnologyThough still emerging, the sector shows strong potential in Mexico, Brazil, and Chile—provided that investment in research and development accelerates.
Other sectors, while promising, face steeper challenges:
Telecommunications, Carriers becoming Tech companies: Despite ongoing infrastructure investment by companies like América Móvil, Claro, and Movistar, innovation investment fell sharply in 2023 after peaking between 2020 and 2022.
Retail & E-commerce: While leaders like Mercado Libre and Rappi remain strong, startup investment fell 63% in 2023 compared to 2022, reflecting global financial tightening.
Advanced Agribusiness: Growth will depend on modernization and technology adoption, breaking free from raw commodity dependency.
Automotive & Mobility: In Mexico, a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports imposed by the U.S. is heavily impacting the auto industry.
Aerospace: Countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina are developing aerospace hubs. In Argentina, Mirgor and FAdeA have signed agreements to co-develop aircraft parts.
The AI Tectonic Shift
In parallel, Artificial Intelligence is no longer a support tool. It is becoming the strategist. No longer the assistant. It is the decider. The systems designer. The architect.
The Strategic AI Maturity Framework is already in motion:
Smart Assistance: AI supports but doesn’t decide.
Augmented Intelligence: AI co-creates, under human supervision.
Semi-Autonomous Systems: AI executes tasks with human review.
Autonomous AI (in specific domains): AI makes limited decisions without intervention.
Strategic Autonomous AI: AI designs, optimizes, learns—and replaces. Entirely.
This is no longer speculative. It’s happening—quietly.While we debate AI’s ethics, its inevitability is already hardcoded into global systems: cost pressure, human fatigue, processing speed… and above all, weak governance.
A Region That Refuses to Be Defined by Forecasts: Latin America must stop seeing itself as a resilient survivor of the system—and start acting like a builder of a new one.
It won’t get there through copy-paste strategies, or by clinging to commodity cycles. Nor will it succeed by celebrating resilience while failing to plan offense.
What’s required is audacity. Ethical frameworks. Creative alliances. Strategic patience. And a rejection of narratives that treat the region as an afterthought.
The AI wave won’t wait. The world won’t wait. So the question is no longer if Latin America will act—but whether it dares to move when no one expects it to.
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