Responsible AI and Digital Environments in Latin America

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Environments

As digital environments become increasingly integrated into various spheres of daily life—and as technological innovation outpaces the ability of states to regulate its impacts—new risks to human rights are emerging that we are only beginning to understand.

The richness and diversity of digital environments encompass a wide range of technological tools, including social media, artificial intelligence, ride-hailing and delivery platforms, e-commerce and digital banking, digital storage systems and cloud infrastructure, communication platforms and multimedia content, and what is known as gamification, where users interact through avatars in the “metaverse.” With this broad array of existing digital environments—and others yet to be invented—there is a pressing need for clear frameworks that promote the responsible design, implementation, and use of new technologies.

The existence of responsible digital environments and AI helps to prevent: (i) the deepening of digital and socioeconomic divides; (ii) biases that lead to discriminatory practices; (iii) threats to privacy and consumer rights; (iv) weakened accountability and the lack of effective grievance and remedy mechanisms; (v) impacts on mental health; (vi) disinformation; (vii) potential censorship of legitimate opinions; (viii) the creation and/or spread of hate speech and polarization; (ix) violations of workers’ rights due to precarious “gig work” models typical of the digital economy; (x) job loss and lack of labor transition pathways caused by automation; (xi) hidden environmental costs, including significant carbon and water footprints from data centers built with critical minerals, among others.

To create ethical frameworks and address these challenges, it is essential to understand how digital environments are designed, developed, and used—and how they shape our social, labor, and environmental dynamics. For this reason, CREER prioritizes enabling, facilitating, and leading evidence-based discussions through research, action, and advocacy on the responsible development and use of these technologies.

At the same time, it is necessary to identify opportunities for digital platforms and AI to generate positive impacts when developed in a transparent, ethical, and collectively beneficial manner. Technologies such as AI can help identify invisible social patterns, support just transition processes, strengthen civic participation, and contribute to measuring and understanding social and environmental challenges beyond traditional indicators. Through innovative approaches and unconventional methodologies, it is possible to imagine a future where digital platforms and AI support socially responsible, human rights-based transformations.

At CREER, we advocate for democratic, responsible, and sustainable technological governance that amplifies Latin American voices in the design of these platforms and in decision-making processes. Our approach seeks to transform AI and other digital environments into tools capable of generating positive collective outcomes. The future of the business and human rights agenda depends on making the invisible visible—especially in the digital realm—and on turning potential risks into opportunities for all.

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It is estimated that over

0 %

It is estimated
that over

0 %

of companies in Latin America use artificial intelligence in at least one of their processes, while in Colombia, the digital divide reaches 34.4% In the same ecosystem, one part of the population is automating tasks using AI, while another remains excluded from the most basic resource: connectivity.

Objectives

Promote the development of regulatory frameworks and ethical corporate policies for the responsible design, implementation, and use of artificial intelligence and other digital environments from a Latin American perspective.
Generate knowledge and policy proposals to identify and prevent the negative impacts of these technologies on human rights, particularly among vulnerable populations.
Encourage the responsible use of technology as a tool to generate positive collective impacts, including strengthening civic participation, transparency, and social transformation.
Facilitate spaces for dialogue and advocacy between the private sector, governments, civil society, and international cooperation actors to move toward democratic and sustainable technology governance.
Advance the identification and strengthening of both state and non-state accountability channels, mechanisms, and institutions to prevent, address, and remedy rights violations associated with the development and use of digital environments.