AI for those who Escaped and those Left Behind

Brazil has dedicated approximately $4 billion (around R$23 billion) to its National AI Plan (PBIA), “AI for the Good of All.” The focus is on infrastructure, innovation, public services, training, and AI governance. There is also an emphasis on high-performance computing, data centres, and fostering an inclusive AI ecosystem, alongside broader digital transformation investments.

Brazil is investing in High-Performance Computing (HPC) and chip development, as well as industrial programs, aiming to build world-class supercomputers, develop indigenous AI models, and foster tech sovereignty, with significant funding for infrastructure, data centres, and R&D in semiconductors, cloud, and robotics.

A key project is the upgrade of the Santos Dumont supercomputer at the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC) in Petrópolis as the first step of the Brazilian AI Plan, quadrupling capacity with advanced NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel tech for AI research, aiming for global leadership.

This upgrade, involving Eviden, integrates cutting-edge cooling and a hybrid architecture, boosting Latin America’s scientific capabilities and supporting national goals for AI sovereignty and innovation.

Over 14 billion reais is allocated to business projects, AI value chains, data centres, and supporting MSMEs. Five billion reais is set aside for AI infrastructure and sustainable energy for data centre projects. Specific projects, such as “Inspire,” will fund AI initiatives to deliver digital public services that prioritise inclusion. The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) is a key technical and financial supporter of the Rio AI City initiative, a massive data centre complex led by Elea Data Centres.

Elea Data Centres is the principal driving force and operator behind Rio AI City, developing it as a gigantic, sustainable digital infrastructure hub powered by 100% renewable energy to support high-density AI and cloud computing for hyperscalers and global firms, transforming Rio into a strategic Latin American tech gateway with new jobs and innovation.

They provide the foundational data centre campus, connectivity, and green energy, making it a purpose-built ecosystem for the future of AI in the region, a significant step in Brazil’s digital economy. The project has attracted global players such as Nvidia, Oracle, and Google as partners. Google’s involvement comes through its X innovation lab (formerly Google X), specifically through a project called “Tapestry”.

But above all, far above all, is the focus on inclusion. Private and public digital architectures and digital platforms must be accessible to vulnerable populations. The government of Brazil will now provide internet access to 13 Quilombola communities, and a targeted digital literacy program will be developed for residents of these territories.

The Quilombolas are Afro-Brazilian peoples living in quilombo settlements, first established by enslaved persons who were left behind or those who escaped enslavement in Brazil.  Today, they are the descendants of enslaved persons who either escaped enslavement or persons who lingered and languished on abandoned lands until the abolition of slavery on 13th May, 1888. The Quilombolas live every day in hopeless poverty.

Vulnerability takes away our freedom to choose how we wish to live our lives. And so, development is only possible when we can move from unfreedoms to freedoms. Development requires removing every unfreedom that hinders the use of our reasoned agency to live the lives we value as information organisms or “inforgs” in the Age of AI.

Development isn’t just about wealth (GDP) but about expanding people’s fundamental freedoms and capabilities (what they can do and be) to live lives they value, viewing this expansion as both the goal and the means of development.

Development must be about expanding human freedom, which is needed to enhance people’s well-being and possibilities. Poverty is a deprivation of capability. The economy’s ultimate objective must be to foster well-being and the freedom to live a decent human life.

Education should prepare learners for economic citizenship. The need is for policy frameworks to actively remove “unfreedoms” such as poor economic opportunities, social deprivation, and restrictive policies that limit human potential and block access to new opportunities. Policies must prioritise human capability and liberty.

Epistemic justice and algorithmic fairness are a mesh of interconnected freedoms. Education must nurture reasoned agency and intellectual freedom, allowing individuals to escape “the cage of ideas built by others” and enhance their real choices.

Learners must be released for moral and intellectual autonomy, and their capabilities augmented and heightened by widening their horizons, increasing their awareness of choice, enlarging their points of reference, and layering their levels of perception.

“Piauí Mais Digital” is another focal point of the initiatives in Brazil. It addresses digital transformation in the state of Piauí. The aims are to expand digital connectivity, proliferate the supply and use of citizen-facing digital public services, and enhance merchants’ digital capabilities. This digitisation process will generate more than R$130 million in savings for society and the state’s public coffers.