The Political Economy of AI Starts in Brazil, Not Silicon Valley
The Political Economy of AI Starts in Brazil, Not Silicon Valley
https://www.techpolicy.press/the-political-economy-of-ai-starts-in-brazil-not-silicon-valley/
Publish Date: 2026-05-06 09:24:00
Source Domain: www.techpolicy.press
Aerial view of Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge (Ponte Estaiada) over the Pinheiros River at sunset—Sao Paulo, Brazil. Shutterstock
When Brazil’s Central Bank launched PIX, it didn’t just introduce a faster payments system; it reshaped the country’s financial infrastructure almost overnight, creating a widely accessible, low-cost public alternative to private platforms. Today, as artificial intelligence begins to play a similarly foundational role in economies, a comparable question is emerging: who builds and governs the infrastructure—and who captures the value it generates?
In Silicon Valley, AI is still largely framed as a race. The discussion focuses on performance and speed of deployment. The conversation tends to center on which models will dominate and who will capture value, with risks mostly defined in technical or existential terms. Outside of California, however, a different conversation is emerging. It is less concerned with who wins and more with how the race itself is structured, and what it means for economies and democratic systems.
In Brazil, where high-stakes national elections will be held in October and democratic institutions are under strain, discussions about AI rarely begin with benchmarks or market share. They begin with political economy. Policymakers, researchers, and civil society actors are asking whether AI will reproduce familiar patterns—where resources, labor, and knowledge are extracted while value is captured elsewhere—or whether it could support more balanced forms of development. This means conversations about AI safety risks don’t necessarily start with catastrophic global threats—they begin with the more immediate challenges the sector poses to everyday people and communities.
This perspective is also reflected in Brazil’s ongoing legislative debate around AI, particularly the proposed framework under PL 2338/2023, known as the Artificial Intelligence Legal Bill. Modeled in part on the European Union’s…
