The Mexican Moment and Artificial Intelligence

Now that the elections have passed in Mexico and winners have been selected, we can start to focus on some of the real opportunities artificial intelligence presents for Mexico in the near and long term. We find ourselves at a very promising moment in the economic history of Mexico. Tensions between the United States and China, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, the pandemic, and numerous other geopolitical shifts have made this the Mexican Moment, driven in many ways by the trend called nearshoring.

However, moments, like opportunities, are ephemeral. They are here for a short period and then gone the next day if we don’t proactively act on them. I see artificial intelligence as the foundation for Mexico to capitalize on the current Mexican Moment for everyone, in all sectors and across the country—not just in the traditional economic centers like Monterrey and Mexico City.

The Potential of AI in Mexican Labor

Before we dig in, this is a large subject that I will need to distill over several articles, so bear with me since I won’t be able to get to everything I’d like in one go. To start, I want to focus on a key foundation of the Mexican Moment: labor. Mexico has one of the youngest, most skilled, and ambitious populations in the world. Labor can be massively augmented with the aid of artificial intelligence, which will dramatically improve the productivity of existing positions, valuations of Mexican enterprises, the attractiveness of Mexico as a place for foreign direct investment, and significantly improve the geopolitical position of Mexico in the coming years and decades.

How, you ask? My primary vision is the broader development and application of artificial intelligence copilots combined with more traditional forms of AI as needed. You’re probably asking, “What’s a copilot?” Great question. In the most simple terms, a copilot is an AI system that has been trained with a massive amount of information focused on the specific job, industry, and region in question. They are like your Jarvis in Iron Man, making you a Tony Stark or Pepper Potts of sorts in your work—able to ask for information, get it quickly, and solve complex tasks. Right now we’re in a shift from text to voice in the AI copilot space, called agents. If you haven’t read my article on them, I suggest you do.

In meetings with government officials anywhere in the world, I regularly reiterate the precept that a country's wealth and long-term prosperity are a direct function of the education, skills, and adaptability of the population. The more skilled, educated, and adaptable a population, the higher the incomes of both companies and workers will be, which translates into a broader tax base that can feed back into key programs, initiatives, and overall prosperity. But let’s take three main areas of focus to dial this in a bit.

First, Mexico has a massive opportunity to augment its workforce with AI at all levels of education, from the youngest students in elementary school to graduate students doing their master’s or doctoral degrees. In my course at EGADE on AI Ethics and Governance, the students are taught along with the aid of an AI copilot named Professor McEthical, which is trained on my information in addition to other resources related to artificial intelligence and can interact with the students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on their schedule. This helps students get used to prompting information, understanding how to verify information, and how to improve the quality of their work using AI. More schools need to start thinking about these solutions to augment student education.

Innovation and Opportunities in the Spanish-Speaking Market

Second, Mexico has countless challenges that are unique to the region and the Spanish language that need new products, services, and companies built to solve them. I believe this is an attractive opportunity to start developing AI in Mexico and exporting the services to other markets in the Spanish-speaking world and beyond. We don’t just want to be a country that uses artificial intelligence—we want to be a country that produces and leads the region in artificial intelligence. This is a great step in the direction of making Mexico a knowledge economy player in the realm of artificial intelligence and technology, with high-paying jobs, innovative companies, and more opportunities domestically.

Nearshoring and AI

Third, Mexico faces a combination of challenges and opportunities related to nearshoring that, in my opinion, can best be solved with artificial intelligence for time-saving, efficacy, and productivity. These include raising the standards of business operations across the board, corporate transparency, communications, training, operations, supply chain and logistics, and overall digitization of the Mexican workforce to take on more complex contracts, jobs, and industries over the coming years.

As of June 2024, Mexico is receiving significant investment that is either directly or indirectly related to nearshoring efforts. This trend will continue at different levels over the next decades due to numerous geopolitical and geoeconomic factors. I say this because there are times when very clever individuals don’t fully grasp why nearshoring is a long-term trend (decades), and why we have to invest and adapt accordingly. Don’t worry—I’ll write an article on this very point shortly.

The Potential of AI in the Mexican Workforce

The thoughtful development and deployment of artificial intelligence in the Mexican workforce is fundamental for workers, employers, business leaders, and investors to extract the maximum value out of the opportunities from shifting global trends, a young and growing domestic population, and nearshoring. It can be a mechanism that improves workers' earning potential, builds Mexico's attractiveness as a sophisticated location for business development, and improves the negotiating position of the Mexican government and businesses on the international stage.

Originally published in Spanish for Fast Company Mexico:

https://fastcompany.mx/2024/10/01/momento-mexicano-inteligencia-artificial-christopher-sanchez/