paths to help ensure longer-term retention. These gaps point to needs across the whole employee life cycle in relation to analytics and AI talent. Competitors in an increasingly global talent market are pulling ahead. Latin American organizations that are generating impact from AI are closer to getting talent right. They score near global leaders in their level of visibility of their existing talent’s AI skill levels. This visibility can help companies design reskilling programs to fill talent gaps internally.43 Alongside corporate partners, governments are experimenting with programmes to address the lack of upskilling opportunities and help develop and diversify AI talent, but these initiatives are still at an early stage and vary widely in scale. For example, Brazil has launched 11 applied research centres in AI, co-funded through public funds and private company investment, collectively mobilizing around $45 million in shared resources.44 Additionally, Microsoft’s ConnectAI initiative sits within a multi-billion-dollar public-private investment in cloud and AI infrastructure and aims to train 5 million Brazilians in digital and AI skills.45 In Argentina, business association Argencon and technology school Digital House have launched an online training scheme called IA Argentina, which offers 35,000 free scholarships onto entry- level AI courses.46 Similar training initiatives are in place across countries including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. In Mexico, Microsoft and non- governmental partners report they have already trained or re-skilled roughly 1.3 million Mexicans in IT skills.47 Dual education models in Mexican states such as Nuevo León and Aguascalientes provide in-company experience for students and offer a platform that can be adapted to AI upskilling. Establish guardrails for ethics, safety and security AI and digital regulations remain fragmented and inconsistent across regions, often marked by a disconnect between policy-makers and the private sector. This lack of clarity and the absence of standardized frameworks could create friction, hinder innovation from scaling across borders and limit the ability to attract foreign investment. Latin American and global leader scores in AI competitiveness sub-dimension: talent FIGURE 11 Latin American organizations not generating impact from AI/uni00A0 Latin American average Distance between Latin American average and global leaders Distance between Latin American organizations generating impact and those who are not Latin American organizations generating impact from AI Global leaders1 28 13 34 23 12 16 38 30 32 18Structured career paths for analytics and AI talent Effectively recruit, acquire, onboard and integrate analytics and AI talent11 13 12 12 21 30 5326 42 6528 36 43 4824 36 5817 24 44 Level of visibility of existing technology talent at the skill level Clear view of the nature of analytics and AI talent needs Role-based approach to professional development and capability building 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Note: 1. Top quintile of McKinsey Global AI Competitiveness Assessment Survey, excluding Latin America Source: Latin America in the Intelligent Age - AI capabilities survey, August - October 2025, n=129; McKinsey AI Quotient Survey, 2017-2025, including 750+ companies globally Latin America in the Intelligent Age: A New Path for Growth 21

Latin America Intelligent Age