Global South Can’t Just Consume AI, We Must Build It Ourselves: Brazil Tech Minister | Exclusive

Last Updated:February 21, 2026, 16:14 IST

In an interview with CNN-News18, Luciana Santos also explained why summits like the one in Delhi matter, saying they help generate political momentum to democratise access to AI

As New Delhi plays host to the AI Impact Summit from February 16-21, global leaders have converged in India to debate one defining question: who shapes the future of Artificial Intelligence, and on whose terms? Among the players is Brazil, underscoring the growing Global South push to reclaim agency in emerging technologies. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is also in India this week, signalling how central AI, technology partnerships, and digital sovereignty have become to Brasilia’s strategic engagement with New Delhi.

Against this backdrop, CNN-News18 spoke with Luciana Santos, Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, who explained why Brazil sees India not just as a partner, but as a co-shaper of a more inclusive AI order, one where innovation is guided by public interest, democratic governance, and the realities of the Global South, rather than dominated by a few powerful players.

Edited Excerpts:

Brazil often speaks of AI as a tool for social inclusion, yet large parts of the Global South remain data-poor and compute-poor. How does Brazil realistically prevent AI from deepening inequality rather than reducing it?

The risk that artificial intelligence could deepen inequality is real, especially when much of the Global South still faces structural gaps in data availability, computing infrastructure, and skilled human capital. Brazil’s response is to treat AI not just as a technology push, but as a national development project rooted in social inclusion and digital sovereignty.

That approach underpins Brazil’s AI Plan 2024-2028, backed by $23 billion reais (about $4.4 billion) in public investment, with nearly 30 per cent already deployed. The focus is on tackling, at scale, the structural drivers of inequality.

From building cutting-edge, renewable-powered supercomputing infrastructure to developing Portuguese-language AI models trained on Brazil’s own diverse data, the aim is to reduce external dependence and avoid imported biases.

Equally central is large-scale training and reskilling, alongside the strategic use of AI in public services to improve delivery, especially in social sectors.

Brazil believes that inclusion will not come automatically from innovation. It must be designed through public investment, local capacity-building, and democratic governance, so that the gains from AI are shared broadly, not concentrated in a few regions.

India is positioning itself as an AI bridge between the West and the Global South. Does Brazil see India as a genuine partner in shaping alternative AI models, or is the Global South still largely reacting to rules set elsewhere?

Brazil clearly sees India as a strategic partner. As major democracies of the Global South facing similar structural challenges, both countries share a responsibility to steer scientific and technological progress toward the public good.

Rather than simply adapting to rules set elsewhere, Brazil and India are well placed to shape their own agenda, grounded in democracy, sustainable development, and social inclusion.

This is already taking shape through partnerships between Brazilian and Indian AI centres, including a pilot project on secure, privacy-preserving cross-border data collaboration for medical AI. Using India’s Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture, AI models can be trained without raw data ever leaving the sovereign control of data providers.

Stronger cooperation also boosts our collective voice in global AI governance debates, pushing for frameworks that reflect the realities of the Global South, not just the priorities of major tech powers.

That is why summits like this one on AI’s global impact matter. They generate political momentum to democratise access to AI and accelerate its development across the Global South.

So, the Global South need not be reactive. Deeper strategic cooperation strengthens our ability to propose, negotiate, and build a more balanced and inclusive international AI governance.

Brazil has taken a tougher regulatory stance on Big Tech than many emerging economies. Do you worry that stricter AI regulation could slow innovation, or do you believe unchecked innovation is the bigger risk right now?

We start from a simple premise: the real question is not whether to regulate or innovate, but how to regulate in a way that enables sustainable and trustworthy innovation.

As AI becomes more widespread, the need for strong governance has grown. Clear rules are essential to guide the development, deployment, and use of AI in a safe, ethical, and transparent manner, so its benefits truly serve society. Without them, risks such as algorithmic discrimination or violations of fundamental rights can erode public trust and, over time, undermine innovation itself.

Brazil has therefore sought a balanced approach. Its AI Bill, approved by the Senate in December 2024 and now before the Chamber of Deputies, adopts a risk-based framework that prioritises users’ rights and participatory governance. Stricter obligations are focused on high-risk systems, while lower-risk applications are spared unnecessary burdens, preserving space for experimentation and new entrants.

To reinforce this framework, a complementary bill sent in December 2025 proposes the creation of a System for the Development, Regulation, and Governance of AI, along with a Brazilian AI Council. By bringing together the Data Protection Authority and key regulators, the model aims to deliver coordination, predictability, and regulatory clarity, all essential for investment and innovation.

Much of Brazil’s AI ecosystem still relies on foreign cloud infrastructure and imported chips. Can Brazil claim AI sovereignty without control over critical compute and semiconductors, and what lessons does it draw from India’s struggles on chip manufacturing?

Across the world, countries are increasingly debating what digital sovereignty means in their own national contexts. One widely shared view defines it as the ability to understand how digital technologies work, to develop them, and to regulate them effectively.

From this perspective, sovereignty is not built through isolation, but through stronger technological autonomy achieved via openness, cooperation, and domestic capacity-building. In this context, India emerges as a strategic partner for Brazil, expanding opportunities for technology exchange, joint innovation, and solutions aligned with national priorities, especially in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and advanced communications such as 5G and 6G.

Brazil is also taking a strategic approach to strengthening its semiconductor ecosystem, focusing on scientific development, skills training, and deeper integration into global value chains through robust workforce programmes and incentives to expand the semiconductor supply chain.

At the same time, under Brazil’s AI Plan, the country is building a national public-sector data infrastructure, including sovereign cloud systems developed through partnerships between public data companies and multiple cloud providers. These arrangements are designed to ensure digital sovereignty, transparency, control, trust, and cybersecurity.

As BRICS expands its focus on technology cooperation, do you see scope for a BRICS-led AI framework that challenges Western-dominated governance models, or are internal differences too wide to bridge?

Brazil is an active participant in several multilateral forums on AI governance, consistently stressing the need to promote AI for the benefit of all people, nations, living beings, and the planet. This approach is multi-stakeholder by design, bringing together governments, the private sector, academia, and civil society.

Within BRICS, member countries have advanced this vision through debates and conferences aimed at building consensus while respecting each country’s diversity and specific national realities.

During Brazil’s BRICS presidency, the bloc discussed and adopted a declaration on AI governance and principles for the use of artificial intelligence, clearly outlining areas of shared interest. Brazil’s leadership marked an important step toward consensus-building and laid the groundwork for deeper discussions within BRICS going forward.

Finally, from your perspective at the summit, what has been the most encouraging moment you’ve witnessed here—and what is the most uncomfortable truth about the Global South’s AI ambitions that leaders are still reluctant to admit?

I find it encouraging to see the Global South leading a complex process such as an AI summit and agenda. This is not only possible, it is necessary. Yet we still remain heavily dependent on platforms, models, and infrastructure controlled by a handful of countries and companies.

Without strategic cooperation, long-term investment, and collective negotiation, there is a real risk of reproducing in AI the same technological inequalities of the past. When a few actors control algorithms and digital infrastructure, this is no longer innovation, it is domination.

Developing countries cannot remain mere consumers of technology. They must build their own capabilities through technology transfer, talent development, and sovereign infrastructure.

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