AI in Latin America's Payments and E-Commerce: Growth, Innovation, and Structural Challenges 2025

Description

yStats.com reports that AI adoption in Latin America's payments and E-Commerce markets accelerates in leading fintech hubs, while structural barriers, talent gaps, and uneven governance limit scalable impact across the region

Fintech ecosystems accelerate AI growth, yet uneven readiness persists

AI adoption is advancing across Latin America, led by Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia through strong fintech ecosystems and supportive regulations. The region's fintech sector grew by over 300% between 2017 and 2023, cementing its global relevance. Yet smaller economies remain behind due to high costs and limited technical expertise, with more than 40% of firms citing skill shortages and unclear ROI as primary barriers.

Talent shortages and infrastructure gaps hinder enterprise scaling

Large firms increasingly integrate AI, but workforce constraints remain critical. Around 60% of organizations highlight AI training as their top need, while half point to funding and infrastructure challenges outside major hubs. Despite this, Generative AI use is already widespread, especially in Brazil and Mexico, where upskilling programs are expanding rapidly.

Governance frameworks evolve, but enforcement remains fragmented

Regulatory progress is accelerating as Brazil, Chile, and Colombia introduce risk-tiered AI frameworks aligned with global norms. Over half of Latin Americans support stronger government oversight emphasizing transparency and accountability. However, limited institutional capacity and uneven enforcement continue to hinder cohesive regional governance.

Product Code: 1705

1. Key Takeaways

2. Management Summary

3. AI Adoption Landscape & Regional Patterns

3.1. Latin America: Adoption Benchmarks
- 3.1.1. Regional
- Latin America & Global: AI Adoption by Enterprise Use Cases, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America & Global: Perceived Business Impact of Generative AI, in % of Companies, 2023 & 2024
- Latin America & Global: AI Delivery Team Implementation, in % of Companies, 2023 & 2024
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Job Categories by Exposure to GenAI, in % of Respondents, April 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Job Categories by Productivity Potential from GenAI, in % of Resp., Apr 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Job Categories by Automation Risk from GenAI, in % of Resp., April 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Workforce Distribution by GenAI Exposure, in % of Resp., April 2025
- Latin America: Share of Organizations Using AI Tools Across Business Functions, in % of Resp., 2024
- Latin America: Perceived Impact of AI Tools Across Business Functions, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America: Adoption of AI-Based Business Solutions, in % of Companies, Jan 2025
- Latin America: Stage of AI Adoption in Organizations, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Approaches to AI Capability Development, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Share of Latitud Fellowship Companies Identifying as AI-centric or AI-enabled, in % of Resp., 2022-2023 & H1 2024
- Latin America: Founders' Views on AI Transformative Force for Business and Society, in % of Resp., 2024
- Latin America: Founders' Expectations of AI Impact on Cost Reduction and Revenue Growth, in % of Resp., 2024
- Latin America: Founders' Perceptions of AI Market Expectations, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America: Founders' Views on AI Hype and Investor Overexpectations, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America: Generative AI Adoption in Tech Companies, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America: Adoption of AI Frameworks by Provider, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Number of AI Frameworks Adopted, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Expected Impact of AI on Workforce, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Main Drivers of AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Latin America: Main Drivers of Excitement About AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Good Understanding of AI by Country, in % of Respondents, Aug-Sep 2024
- Latin America: Use of AI Tools in Daily Life by Country, in % of Respondents, Aug-Sep 2024
- 3.1.2. Country Spotlights
- Brazil: Population Familiarity with AI, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Brazil: Corporate Perceptions of AI for Automation and Efficiency, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Corporate Perceptions of AI for Automation and Efficiency, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Corporate Perceptions of AI for Automation and Efficiency, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Corporate Perceptions of AI for Automation and Efficiency, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Corporate Perceptions of AI for Automation and Efficiency, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Brazil: Corporate Expectations of AI's Impact on Industry, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Corporate Expectations of AI's Impact on Industry, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Corporate Expectations of AI's Impact on Industry, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Corporate Expectations of AI's Impact on Industry, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Corporate Expectations of AI's Impact on Industry, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Brazil: Expected Timeline of Results from AI Strategies, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Expected Timeline of Results from AI Strategies, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Expected Timeline of Results from AI Strategies, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Expected Timeline of Results from AI Strategies, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Expected Timeline of Results from AI Strategies, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Brazil: AI Investment Plans, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: AI Investment Plans, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: AI Investment Plans, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: AI Investment Plans, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: AI Investment Plans, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
3.2. Seller Segmentation & Barriers
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Infrastructure, Computing, Server, and Data Ecosystem Gaps for AI Adoption, Aug 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: AI Talent Shortages, Education Pipeline Weaknesses, and Firm-Level Adoption Gaps, Aug 2025
- Latin America: AI Opportunity in Service Exports, Investment Gap, Export Lag, and Skills Gap, Aug 2025
- Latin America: Main Challenges to AI Implementation, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Latin America: Main Obstacles to AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Latin America: Leading Barriers to AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Barriers to AI Exploration, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Key Areas of Support Needed for AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025

4. Functional Use Cases & Economic Impact

4.1. E-Commerce Seller Operations
- Latin America: Productivity Gains from AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Benefits of AI Adoption, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Latin America: Business Functions of AI Implementation, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Latin America: Use of AI Technologies in Daily Operations, in % of Respondents, 2025
4.2. Payments & FinTech Use Cases
- Latin America: FinTech Sector Growth as a Foundation for AI-Enabled Payments, in Number of Comp., 2017 & 2023
- Latin America: FinTech Concentration and AI Readiness Potential by Country, in % of Total Fintech Comp., 2024
- Latin America: Count. with the Highest Growth in Fintech Startups and AI Innovation Potential, in % of Comp., 2022-2024
- Latin America: Blockchain Tokenization, AI Monitoring, and Customer-Centric Banking Innovations, Sep 2025

5. Risk Management, Trust & Security

5.1. Fraud & Threat Trends
- Latin America & Mexico: Cybercrime Attempts and AI Professional Shortages in Millions, Oct 2024
- Latin America: Fraud Challenges, Costs, AI Detection Tools, and Partnerships in Digital Payments, Sep 2025
- Latin America: Biggest Risks to AI Deployment in Startups, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: AI and Intensified Inequality by Country, in % of Respondents, Aug-Sep 2024
5.2. Trust & Readiness
- Brazil: Comfort Levels in Sharing Personal Data with AI Tools, in % of Respondents, 2024
- Brazil: Public Readiness for Data Sharing with AI and Traditional Inst., in % of Resp. Comfortable Sharing Data, 2024
- Brazil: Planned AI Training Investments for Teams, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Planned AI Training Investments for Teams, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Planned AI Training Investments for Teams, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Planned AI Training Investments for Teams, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Planned AI Training Investments for Teams, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Brazil: Workforce with AI Hiring Focus, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Workforce with AI Hiring Focus, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Workforce with AI Hiring Focus, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Workforce with AI Hiring Focus, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Workforce with AI Hiring Focus, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Brazil: Importance of Sustainability in Implementing AI Solutions, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Mexico: Importance of Sustainability in Implementing AI Solutions, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Colombia: Importance of Sustainability in Implementing AI Solutions, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Chile: Importance of Sustainability in Implementing AI Solutions, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
- Argentina: Importance of Sustainability in Implementing AI Solutions, in % of Respondents, Jan 2025
5.3. Regulation & Compliance
- Latin America: Support for Government Regulation of AI by Country, in % of Respondents, Aug-Sep 2024
- Latin America: AI Bills with Principle-Based Rights, Risk Classification, and Compliance Obligations, Sep 2025
- Latin America: AI Proposals with Governance Councils, Regulatory Sandboxes, and SME Support, Sep 2025
- Latin America: Regulatory Gaps, Local Frameworks, Regional Coordination, and AI Governance, Sep 2025
- Latin America: Regulatory Progress, Governance, Institutional Gaps, and Regional Cooperation in AI, Sep 2025

6. Competitive Landscape & Strategic AI Movement

6.1. Market Scale & Activity
- Latin America: AI Adoption by Approach in Startups, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: AI Adoption Levels and Revenue Contribution from AI-Powered Products, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Share of AI Leaders' Revenues Attributable to AI-Powered Products, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Median Revenue Growth of AI and Non-AI Companies Across Income Bands, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Top-Quartile Revenue Growth of AI and Non-AI Companies Across Income Bands, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Funding Status of Startups and AI Share of Funded Firms, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: AI Adoption Across Application Areas Among Startups, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Number of AI Use Cases Implemented Per Startup, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Areas of AI Use in Startup Operations, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Use of AI Models in Startups, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Share of Startups Measuring ROI on AI Investments, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Metrics of ROI on AI Investments Among Startups, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: AI ROI Measurement Metrics, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Ownership of AI Leadership Roles in Startups, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: AI/ML Cloud Workload Distribution by Provider, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: Number of Cloud Providers Used for AI/ML Workloads, in % of Respondents, Mar-Apr 2025
- Latin America: LLM Adoption by Provider and Number of Models Deployed, in % of Resp., Mar-Apr 2025
6.2. Venture Capital Strategies & AI Integration Trends
- Latin America: VC Investment Likelihood for AI-Core Startups, in % of Respondents, 2024 & 2025
- Latin America: Barriers to VC Support for Portfolio AI Deployment, in % of Respondents, 2025
- Latin America: Internal AI Use Cases Among VC Firms, in % of Respondents, 2023 & 2025
- Latin America: Internal AI Application Usage by VC Firms, in % of Respondents, 2025

7. AI Governance, Regulation & Innovation Enablers

7.1. AI Innovation Frameworks
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Absorptive Capacity, Readiness Gaps, and Global Positioning in AI Adoption, Aug 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Opportunities and Risks of AI Adoption for Economic, Social, and Technological Development, Aug 2025
- Latin America & The Caribbean: Responsible AI Initiatives, Policy Challenges, Regulatory Needs, and Data Governance Gaps, Aug 2025
- Latin America: Perceived Country Preparedness to Face AI Challenges, in % of Respondents, Aug-Sep 2024
- South America: Average Government AI Readiness in Data and Infrastructure, in Index Value, 2023 & 2024
- Brazil: Government AI Readiness in Data and Infrastructure, in Index Value, 2023 & 2024