Where Venezuela's artificial intelligence gap lies
The 2025 Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index ranks Venezuela last. By dimension, the widest gap is in governance and the narrowest in research, development and adoption.
Executive summary
The 2025 ILIA, produced by ECLAC and CENIA, measures 19 countries with more than a hundred sub-indicators grouped into three dimensions. Chile, Brazil and Uruguay lead the table; Venezuela fell six places from the previous edition and came last.
The widest gap is in governance, with 12.46 points against a regional average of 47.57. The index found no national AI strategy and no specific legislative agenda on AI in Venezuela.
On infrastructure, the country has not deployed 5G networks, only 33.5% of households have an internet connection and the computing component scores 4.30 points, with no high-performance computing capacity or GPUs recorded.
There is usage, although at the lowest intensity in the region. About 1.26 million people use generative AI mobile apps, 8% of unique mobile subscribers, and on the web almost half of visits to AI tools are for generating text.
Context
The ILIA combines enabling factors, such as infrastructure, data and talent; research, development and adoption; and governance. Each dimension carries a different weight, and the final score summarises how far a country can produce and use AI.
For a company, the index describes the environment it operates in. A Venezuelan organisation can sit well above its country's average if it solves talent, data and usage rules on its own.
Figure 1 · Score in the 2025 ILIA
out of 100Table 1 · Venezuela against the regional average, by dimension
| Dimension | Weight in the index | Venezuela | Regional average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enabling factors | 40% | 28.23 | 43.81 |
| Research, development and adoption | 35% | 29.27 | 38.75 |
| Governance | 25% | 12.46 | 47.57 |
Business implications
Train teams before adding tools. Among the enabling factors, talent is the one a company can improve on its own. In Venezuela, AI literacy scores well above specialised professional training.
Govern the usage that already exists. With more than a million generative AI app users in the country, it is prudent to assume some staff already use them at work. A short policy and a tool inventory bring order to that use.
Plan for infrastructure abroad for intensive workloads. Without local high-performance computing, training or running models at scale will depend on external providers, with their own access and data residency terms.
Methodology & data
Data from the 2025 ILIA (ECLAC and CENIA, October 2025), its country profiles document and its main findings report, both from March 2026. The index combines more than a hundred sub-indicators; usage data come from web traffic and mobile apps, not from company surveys. The index itself warns that its 2024 and 2025 editions are not directly comparable.
As of September 2026, the 2026 edition of the index had not been published.
References
ECLAC and CENIA (2025). Índice Latinoamericano de Inteligencia Artificial (ILIA) 2025 (LC/TS.2025/68). · ECLAC and CENIA (2026). ILIA 2025: fichas de país y aspectos metodológicos (LC/TS.2026/16). · ECLAC and CENIA (2026). ILIA 2025: hallazgos principales, IA aplicada y talento humano (LC/TS.2026/1). · ECLAC (3 October 2025). Press release presenting the 2025 ILIA.