While several Latin American countries are debating plans to develop their own national artificial intelligence (AI) strategies, China is seizing the opportunity to strengthen its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and, in particular, the Digital Silk Road (DSR), its global technology project that focuses on 5G networks, digital infrastructure, surveillance, and AI platforms.
In recent months, Beijing has established multiple joint ventures with countries such as Colombia and Brazil to drive AI cooperation through its state-owned or government-backed companies.
With a model that combines open source and massive state investment in data centers, research centers, and talent training, Chinese AI companies such as DeepSeek are rapidly expanding in the region. For Latin American countries, the growing risk is that these low-cost solutions will become instruments of economic and political influence, potentially compromising strategic decisions and digital sovereignty.
Among the latest entrants to the Latin American market is Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., known as Zhipu AI (Z.ai), backed by an estimated $1.4 billion in state funding. The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian Association of Companies with Investments in China (BRACHAM), aiming to promote cooperation in the field of AI.
“The risks of companies like Zhipu stem largely from their close ties to the state. Under Chinese law, any company can be forced to share data with intelligence services, which means that if their systems are used abroad, government access cannot be ruled out,” Eugenio Benincasa, a senior researcher in cyber defense at the Center for Security Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, told Diálogo.
Zhipu AI operates in synergy with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. The digital infrastructure it offers is accompanied by Huawei’s “AI-in-a-box” hardware, a technology kit designed to run AI out-of-the-box, from the server to the software.
The risk of state censorship
Chinese AI companies such as Zhipu AI not only sell technology, but also digital governance — the rules for making it work, from content moderation to data management. The risk of censorship is alarmingly high, especially in Latin America, where few or no laws currently regulate AI.
“The models of these Chinese companies show clear biases. Tests have shown that, for example, DeepSeek is programmed to censor or distort responses on politically sensitive Chinese topics,” says Benincasa.
A recent report by NewsGuard, the New York-based company that monitors the reliability of news websites, warns of the risks of Chinese chatbots. According to academic and security analyses, AI developed in China is not neutral, but rather a tool at the service of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda. In fact, the models constantly repeat narratives favorable to Beijing, such as sovereignty over Taiwan or the South China Sea, presenting them as truths through algorithms that often evade direct questions.
Even internal documents from the Chinese analytics company GoLaxy, obtained by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, have revealed the use of Chinese AI for propaganda purposes. At the center of operations is the so-called Intelligent Propaganda System, or GoPro, an AI capable of generating personalized and adaptive content and creating conversations that are perceived as authentic, thus evading platform controls.
Economic dependence and data control
In July 2025, China announced the creation of a joint laboratory between Brazil’s National Institute of the Semi-Arid and the Agricultural University of China, with the goal of modernizing agriculture in the semi-arid regions of northeastern Brazil. The project envisages the integration of AI systems with Chinese agricultural machinery to monitor the soil and carry out environmental assessments.
The mining sector is also experiencing an expansion of AI projects by Chinese companies. That same month, Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding with Codelco, the Chilean state-owned mining company, to collaborate on the use of AI in the automation of mining processes.
In Peru, an Integrated Remote Operations Center (IROC) has recently been inaugurated for the Las Bambas copper mine in the Apurímac region in the south of the country, which is mainly controlled by the Chinese companies MMG Limited and Guoxin International Investment. Thanks to AI, the center, located in Lima, more than 800 kilometers from the mine, increases the mine’s operational efficiency and copper recovery yield.
“This type of dynamic gives Chinese companies privileged access to critical data flows and creates dependencies that are extremely difficult to break,” says Benincasa. For the expert, “if a national power grid or port logistics system runs on Huawei’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, for example, Beijing not only gains influence over those operations, but can also determine the data governance rules and practices built into them.”
Strategic and cybersecurity concerns
In a recent report, the Washington-based Center for a New American Security (CNAS) warns that state-backed Chinese AI technology also poses a cybersecurity risk. In fact, the Chinese government is investing heavily in integrating AI and machine learning into its cyber arsenal, in line with its usual civil-military fusion strategy. According to experts, cyberattacks and espionage operations against Latin American governments could increase.
Therefore, according to Benincasa, from a strategic point of view, it is essential that countries in the region invest in national AI ecosystems, also with the help of Western countries. “The goal is to have credible alternatives so that no one is forced to rely on technology from a single provider,” the expert concluded.
