The executive of the technology company that owns Copilot details how he has been working with governments and agencies around the world to ensure they develop systems that have a positive impact on society. He makes it clear that there is a growing interest among companies in the region to invest, adopt and use this technology to ensure the long-term growth of their business.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics show increasing potential to transform the global economy. According to McKinsey, together they could generate between US$11 and US$17.7 trillion of value per year, not counting generative AI. If generative AI --which creates new content and solutions-- is added, the value could grow by an additional 15% to 40%.

With that in mind, AméricaEconomía spoke with Alex Le Bienvenu, director of Data and Artificial Intelligence for Latin America at Microsoft. He shared the technology firm's vision of AI adoption in Latin American companies. Although this has nuances depending on the country and the industry, there is a clear trend: interest in investing and using this technology is steadily increasing.

-As an AI provider, through Copilot, what objectives has Microsoft set for various companies and industries?

AI is a defining technology of our time and will open up profound possibilities for people, industry and society. Our goal is to democratize our advances in AI to help people and organizations be more productive and solve our society's most pressing problems. We will rapidly see the transformative power of AI to improve productivity, advance healthcare, improve cybersecurity, and drive scientific advances. All this on the basis of responsibility and humanity.

-How are Microsoft's different AI applications developed for industries and governments?

We have specific AI developments to meet the needs of different industries and functions, such as Copilot for Microsoft 365, Copilot for Sales, Microsoft Security Copilot and the new Copilot for Finance, in preview.

For example, in the healthcare sector, we believe that technologies like AI, in partnership with doctors, play a key role in accelerating the industry's progress. This makes clinician and patient experiences more personal and engaging, alleviating workforce burnout and helping to increase access to care, with AI solutions like Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and DAX Copilot. In retail, through Microsoft Cloud for Retail, retailers can use Copilot templates to create personalized shopping experiences and support store operations.

In finance, generative AI has the potential to drive dramatic improvements in employee productivity, operational efficiency, and customer experience, with our Azure OpenAI service and Copilot offerings. In sustainability, Microsoft is incorporating AI into many of our products and solutions, such as Sustainability Manager, to perform advanced analytics and generate actionable insights.

At the same time, Microsoft is working with governments and agencies around the world to ensure that we develop and implement systems that will have a positive impact on society. We are guided by six guiding principles for artificial intelligence: accountability, inclusion, trustworthiness and security, fairness, transparency, and privacy and security.

-There are voices that claim that the company that begins to use AI 'alters its business'. How much have Latin American companies internalized this?

In an environment increasingly dominated by technology, Latin American companies are beginning to perceive the transformative impact of AI. From process efficiency to the personalization of customer service, artificial intelligence is presented as a key resource that offers notable benefits in efficiency, satisfaction and the ability to innovate, for organizations that implement it with vision and effectiveness. The level of adoption of artificial intelligence in Latin American companies varies depending on several local and industry-specific factors, but there is growing interest in investing, adopting and using this technology. For example, our most recent survey of SMEs in Latin America found that 57% of companies in the region use AI tools frequently. Additionally, 31% invested in this technology during 2023 and 72% plan to continue or begin investing in it in the near future.

According to a recent global study by IDC and Microsoft, 71% of respondents already use AI. And 92% of implementations are completed in 12 months or less, generating a significant return on investment of 3.5 times the investment amount within 14 months.

-For Microsoft, what are the main fields or areas where AI is going to revolutionize the Latin American industry?

Artificial intelligence is emerging as an engine of change for industries in Latin America, boosting productivity, which has been one of the Achilles heels of our region. This technology relieves the burden of repetitive tasks, freeing employees to focus on more strategic and creative activities.

-There is still some caution or misgiving about taking advantage of AI. To what do you attribute this resistance?

We really see the interest in companies in the region to adopt artificial intelligence. For example, according to the figures from our survey of SMEs, 78% of these companies are looking to integrate this technology to enhance efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. This figure shows that the adoption of AI solutions has become a priority for these companies, seeking to optimize everything from customer service to operational decision-making.

A testament to the positive impact of AI is the experience with Copilot, where users report a notable improvement in productivity and quality of work. 85% highlight the reduction of effort on tasks, 77% prefer not to return to old methods, 70% feel more productive, 73% complete their tasks faster and 68% notice an improvement in the quality of their work . In addition, efficiency in activities such as searching for information and writing increased by 29% and 67% spent the time saved on more relevant tasks.

-Are there challenges such as the lack of specialized technical knowledge regarding the adoption of AI in companies? What other challenges do you see to make its use more widespread?

Generative AI can support almost any role and does not require technical knowledge of artificial intelligence. This is in comparison to traditional artificial intelligence, where data scientists were the ones who built complex models customized for tasks or areas of interest. To have a great impact with generative AI, it is more important to be clear about what you want to achieve and how to express it in your native language.

Leaders must become familiar with the uses and benefits that this technology offers their companies to identify the best opportunities and applications in its implementation.

-What AI developments does Microsoft have underway?

We foresee significant advances in AI, such as the development of more adaptive systems, capable of addressing problems beyond specific tasks. Also, their increasing integration into devices, products and processes in various sectors. Additionally, we expect continued improvements in areas such as multimodal AI; that is, in the recognition of images, videos, speech processing, natural language understanding and automatic reasoning. This will lead to sustained transformation in various industries and aspects of society.

We also see that an investment aspect in the short and medium term is the optimization of the cost and speed of these solutions, allowing them to run on all types of devices and allowing the opening of models. From Azure OpenAI models, such as ChatGPT/GPT, to open models such as Llama2 or Mistral, lightweight models, such as Phi2, and the more than 1,400 models that we are offering today to be used by society and professionals in the industry.