All novelty is but oblivion: Problem framing and AI regulation in Latin American policymaking

Abstract

This article examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is framed within emerging regulatory debates in Latin America and how these framings shape governance trajectories. Focusing on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, the study compares historical data protection frameworks with recent AI-related legislative and policy initiatives between 2019 and 2024. Methodologically, the article adopts an exploratory comparative interpretive approach based on qualitative analysis of regulatory documents, public policies, and draft legislation. Rather than treating AI governance as a purely technical or institutional process, the analysis emphasizes how policymakers construct AI through narratives of continuity, novelty, risk, and opportunity. The findings suggest that AI governance in Latin America rarely emerges through complete institutional rupture. Instead, regulatory debates frequently combine continuity-oriented concerns—such as privacy, discrimination, transparency, and administrative accountability—with narratives portraying AI as a disruptive or exceptional technological phenomenon. The cases examined reveal varying combinations of institutional adaptation, legal layering, sectoral reform, and anticipatory governance. Brazil tends toward comprehensive governance architectures; Chile combines preventive regulation with penal responses; Argentina relies more heavily on soft-law experimentation; and Mexico addresses AI largely through sectoral and criminal-law reforms. The article argues that AI governance in Latin America is characterized less by stable regulatory models than by overlapping interpretive repertoires shaped by institutional legacies, political priorities, and regulatory uncertainty.