Artificial Intelligence Could be Key to Puerto Rico's Economic Growth

A new study by Ducker Frontier revealed that Puerto Rico could create between 26 and 34 percent additional jobs with the successful implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public and private sectors. On Nov. 5, during the second annual Microsoft AI Tour held at the Sheraton Hotel and Casino in San Juan's Convention District, Pablo González, director of Ducker Frontier Latin America, discussed with THE WEEKLY JOURNAL the entity's most recent analysis of Puerto Rico's advancement in adopting AI and other emerging technologies. AI, as defined by Microsoft Caribbean General Manager Herbert Lewy, is an amplification of human ingenuity, "a tool that allows humans to achieve more and improve the things we normally do." The continuous progress of this booming technology has prompted a myriad of concerns and dystopian scenarios regarding automation, such as computers rendering humans obsolete at a plethora of jobs and services, thus amplifying economic disparity. "People think that if an algorithm can do 30 percent of our tasks they will get fired from their jobs. The study intends to demystify this perception and shed light on some issues… We also wanted to measure something that is almost never measured, which is the creation of new industries and, therefore, jobs that do not exist today to reach a net effect of how it will affect job availability in Puerto Rico," González explained.