South America: Technology

Brazil's Committee on Industry, Commerce, and Services has issued a favorable opinion on legislation addressing patent ownership for AI-assisted inventions. The proposed amendment to the Brazilian Patent Statute would establish that patent rights for inventions developed with artificial intelligence assistance belong to the individual or legal entity providing the economic or technical means for development, while maintaining that AI systems themselves cannot hold patent rights due to lack of legal personho

Regulatory data protection has become an essential infrastructure for innovation in regulated sectors, particularly in Brazilian agriculture.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the legal sector in Brazil, prompting unprecedented regulatory responses from key institutions. The Brazilian Bar Association and National Council of Justice have issued comprehensive frameworks addressing ethical AI use, data protection, algorithmic transparency, and human oversight in legal practice and judicial proceedings.

A Brazilian court recently sanctioned lawyers for embedding hidden "prompt injection" commands in white text within their court filing, designed to manipulate AI systems reviewing the document.

Brazil's advertising self-regulation body CONAR has released comprehensive new guidelines governing digital influencer marketing, significantly expanding the definition of influencer advertising and establishing stricter transparency requirements. The updated framework addresses emerging challenges including AI-generated content, child participation protocols, and the distinction between organic and commercial social media posts.

The Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine (“CFM”) issued, on February 27, 2026, Resolution No. 2,454/2026 (the “Resolution”), addressing the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in medicine.

Chile's Financial Market Commission has proposed regulatory amendments that would significantly expand the scope of activities available to payment card operators, introducing new services such as payment initiation, electronic funds transfer systems, and payout services to affiliated merchants. The proposal aims to leverage operators' technological capabilities while establishing clear conditions and safeguards for these complementary activities within the Chilean payments ecosystem.

La Comisión para el Mercado Financiero ha iniciado una consulta pública sobre modificaciones normativas que permitirían a los operadores de tarjetas de pago expandir significativamente sus servicios complementarios. La propuesta incluye la incorporación de servicios de iniciación de pagos, sistemas basados en transferencias electrónicas y servicios de payouts, aprovechando las capacidades tecnológicas del ecosistema de pagos.

The Central Bank of Chile has unveiled its August 2026 Payments Systems Report, introducing a comprehensive regulatory development agenda that will reshape digital payments infrastructure and establish new frameworks for stablecoin regulation. The announcement signals significant changes ahead for financial institutions and Fintech companies as the Central Bank moves to strengthen instant payment systems...