Artificial Intelligence has its origins in the computer science field, and its early commercial applications were only in related domains, such as robotics. Since then, Artificial Intelligence has evolved to serve a broad range of industries. And eventually, it will serve all of them.
As time passes, it becomes more and more evident that Artificial Intelligence will be a “general purpose technology,” such as electricity. And these are the types of technologies that heavily influence and drive long-term technological progress.
Latin American companies, and specifically startups, have for several years now hopped onto the technological progress that Artificial Intelligence brings. It has successfully improved existing goods and services, and it has also catalyzed the invention of new ones.
Latin American startups have proven to be at the forefront of AI-powered innovation. In this article, we’ll go through the Latin American startups that are applying Artificial Intelligence to create groundbreaking products and services and dramatically improve existing ones:
NotCo
NotCo is a Chilean foodtech, and its ultimate mission is to replace animal-based foods entirely without sacrificing taste, functionality, or consumption experience.
The company created an algorithm called “Giuseppe” that can learn infinite combinations of plants to replicate the taste and texture of animal products. NotCo sells plant-based milk, burgers, meat, ice cream, mayonnaise, chicken, and more. The company is present in the US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.
The foodtech NotCo is one of three Chilean unicorns. It has partnered with Burger King and established a joint venture with Kraft Heinz. It was founded in 2015 by Matías Muchnick, Karim Pichara and Pablo Zamora.
Vozy
Vozy is an AI Voice platform that was created in Colombia in 2017 by Ricardo Marin, Helmuth Corzo, Humberto Pertuz, and Alejandro López. Vozy’s mission is to enable more humane customer service. Thanks to AI, Vozy has managed to make customer service up to 40% more efficient for its customers.
Vozy ‘s conversational assistant Lili uses Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning to understand and speak eight different Spanish accents from across Latin America. This creates a personalized interaction, which is something that contributes enormously to an improved user experience.
Lili also chooses the right agent based on the urgency of the request and the complexity of the issue to be solved. Chatbots are for simple, non-urgent requests, voice assistants for medium-complexity requests that need immediacy, and human agents for requests that need a person’s intellect and empathy.
Youper
Youper is an AI-powered assistant that helps people control their emotions and behaviors. Created in Brazil in 2016, its founders are Diego Dotta, Jose Hamilton, and Thiago Marafon.
The assistant combines Artificial Intelligence and decades of research in psychology. The result is a unique combination of clinical effectiveness and patient engagement. A study from Stanford University even demonstrated that patients show significant improvement in their depression and anxiety symptoms after just two weeks of using Youper’s digital therapeutics.
Youper’s three core features are a conversational agent that listens to and interacts with users, just-in-time interventions that help users manage emotional challenges, and adaptation and personalization to recommend techniques that fit users’ specific needs.
Yalo
Yalo is an Artificial Intelligence platform created in Mexico in 2015 by Javier Mata. The platform enables brands to communicate effectively with their customers using chatbot assistants via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat in China.
According to a report done by Yalo, 8 out of 10 queries can be solved using bots and automated responses. Yalo’s CRM simplifies the use of chat applications to manage sales operations and customer services. Some of Yalo’s clients are Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Walmart.
Intuitivo
Intuitivo is an Argentinian startup that is transforming the retail shopping experience thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Using Computer Vision technology, Intuitivo is decentralizing retail by transforming any type of cooler or cabinet into a smart Grab & Go. Intuitivo was founded in 2019 by Tomas Manzitti, Jose Benitez Genes, and Nicolas Parziale.
The startup already installed over 250 Grab & Gos, and some of its clients are Nespresso, AB-InBev, and Arca Continental. These autonomous Grab & Gos function entirely on Computer Vision technology, which is a field of Artificial Intelligence through which computers can derive meaningful information from visual inputs like videos.
Intuitivo’s coolers have installed cameras that track the transaction from beginning to end to identify what product the user is taking. After the cooler’s door is closed, the product’s cost is debited automatically from the user’s digital wallet or credit card.
Heru
Heru is a Mexican platform that leverages AI to automate thousands of rules and streamline the entire tax filing, retention, and reporting process. It was founded in 2019 by ex-Uber employees Mateo Jaramillo and Stiven Rodriguez.
Heru offers software-based services and products that are aimed at gig workers. In Mexico, independent workers are obliged to file taxes on a monthly basis, and Heru provides all the insurance, credit and tax preparation support they need. It provides financial planning tools and helps them stay up to date on evolving regulations. In comparison to the $25-$30 that a traditional accountant would cost, Heru charges $5 a month.
The company targets gig workers but has also created an embedded integration for companies or enterprises and is also looking to support a broader range of freelance workers.
Botcity
Botcity is a startup that uses Robotic Process Automation to enable developers to build more complex automations for any system. Botcity’s Computer Vision technology recognizes on-screen user interface components and implements automation to mimic a human user. The custom automations developers build can be deployed in any environment.
This technology enables developers to automate processes much more efficiently. Moreover, Botcity’s platform concentrates all automation efforts on a single platform. The company was founded in 2019 in Brazil by Gabriel Archanjo and Lorhan Caproni.
