6 MIN READ
Ramón Roche | 05 February 2026
As the general manager of Dronecode Foundation, a Linux Foundation project, I work at the intersection of autonomy and open source. I spend a lot of time thinking about what it takes to move advanced technology from research labs into real-world, safety-critical environments. In the drone ecosystem, whether we are talking about agriculture, infrastructure inspection, disaster response, or public safety, AI only delivers value when it is affordable, adaptable, and trusted. That reality is not unique to drones. It is precisely the challenge facing Latin America today, and it is also the opportunity.
The latest Linux Foundation Research report, Economic and Workforce Impacts of AI in Latin America, shows the region has crossed an important threshold: AI is no longer theoretical. It is being deployed at scale, delivering measurable business returns, and reshaping how work gets done. Open source AI is emerging as a practical foundation for that growth, lowering barriers to entry and enabling regional innovation across sectors. For investors and technology partners looking at emerging markets, Latam deserves serious attention. And as someone who grew up in Mexico and still calls the region home, I have more than a professional interest in seeing it succeed.
But the report also makes clear that momentum alone is not enough. Latam's AI market is growing at 28.1% annually, yet it still underperforms relative to the region's economic weight. The gap with North America and Western Europe is not closing on its own. The opportunity is real, but so is the work required to capture it: closing skills gaps, expanding infrastructure, and building local capacity to move from AI adoption to AI co-creation.
Business value is already being realized, especially in Mexico
Latin America's AI market is valued at US$12.7 billion and growing at 28.1% annually. Organizations across the region report positive ROI, revenue growth, cost reductions, and improved customer satisfaction. For investors evaluating emerging markets, these are not speculative numbers. They reflect real deployment at scale.
Mexico stands out. Eighty-three percent of Mexican companies report positive ROI or breaking even on AI investments, with average revenue increases of 16%. The report shows 65% of Mexican organizations already use open source AI, the highest rate in the region. I will admit some bias starting with my home country, but the results speak for themselves.
This is also not new. Mexico has been producing world-class robotics talent for over a decade. 3D Robotics, one of the Dronecode Foundation's founding members, became the first drone unicorn in Silicon Valley with engineering and manufacturing rooted in Baja California. Jordi Muñoz, the co-founder, gave me my first robotics job. Chris Anderson later recommended me for a role at Dronecode. I grew up in this ecosystem. That pipeline has only matured since.
The report highlights that open source AI is a competitive equalizer for small and medium enterprises, which make up 99.5% of businesses in Latam. Roomie IT and Electronic Cats show what that looks like in practice. Roomie IT, based in Mexico City, was the first Latin American company to develop and sell humanoid robots, now serving clients like Bayer, Bimbo, and Intel. Electronic Cats, out of Aguascalientes, builds open hardware for IoT and embedded systems with over 200 repositories on GitHub. One builds the robots. The other builds the components that make local AI possible.
But the report is clear about the gaps. Fifty-five percent of Mexican businesses cite lack of skills as the primary barrier to AI adoption. Infrastructure and compute investment remain underdeveloped. The foundation is there. Scaling it is the work ahead.
Open source AI: The strategic advantage
The report finds that 38% of Latin American organizations already use open source AI. This is not surprising. Open source AI costs five to seven times less than proprietary alternatives, and for a region where 50% of professionals cite cost as a major barrier to adoption, that difference matters. But cost is only part of the story. Open source enables local adaptation for terrain, weather, language, and regulatory constraints. It avoids locking innovators into opaque platforms that are difficult to certify or trust in safety-critical contexts.
Brazil illustrates what this looks like at scale. Speedbird Aero, based in São Paulo, has completed over 10,000 drone delivery missions and holds Brazil's first type certificates for commercial delivery drones. They build their flight control and navigation systems on open source stacks, validating autonomous behaviors in simulation before field deployment. They are now expanding to Europe. This is not a research project. It is a certified, operational drone logistics company built on open foundations. The report talks about local adaptation and regulatory navigation. Speedbird is a case study in exactly that.
Argentina tells a similar story. Kilimo uses machine learning to optimize irrigation across 220,000 hectares in seven countries, with partnerships including Google, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola. The report highlights open source AI powering replicable solutions in agriculture. Kilimo has built a business on premise, creating measurable water savings that translate into ecosystem payments for participating farmers. Ekumen, based in Buenos Aires, is an inaugural member of the Open Source Robotics Alliance and has contributed to ROS and Gazebo for over a decade. They build autonomous navigation and fleet management systems for industries from logistics to forestry. When companies need production-grade robotics with open source credibility, they call Buenos Aires. This is what the report means when it talks about moving from AI adoption to AI co-creation.
Colombia adds another layer. Rappi, the homegrown super-app unicorn, deploys machine learning for route optimization, demand prediction, and computer vision, reducing market entry costs by over 40% through predictive analytics. They have piloted drone delivery and continue investing in autonomous last-mile solutions. The report emphasizes that AI is delivering measurable business returns across Latam. Rappi is proof that those returns can scale to unicorn valuations. Open source AI is not just powering research labs. It is powering unicorns.
From adoption to co-creation
The report makes a point worth repeating: Latin America does not need to replicate Silicon Valley's investment model to lead in AI. The region has something else going for it. Latin Americans express higher trust, optimism, and openness toward AI than the global average. Eighty-five percent of Latam professionals are ready to integrate AI into their work, compared to 62% globally. That cultural readiness is an asset you cannot buy.
The workforce story reinforces this. AI's biggest impact will not be mass displacement but augmentation. Between 8% and 14% of jobs in the region could see significant productivity increases through AI, and 84% of employers plan to upskill their workforce to meet rising demand for digital and technical skills. For drone operations, this is already happening: AI handles routine analysis, humans focus on judgment and oversight.
But the report is also honest about what is missing. Latam's AI market is growing at 28.1% annually, yet it still lags behind the global rate of 31%. The region accounts for 5.8% of the global AI market despite contributing 6.6% of global GDP. That gap compounds over time. By 2035, the underperformance could reach 30% relative to economic weight if nothing changes.
The path forward is not just adoption. Local ecosystems must build, adapt, and govern the technology they depend on. Roomie IT, Electronic Cats, Speedbird, Kilimo, Ekumen, and Rappi are already doing this. They are not importing AI. They are building it.
For investors and technology partners, the signal is clear: the talent is here, the cultural readiness is here, and the open source foundation is here. What is missing is deliberate investment in skills development, compute infrastructure, and the policy frameworks that let local companies compete globally. The report lays out the evidence. The companies I have mentioned show what is possible. The question now is whether the capital follows.
Ramón Roche is the general manager of Dronecode Foundation.