Uruguay’s AI for Good Lab built eight artificial intelligence projects for public bodies in its first six months, under a government partnership with Microsoft that leaves each institution responsible for its data and use of the tools. The partners presented the results on Monday, 5 October, at the state-backed Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU) in Montevideo.
The lab is a public-sector initiative built around Microsoft cloud credits and engineering support. The partners haven’t yet disclosed which three projects are finished, how much time or money the pilots have saved, or who will pay for cloud computing after the credits run out.
Public agencies and private technology
The lab received 47 applications from 32 public bodies and approved 12 projects. It trained 120 people and granted US$200,000 in cloud credits. Microsoft and LATU said three projects are finished, while five are due to finish in October.
LATU president Lucila Arboleya said the lab aimed to complete 16 projects a year. “When we opened this laboratory, we set out to have 16 projects a year, and now, six months later, we have reached eight,” she told the Montevideo daily la diaria.
Microsoft’s role goes beyond supplying credits. Elianne Elbaum, who runs the lab for Microsoft in Uruguay, said Microsoft matches every dollar Uruguay invests with credits for its Azure cloud. Microsoft engineers build the tools alongside staff from each institution.
The programme has about US$400,000 a year for three years, or about US$25,000 per project, Arboleya told Ámbito. The partnership also involves the industry ministry, LATU, innovation agency Uruguay Innova, state telecom company Antel, Agesic, research agency ANII and development agency ANDE.
State records and services
Six projects target state services. The General Registry Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture is developing automated extraction of data from electronic documents to speed up filings. Ceibal, the state education technology programme, built a chat assistant for an internal wiki containing more than 2,000 documents.
The state power utility UTE is automating the drafting of tender documents. The Hospital de Clínicas, a university hospital in Montevideo, is digitizing handwritten kidney dialysis patient records. The Tribunal de Cuentas, the state audit court, is getting a legal assistant to help draft reports. Agesic, the e-government agency under the presidency, is building an AI agent to help people find the correct online procedure.
Two other projects use AI for research. The public Technological University of Uruguay (UTEC) is using drone images to identify palm trees that may be attacked by the red palm weevil, a destructive beetle. A separate project with LATU analyzes satellite images to distinguish fields of soy, sorghum and maize.
Arboleya said requests for complex equipment can take two years to result in delivery. “Any day you can cut from that process is extremely important,” she told Ámbito. She said the first results show shorter processing times and fewer errors, but gave no figures.
Data control and what remains unresolved
Arboleya told la diaria that each body signed a confidentiality agreement with Microsoft and that the Uruguayan state retains control of the data. Each institution remains responsible for its data and for putting its tools to use; Arboleya said the institutions, not the lab, implement the pilots.
The programme’s long-term operating arrangements remain unclear. The partners gave no figures for time or money saved and no launch date for the Agesic agent. They also haven’t said how many prototypes will enter regular use or who will pay for cloud computing when the lab’s credits end.
President Yamandú Orsi of the centre-left Broad Front coalition presented Uruguay as “a trusted regional hub” to develop, test and scale AI at an artificial intelligence dialogue hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank in New York on 22 September. His office said the remarks were part of a wider plan.
A third group is due to start in November with ANDE, ANII, Antel and the postal service Correos. Microsoft said four more projects will start in February 2027; la diaria reported March. The lab hasn’t said how it will reach 16 projects in its first year.