Articulating AI futures for Brazil: on different regimes of technological solutionism

The study of expectations in innovation policy has gained prominence over the past decade . A key concern has been the belief that complex social problems can ultimately be resolved through technological innovation, a perspective termed technological solutionism. However, the existing literature mainly focuses on North America and Europe, offering a homogeneous understanding of technological solutionism and a normative view of how these expectations affect the Global South . This paper employs critical discourse analysis, in dialogue with the sociology of expectations, and Latin American science and technology studies, to examine technological solutionism in connection with two recent Brazilian policy documents: the Brazilian Strategy of Artificial Intelligence (EBIA) and the Fapesp Call for Applied AI Research Centers. It argues that, in Brazil, technological solutionism is linked to a very specific concern: the one of dependency. Thus, adopting technosolutionist imperatives would be seen as the best remedy against 'underdevelopment', impeling Brazil to 'leapfrog' and catch-up advanced nations. The paper calls for critical approaches to regimes of technological solutionism whose consolidation and hegemony are tied to the role Global South countries have in global capitalism and international policy.