San Juan, May 20 (EFE).- Public and private sector experts highlighted the capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform industries and drive economic growth during a forum organized in Puerto Rico by GFR Media and Agencia EFE on Wednesday.
The integration of technological tools in government agencies, education, banking, healthcare innovation, and infrastructure was at the center of the roundtable discussion titled “AI Revolution: An Opportunity for Businesses in Puerto Rico.”
“We are at a key moment in which the next stage of economic growth is being defined, and artificial intelligence is clearly emerging as a tool capable of transforming lives, organizations, countries, societies, sectors, and much more,” said Herbert Lewy, General Manager of Microsoft for Central America and the Caribbean.
Lewy emphasized that artificial intelligence “creates productivity, optimizes operations, and enables business models that did not previously exist.”
“For the first time in human history, we have access to the same technologies, at the same price, and at the same time across the entire planet, and this makes democratization a reality,” Lewy said, adding that this is creating “abundance in a much more equitable way.”
On the controversial issue of AI replacing human talent, Lewy stressed that, in his view, it “allows repetitive tasks to be replaced while enabling human talent to focus on what makes people unique, which is their ability to make decisions.”
AI investment
According to a 2025 report by International Data Corporation (IDC), cumulative investments in artificial intelligence by 2030 are expected to contribute 3.7% of global GDP.
Representing the Government of Puerto Rico at the roundtable were Sebastián Negrón Reichard, Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, and Beverly Morro, Secretary of Academic Affairs at the Department of Education.
Negrón explained that his agency uses artificial intelligence for certain permit procedures, document analysis and validation, and customer service management, among other functions.
One of the areas where AI has significantly accelerated processes has been incentive management, particularly document verification for young entrepreneur programs, which, according to the secretary, “previously could take up to a year and now takes less than 90 days.”
Representing the private sector were Camille Burckhart, Vice President of Innovation, Technology, and Operations at Banco Popular, and Claro CEO Enrique Ortiz de Montellano, both sponsors of the forum.
“The use of these tools has given us an incredible productivity uplift,” Burckhart said, citing the use of Copilot for repetitive tasks such as helping call center agents provide customer responses in a “simpler, faster, and more effective” way.
Meanwhile, Adriana Ramírez, President of Abarca Health, said these tools “greatly simplify” processes such as claims management by analyzing and identifying patterns of potential fraud, abuse, and waste.
She also highlighted their use in patient preauthorization processes, where the company expects “around 40% time savings in terms of impact on operational teams.”
This is the third international forum organized by GFR Media and Agencia EFE in Puerto Rico as part of a partnership aimed at addressing key and significant issues for the island and the broader Hispanic world. EFE