Artificial Intelligence, Latin America, and Protestant Churches: From Digital Colonialism to Faith-Based Justice

Abstract: Artificial intelligence is reshaping Latin America not merely as a consumer of technologies but as a site where material infrastructure is being built with significant social and environmental costs. While Latin American Protestant churches – both in their mainline and evangelical expressions – have developed important traditions of social witness and spiritual formation respectively, their engagement with AI remains virtually absent. This article argues that such engagement is both possible and urgent, and proposes a constructive path grounded in Open Science ethics, relational theology, and the ecumenical tradition of digital justice. Rather than mere reactive denunciation, it calls for a theologically informed, epistemically responsible, and practically oriented participation in the AI economy. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Latin America; Protestant churches; digital colonialism; Open Science; digital sovereignty; faith-based digital justice