…No One Saw Coming (or maybe not?)

When I was in school, history was not really my favorite class. It felt like a catalog of old dates, dusty maps, and events far removed from anything I cared about. Over time, I learned that history offers far more than trivia — it gives perspective, pattern recognition, a deeper understanding of cause and effect, and the ability to make sense of where we are by knowing where we’ve been.

As I mentioned in a previous article, timelines don’t just mark events — they rhyme with the past. In the same way I explained in my previous article I published almost 3 decades ago at El Mensajero, we can see today’s technology adoption curve in Brazil as part of a much longer song the country has been playing for decades.

From Orkut to AI: Brazil’s Habit of Taking Over the Tools

In 2004, Brazil didn’t just join Orkut — it became Orkut. By 2007, it wasn’t merely using Twitter — it was reshaping it, inventing cultural patterns, hashtags, and viral dynamics that Silicon Valley never saw coming.

Fast forward, and the same signature move is playing out again, only the canvas is bigger and the stakes are global. This time, the platform isn’t a social network — it’s Artificial Intelligence. And Brazil isn’t cautiously adopting it; it’s diving headfirst.

A Youth Culture Fluent in AI

According to OpenAI data, Brazil is now among the top three countries in the world for weekly ChatGPT usage — behind only the U.S. and India. Over 140 million daily messages are exchanged with the model, and much of that comes from people under 35.

But here’s the key: they’re not “learning AI” in a formal sense — they’re growing up inside it. This is an organic, uncoached fluency: AI used for memes, music, code, essays, homework, marketing plans, and even micro-entrepreneurship.

By 2030, this generation will be building careers, companies, and civic projects with AI already baked into their cognitive habits. And that’s a different kind of advantage.

Culture as an Innovation Engine

Brazil’s tech adoption history follows a familiar curve: mass adoption → creative adaptation → unexpected leadership. The tools often arrive from elsewhere, but the innovation layer — the unique ways they are used — is written locally.

Now, that same cultural engine is running on AI. Students in Recife are co-writing novels with GPTs, small retailers in Curitiba are using AI to forecast demand, and rural farmers are running crop simulations to optimize yields.

The Real Question for the Rest of the World

We don’t know if Brazil’s future role in AI will combine usage and creation in equal measure. But the present is clear: a nation-wide, grassroots AI fluency is taking shape.

The real question isn’t whether Brazil will lead — it’s whether other countries can learn from this cultural adoption curve.

What can governments, educators, and industry do to encourage the same kind of natural, enthusiastic, and creative engagement with AI that we’re seeing in Brazil — not just to chase economic advantage, but to ensure AI fluency contributes to societal and human progress as a whole?