Brain drain: Brazil is losing talent in artificial intelligence abroad, says ranking – 10/25/2023 – Tech

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), Brazil does well when it comes to “talent”. However, many of the best Brazilian professionals today work for foreign companies and governments.

“It’s a scenario similar to that of countries like India”, comments historian Joe White, data scientist at Tortoise, an English media group, in an interview with BBC News Brasil. “Our survey shows that the talent created in a country is often not retained. There is a brain drain, with exodus to richer nations.”

These are conclusions from The Global AI Index, Tortoise research coordinated by White and his colleague Serena Cesareo, also a data scientist. The study evaluates the scenario of 62 countries in the artificial intelligence market, around three main pillars: investment, innovation and implementation. Brazil is in the middle of the ranking, in 35th place.

The ranking topics are divided into seven categories, respectively under each of these three pillars: talent, infrastructure and operations environment (investment); research and development (innovation); government strategy and trade (implementation).

“Our main research base for identifying local talent was LinkedIn”, comments Serena Cesareo. “It became evident how Brazil has a large number of professionals in the field, both in absolute and proportional terms, in relation to the size of the population.”

The Global AI Index presents itself as the first global survey to analyze the scenario of this technology in such a comprehensive way. It was created in 2019 and is in its fourth edition. In all of them, the United States led the ranking, followed by China.

Brazil appears in 35th place in the general ranking. However, in the “talent” criterion, it is in 21st, ahead of countries such as Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Russia, all better placed in the general list. And just behind China, in 20th on this topic.

“If a Brazilian professional graduates in his country, lives where he was born, but works day-to-day for the local office of Microsoft, which is American, we register him as a Brazilian talent, but he does not contribute to the national market of AI, but yes, for the United States”, says Joe White, from Tortoise.

The comparison made by White with India, at the beginning of this report, is evidenced by the numbers. While the Indians secure an enviable second place in the “talent” topic, they are 14th overall.

This is because, on other issues, India does not perform as well. In “infrastructure”, for example, it is almost at the bottom of the list, in 59th place. The country also does poorly in “government strategy” (38th) and “research” (30th).

In the case of Brazil, in 21st place in “talent”, the survey data points to a lack in “government strategy”, with the country in 30th place, as well as in indicators directly impacted by State actions, such as “research” and “development” (in 36th place in these two areas). “This whole scenario is linked to the country’s brain drain”, summarizes Joe White.

Lost talents

At 31 years old, with a doctorate completed in 2021 at Princeton University, Talmo Pereira from São Paulo quickly achieved a coveted position in the academic field: leader of his own laboratory.

However, the feat was achieved almost 10 thousand kilometers away from his hometown, Campinas (SP).

At the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, in the Californian city of San Diego, United States, he heads a team of 14 researchers dedicated to using deep learning computational tools. to solve a variety of bioscience questions.

In layman’s terms, the Brazilian neuroscientist uses artificial intelligence as a way to investigate biological patterns in animals and humans.

“We created, for example, a technology that predicts animal movements, even small insects”, points out Pereira.

Afterwards, he continues to list the studies under his care. “We have advanced the use of this tool to detect diseases, such as cancer, before symptoms appear. In other research, in partnership with a museum in Los Angeles, we tracked how people behave in front of works of art. And we also have work with NASA.”

The Talmo Lab team, the name of its laboratory in San Diego (USA), has carried out studies commissioned by the American space agency.

“We are going to send experiments to the International Space Station. As astronauts spend a long time in space, and there are plans to send them to Mars, my group is looking to create methods of preventing diseases that can develop faster in low-gravity environments.”

Talmo Pereira is an example of a Brazilian talent that was lost by the country. In the ranking of The Global AI Index, by Tortoise, all of his work earns points for the United States, and not for Brazil.

“Brazil unfortunately has a sociocultural context, as well as an economic one, that harms those who aspire to pursue an academic career”, he comments. “My mother and I migrated to the United States in search of better conditions for myself.” Pereira immigrated at the age of 16, with plans to attend an American university. Since then, he has not returned to his homeland.

“Brazil does not invest as much as it should in public policies that encourage education, especially for the less privileged”, he says. “If it were different, if there was this incentive, I wouldn’t have to leave my country to look for the best opportunities.”

The brain drain

“Both the Brazilian public and private systems have a complicated scenario for those who work in our area”, assesses economist Alexandre Chiavegatto, professor of machine learning [machine learning] from the University of São Paulo (USP).

“Companies don’t value as much as they should. The government is more concerned with regulating and restricting than with development.”

Chiavegatto went from undergraduate to doctorate at USP, where he specialized in health data sciences. His postdoctoral studies, which he completed in 2012, were at Harvard University.

“I decided not to stay in the United States because I passed the USP public exam and was able to fulfill a dream I had, of becoming a professor at this university”, says Chiavegatto. “But the scenario abroad is better, with companies and the government investing more in the sector.”

He is a talent that remains in Brazil. At USP, he leads the Big Data and Predictive Analysis in Health Laboratory. “We are a team of thirty researchers”, he says. “We use artificial intelligence to develop algorithms that can predict and help us fight diseases.”

Chiavegatto says that his best students are usually recruited by foreign universities and companies, mainly from the United States – the leader in the AI ​​market, according to The Global AI Index.

“The quality of Brazilians’ work in this area is excellent, which is why we ended up gaining jobs abroad,” he says.

He cites, as “one of many examples”, the case of Helena Schuch, who collaborated on work in his laboratory at USP. “Now, she’s at Harvard.”

A dentist dedicated to academic research, Helena, 33, from Rio Grande do Sul, is a researcher at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She tells BBC News Brasil that she uses AI tools to predict incidences of dental problems in patients, particularly those from the poorest sections of society.

“It’s difficult to get a research position in Brazil”, she says. “In Brazilian universities, it is necessary to dedicate yourself fully to being a teacher, in addition to being a researcher. This does not favor the development of science as it does not take advantage of those who, like me, have a greater profile in the laboratory, not in teaching.”

Fiocruz researcher, computer scientist Paulo Carvalho, leader of the institution’s proteomics laboratory, also identifies the exodus of talent. “A former student is at a Silicon Valley company. There is one who lives in Brazil, but works for an American startup. Another, at the University of Cincinnati. And two went to Uruguay”, he tells BBC Brasil.

According to Carvalho, the majority of master’s and doctoral students who passed through his laboratory ended up in places at foreign institutions.

“In the United States, a young researcher can earn three times more than a senior researcher here in Brazil”, he estimates. “There is a lack of incentives to stay in the country.”

Joe White, who created the global ranking, says that “for countries that want to climb the rankings, one path that has proven productive is for the government to create more possibilities and incentives for the AI ​​sector.”

Despite Brazil’s difficulties, the country has improved in the ranking.

In the 2020 edition of The Global AI Index, Brazil was 46th in the overall ranking. In 2021, it advanced to 39th. In the last edition, published in June (in 2022 the survey was not carried out), it reached 35th.

Brazilians always stand out in the “talent” indicator, ranking 35th in 2020 and 31st, in the penultimate ranking. “The country is being pushed by its professionals, but at the same time it is difficult to keep them”, adds White.

What is at stake in this market? According to an estimate from consultancy MarketsandMarkets, this is an industry that currently generates around US$150 billion (R$760 billion) annually.

A promising market, which should almost increase in size by 2030, when it is estimated that it will reach close to US$ 1.4 trillion.

Text originally published here