If we don't do something, machines will win because they're cheaper
Desde el corazón de Silicon Valley, la experta chilena en ciencia de datos Cuky Pérez observa cómo la inteligencia artificial reordena el mundo del trabajo con una velocidad que ninguna política ha logrado anticipar. Su llamado a gravar la automatización no es un gesto nostálgico hacia el pasado, sino una apuesta por mantener al ser humano como protagonista de su propia historia económica. En un momento en que Estados Unidos y China compiten por la supremacía tecnológica, Pérez recuerda que el verdadero activo de países como Chile no son sus algoritmos, sino sus personas — y que perderlas, ya sea al extranjero o a la obsolescencia, es una forma de derrota silenciosa.
- La IA avanza más rápido de lo que cualquier trabajador puede adaptarse: no descansa, no cobra sueldo y se abarata cada mes, convirtiendo la competencia humana en una batalla desigual.
- Chile enfrenta una paradoja dolorosa: forma talento de primer nivel pero no construye las condiciones para retenerlo, exportando capital humano mientras sus industrias permanecen desconectadas de sus propias universidades.
- Pérez propone un impuesto a la automatización como mecanismo de fricción deliberada — no para frenar el progreso, sino para obligar a las empresas a calcular el costo real de reemplazar personas con máquinas.
- El debate sobre regulación se complica por la carrera geopolítica entre potencias: Europa regula y es acusada de quedarse atrás, mientras el resto del mundo siente la presión de elegir entre velocidad y salvaguardas.
- La educación emerge como el campo de batalla más urgente: las universidades enseñan herramientas que pronto quedarán obsoletas, cuando deberían estar formando mentes capaces de hacer las preguntas que las máquinas aún no saben formular.
María de los Ángeles Pérez, conocida como Cuky Pérez, lleva años en el centro de las conversaciones más importantes de la tecnología en Silicon Valley. Lo que la desvela no es la inteligencia artificial en sí misma, sino la velocidad a la que está rehaciendo el mundo del trabajo y la ausencia de respuestas a la altura.
Pérez recibió con alivio las advertencias del Papa Francisco sobre la IA, viéndolas como un contrapeso necesario al optimismo sin límites que domina los corredores tecnológicos de California y China. Para ella, la dimensión moral no es un añadido: es el fundamento. También defendió el camino regulatorio de Europa frente a quienes lo acusan de frenar la innovación, argumentando que la cautela tiene su propia lógica en un mundo donde todos sienten la presión de elegir velocidad sobre precaución.
Sobre Chile, su diagnóstico es agridulce. El país produce ingenieros, investigadores y pensadores de calidad, pero no logra retenerlos. A eso se suma una brecha profunda entre las universidades y las empresas: los académicos son vistos como habitantes de otro mundo, ajenos a los problemas reales que el sector productivo necesita resolver.
Pero es la amenaza al empleo lo que concentra su mayor preocupación. La IA trabaja sin descanso, sin salario, y se vuelve más barata cada mes. Ante esa aritmética brutal, Pérez propone una solución directa: gravar la automatización. Crear fricción en el sistema para que reemplazar trabajadores no sea simplemente la opción más barata.
Finalmente, apunta a la educación como el terreno donde todo comienza y donde más se está fallando. Las universidades enseñan herramientas, no pensamiento. Pero las herramientas envejecen; lo que perdura es la capacidad de cuestionar, razonar e imaginar lo que viene. Esas habilidades, insiste Pérez, son las únicas que las máquinas todavía no pueden replicar — y las que menos se están cultivando.
María de los Ángeles Pérez, known throughout Silicon Valley as Cuky Pérez, has spent years at the center of technology's most consequential conversations. The data science expert recently sat down to discuss what keeps her awake at night: the speed at which artificial intelligence is remaking the world of work, and whether any of us are ready for what comes next.
Pérez speaks with the clarity of someone who has watched this industry from the inside. She welcomed Pope Francis's recent warnings about AI as a necessary counterweight to the unbridled optimism that dominates tech corridors in California and China. "We needed a voice," she said, "someone to remind us that human beings have to stay at the center of this." The moral dimension matters to her, not as an afterthought but as the foundation for everything else.
When the conversation turned to regulation, Pérez pushed back against a common assumption: that Europe's cautious approach to AI has left it behind in innovation. "People say Europe isn't innovating because they regulate," she observed. "That's not fair." She sees Europe's path as defensible, even necessary, given the geopolitical race between the United States and China that makes everyone else feel they have to choose speed over safeguards.
Chile's position in all this is complicated. The country's real asset, Pérez insisted, is the quality of its people—the engineers, researchers, and thinkers it produces. But there's a catch: they leave. Chile exports its talent rather than building industries that can keep it home. She pointed to a deeper problem: the disconnect between universities and the companies that might employ their graduates. Academics are treated as people living in a separate world, disconnected from the actual problems businesses need solved. "When you suggest asking a researcher to help with a real business problem, people look at you like academics don't understand how the world actually works," she said.
But the employment question is what truly concerns her. AI can work around the clock. It doesn't demand a salary or benefits. It gets faster and cheaper every month. Humans cannot compete on those terms. "If we don't do something," Pérez warned, "machines will win because they're cheaper, and we'll end up with millions of unemployed people and nothing but automation." Her solution is direct: tax automation. Make it costly enough that companies have to think twice before replacing workers. Create friction in the system, because without it, the math is simple and brutal.
Education, in her view, is where the real work begins. Universities need to stop treating critical thinking as a side benefit and make it central. The ability to question, to reason, to see around corners—these are distinctly human capacities that machines cannot replicate, at least not yet. "We don't teach people to think critically," she said. "We teach them tools." But knowing how to use a tool is not enough anymore. The tool itself will become obsolete. What endures is the mind that knows how to ask the right questions and imagine what comes next.
Citas Notables
We needed a voice, someone to remind us that human beings have to stay at the center of this.— Cuky Pérez, on Pope Francis's warnings about artificial intelligence
Universities need to stop treating critical thinking as a side benefit and make it central to education.— Cuky Pérez, on preparing workers for an AI-driven economy
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
You've been in Silicon Valley long enough to see how these cycles work. Do you actually believe an automation tax would pass, or are you naming the problem you wish someone would solve?
I'm naming what needs to happen. Will it pass? That's a different question. But if we don't price automation, the incentive structure never changes. Companies will always choose the cheaper option.
Chile exports its talent—you said that plainly. But if you were a young Chilean engineer right now, would you stay?
Honestly? I'd probably leave too. The infrastructure isn't there yet. But that's exactly what needs to change. We have to build something worth staying for.
You mentioned the Pope. That's an unusual reference for a data scientist. Why does his voice matter to you in this conversation?
Because technology people live in an echo chamber. We celebrate what we can build without asking if we should. A voice from outside that world, especially one that says "remember the human being," breaks the spell.
Critical thinking can't be taught in a semester. How do you actually build that in a university system that's already overwhelmed?
You have to make it foundational, not optional. Every class, every discipline. It's not a separate course. It's how you teach everything.
If automation gets taxed and companies slow down their replacement of workers, what happens to innovation?
Innovation doesn't stop. It just has to compete on different terms. Maybe we build things that augment humans instead of replacing them. Maybe we solve harder problems because we can't just automate our way out.
You said academics are seen as disconnected from business problems. How do you fix that perception?
You have to create spaces where they actually work together on real things. Not consulting gigs. Real partnership. Show that the academic mind and the business mind solve better problems together.