A inteligência artificial como instrumento geopolítico no combate ao crime organizado na fronteira amazônica : o caso do projeto fronteira tech em Pacaraima/RR

Resumo Ingles

The growing incorporation of digital technologies has intensified debates on the relationship between political power and territory. Within this agenda, this dissertation investigates the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a geopolitical instrument to combat organized crime in Brazil’s Amazonian border areas, using as a case study the Fronteira Tech project implemented in Pacaraima/RR between 2019 and 2023. Grounded in the tradition of Political Geography’s analyses of borders and articulated with contemporary notions of securitization and teichopolitics, the study considers the border strip—especially in the Northern Arc—as a problematic zone in which defense and public-security competencies overlap, requiring multiscalar arrangements. Methodologically, the research combines bibliographic review, documentary analysis, and a case study based on semi-structured interviews with security personnel, project managers, and local residents. The findings reveal a mismatch between the potential attributed to AI and its day-to-day effectiveness within the Fronteira Tech initiative in Pacaraima. The project is assessed as having partial and contingent reach, constrained by structural bottlenecks—incomplete interagency data integration, unstable connectivity, uneven training, and intermittent funding—that limit the translation of technological promise into tangible outcomes. In sum, AI adds the capacity to see, cross-reference, and decide at the territorial scale; however, its effectiveness depends on interoperable local governance, stable connectivity, and continuous operator training, turning a promising pilot into a stable public policy.