Lula's government races to pass Brazil's stalled AI law before Congress shifts
Brazil's executive is pushing Congress to approve the long-delayed AI framework bill PL 2338/2023 alongside a big tech competition bill before the legislature's composition changes.
Summary
Postdigitalist reports, drawing on a November 1, 2026 article in the newspaper O Globo, that the Brazilian government under President Lula is trying to get Congress to approve two bills before the legislature's makeup changes. One is the AI legal framework, PL 2338/2023, which the Senate has passed and which now waits for a rapporteur's report in the Chamber of Deputies. The other is PL 4675/2025, which would let the competition authority CADE set advance rules for the largest digital platforms and is ready for a floor vote. O Globo is quoted as saying the next Congress will include more lawmakers aligned with the right.
The first bill, written by Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, won Senate approval on December 10, 2024, and reached the lower house on March 17, 2025. It sorts AI systems by risk level, hands liability for damages over to the existing Civil Code and consumer code, and requires compensation for rights holders whose works are used in training. Fines are capped at R$50 million per violation, and for companies may reach 2 percent of Brazilian group revenue. Rapporteur Aguinaldo Ribeiro has not yet filed his report.
PL 4675/2025 was sent by the Executive on September 18, 2025. It would create a CADE superintendency able to designate firms of systemic relevance, using a threshold of more than R$50 billion in worldwide revenue or R$5 billion in Brazil, followed by qualitative review. The rapporteur's substitute text, filed July 8, cuts the designation period from ten years to six.
The article contrasts Brazil with Argentina, which has no AI law, and Chile, whose bill is in its second Senate reading. It says to watch for a vote date on PL 4675/2025 and for Ribeiro's report.