The City of Rio de Janeiro has partnered with Moonshot Factory, the innovation lab of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), to test four artificial intelligence projects focused on city management.
The projects will help map and modernize Rio’s electric grid, expand high-speed internet using light-beam links, speed up urban licensing, and improve waste sorting and recycling through AI.
The initiative is part of the Rio AI City program, located near the Olympic Park, which aims to create the largest data center hub in Latin America. The total investment for the site is estimated at around R$ 5 billion (US$ 900 million).
Rio will be the first city outside the United States to host multiple Moonshot Factory technologies at once. Among them, Tapestry will create a detailed map of the city’s power network, Taara will bring wireless optical internet to schools and hospitals, Anori will simplify construction permits, and Materra will use AI to identify recyclable materials in waste.
The city expects the projects to begin showing results in the next few quarters, supporting Rio’s goal of becoming a leading Latin American hub for artificial intelligence and sustainable innovation.
