Governments worldwide are grappling with the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, and are uncertain about how to address this new technological landscape. Many bureaucrats are now leveraging AI platforms to generate content, review documents, and analyze data, while numerous companies are engaged in a competitive race to develop large-scale generative AI applications. This scenario underscores the urgent need to understand AI’s implications for government operations and to establish clear boundaries around governmental roles and consumer privacy. This chapter contributes to understanding AI’s institutional ecosystem within Latin American public administration by developing a fourth helix framework specific to generative AI, focusing on case studies from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The central research question guiding this chapter is: What is the current state of the institutional ecosystem for developing artificial intelligence (AI) in Latin American countries? Our findings suggest that government institutions are primarily reactive to generative AI innovations rather than proactively leading the innovation process.