Adriana Cisneros: “I want to invest in AI, but without launching a company and that's it, but rather understanding how it will affect daily life”

Adriana Cisneros (Caracas, 44 years old) is very aware of what she has inherited. To say the least, some huge shoes to fill. He describes his grandfather Diego and his father Gustavo as “out of the ordinary” and assures, even after more than 10 years at the head of one of the largest and most varied business conglomerates in Latin America, that he wakes up every day with syndrome. of the impostor. But he also carries in his blood, he likes to think, the vision and commitments that guided his grandfather and father to build Cisneros and everything it represents in Venezuela and the region. From Miami—a city that is her base of operations and headquarters of the Council of the Americas 2024 symposium, in which she participated—the CEO of the parent company of Venevisión, the only independent channel left in Venezuela, as well as an empire that Since she is at the helm, she also touches on real estate and digital communication, making it clear that the baton is now hers; but the values ​​that show you the way do not change.Question. You have been leading Cisneros for more than a decade. How would you define your time at the head of the family business? Answer. I think I've got my own space. The first two years as CEO were a lot of work, where my main role was to restructure the company precisely to be able to prepare it to be the type of company that I wanted to lead for the next 20 years. I realized that the digital revolution had arrived in Latin America and that we wanted to participate in that. It led us to create Cisneros Interactive, a new division in which I ended up building the largest advertising network in Latin America, opening 37 offices in 17 countries in 8 months throughout the region. I sold that company a few years ago. It was a spectacular sale. It was the highest multiple the industry has seen.Q. So, would you say that digitalization has been your trademark? A. Yes. Nowadays it's super obvious. But in this entire stage, totally.P. And also the greatest regional implementation? A. In the end, my heart beats for doing business in Latin America. But our business group has almost 100 years in the region. It's easy to say. We have had decades of Latin America, decades of Europe, decades of the United States, with different industries. For example, around this time I started a new real estate division, and the main project is Tropicalia in the Dominican Republic. If it turns out well, it will take me 30 years to finish it.Q. Where is Venezuela in all this? R. Nowadays Venevisión [el canal de televisión que ha sido de la familia durante más de medio siglo] It is the only independent channel left in the country. It is an interesting challenge. As is well known, in the industry, at a global level, ignition has decreased a lot. But live events are becoming more and more important. And I still see the issue of news as a fundamental issue. We are seeing the danger that is created in a society when there is no access to truthful sources of information. Our evolution is not about trying to compete with Netflix, it is about seeing what we can bring to the table that Netflix cannot. Q. What does that look like? A. It is very important that we follow with great discipline this issue of wanting to do business with a company that can deal with information and news issues. It is a great opportunity and a great responsibility too. In other words, in the United States we are also seeing how dangerous the erosion of local media has been, where people have no way to be connected with their community, with their State, with the things that are real. I think that in Latin America there is also a gap, and that that gap can be filled. I don't think it's a lost cause at all. Nobody has really given the key, but with the penetration and multiplatform that we have in Latin America it should not be so difficult.P. And in terms of Venezuela specifically, how do you face that responsibility that you have? A. Venevisión was started by my grandfather and from the beginning he was for democracy. He understood the role that a media outlet played in defending the democratic values ​​of a country. When he opened Venevisión, it was the fourth private television channel in the world. And in '98, when as a family and as a company we decided to leave Venezuela, we decided that the only thing we were going to maintain no matter what was the television channel, because we knew how important it was going to be to have a channel that could still inform, even if it wasn't profitable. That was my father's commitment to Venezuela, and I feel that I have had to respect that decision. Venevisión manages to stay on the air by having a clinical strategy in its way of reporting the news. Very BBC style. It is a very complicated position, because in a country that is so radicalized, everyone thinks they are on the other side. And we very systematically try to be as neutral as possible.P. Moving to the future, it also has a technology bet, AST SpaceMobile…R. It is one of the projects that I feel luckiest to be a part of. I think AST is going to be the most important contribution our generation makes to the world. If you consider that today access to connectivity should be a human right, just like access to drinking water or electricity, you realize that having a solution that will truly be able to bring connectivity to all people of the world is super important. Today, only half of the world's population has access to broadband. AST, for one, solves that. And, on the other hand, it will also give a lot of relief to networks that are already oversaturated.P. Is it like Elon Musk's Starlink? A. For Starlink to work you have to buy a small satellite dish. And you have to put it in your house, in your school, on your boat. Ours works without you having to buy anything. Your phone connects directly to the satellite.Q. And what outlook do you have for it to be operating? A. In a matter of two years the network will already be partially operational.P. Any more surprises for the future? A. I have the luxury of leading a company where we are always willing to innovate and support new causes. I believe that my DNA is designed for me to be an extremely curious person. I want to invest in artificial intelligence, but I don't want to launch an AI company and that's it, rather understand how it will affect people's daily lives and how you can participate in that transformation.