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The Third Ministerial Summit and High-Level Authorities Meeting on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean concluded with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration and a Regional Roadmap for 2026–2027. The Summit was organized by UNESCO, the Government of the Dominican Republic—through the Government Office of Information and Communication Technologies (OGTIC)—the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), with the support of the European Union.
The summit brought together representatives from governments across Latin America and the Caribbean, international organizations, United Nations agencies, academia, civil society, the private sector, and the technical community to reaffirm the region’s commitment to implementing the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first global normative framework on AI, adopted by all 194 UNESCO Member States.
This third edition marked another milestone in a regional process that has evolved from establishing shared principles to building permanent mechanisms for cooperation.
The declarations adopted in Santiago, Chile (2023), and Montevideo, Uruguay (2024), laid the foundation for the shared agenda advanced in Santo Domingo. Member States took a further step by agreeing on concrete priorities for the 2026–2027 period and strengthening the regional cooperation architecture to support the implementation of public policies on artificial intelligence.
From Principles to Implementation
One of the Summit’s main outcomes was the adoption of a Regional Roadmap that will guide joint work among participating countries during the next inter-sessional period. The document establishes priorities for strengthening technical cooperation, promoting the exchange of experiences, and enhancing institutional capacities to implement ethical and responsible artificial intelligence from a regional perspective.
The Roadmap recognizes that artificial intelligence is no longer solely a technological challenge but a cross-cutting public policy issue requiring coordinated participation from multiple sectors of government and society. In this regard, participating countries reaffirmed the need to increasingly involve the education, health, economy, culture, environment, planning, budgeting, justice, and subnational government sectors in the design and implementation of national AI strategies.
The summit also reaffirmed the importance of consolidating permanent regional cooperation mechanisms to facilitate the sharing of tools, lessons learned, good practices, and regulatory experiences, helping reduce capacity gaps among countries while strengthening a common regional voice in international discussions on digital governance.
Education and Capacity Building as a Regional Priority
Participating States agreed that one of the region’s greatest challenges in the coming years will be strengthening human capacities to understand and use artificial intelligence responsibly.
In this context, the Summit emphasized the need to expand digital literacy policies, promote the development of skills for the emerging digital economy, and strengthen the training of public officials, educators, judicial practitioners, journalists, researchers, businesses, and citizens at large.
Education was identified as a key pillar for ensuring that the development of artificial intelligence effectively contributes to reducing inequalities and expanding opportunities by fostering a citizenry capable of understanding how these technologies function, exercising critical thinking, and actively participating in their governance.
The Summit also underscored the importance of integrating environmental considerations into the development and governance of artificial intelligence by promoting technologies that contribute to climate action, the sustainable management of natural resources, and the reduction of the environmental impacts associated with digital transformation.
Participating States further reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening permanent regional cooperation mechanisms through the established working groups, consolidating a regional community of practice that facilitates the exchange of experiences, the generation of knowledge, and the projection of an increasingly strong Latin American and Caribbean voice in global discussions on artificial intelligence.
Governance Built Through Cooperation
Participants reaffirmed that the ethical governance of artificial intelligence can only be achieved through open, participatory, and multistakeholder processes.
The broad participation of governments, international organizations, United Nations agencies, universities, research centers, civil society organizations, and technology companies reflected the consolidation of a regional cooperation ecosystem that recognizes the importance of incorporating diverse perspectives to address the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
The 2026 edition also recorded the highest participation of Member States since the creation of this regional mechanism, with a particularly notable increase in the participation of Caribbean countries, further strengthening the genuinely Latin American and Caribbean character of this dialogue process.
Strengthening Cooperation Between Summits
Member States agreed that the success of the regional process will depend on maintaining continuous collaboration between successive Ministerial Summits.
To this end, they agreed to strengthen the five regional working groups established during the process, expand opportunities for technical exchange among countries, and promote greater coordination with other international initiatives related to AI governance.
UNESCO will continue supporting this process through technical assistance, capacity development, knowledge generation, the exchange of experiences, and support for the implementation of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, thereby consolidating a regional community of practice that will help accelerate the development of responsible and inclusive public policies on artificial intelligence.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/latin-america-and-caribbean-consolidate-regional-roadmap-ethical-inclusive-and-human-centered?hub=701
