AINI Constitution

Preamble

Latin America and the Caribbean face a choice that will shape the present and the future of several generations. We can build artificial intelligence as a tower that a few raise for themselves, or build it as a road that we all travel together.

That cooperative capacity does not need to be invented: the region already carries it within, and each of its peoples has given it a name of its own. It is ayni and minka in the Andes, tequio and guelaguetza in Mesoamerica, mutirão in Brazil, konbit in Haiti, mano vuelta and convite in so many of our rural communities: the same idea that work is done together and that whoever receives gives back. Long before undersea cables and data centers existed, our Indigenous peoples were already laying networks that joined mountains, deserts, rivers and coasts—the Qhapaq Ñan, which today crosses six countries, is only one of them—under a single principle: no one moves forward alone; we move as one. That principle remains, today, the best guide we have for deciding how artificial intelligence will serve our people.

We recognize that artificial intelligence is an unprecedented transformative force, capable of accelerating economic and social development and of affecting, for better or for worse, the life, work, dignity and freedom of every person. We also recognize that no technical artifact is neutral: every technology embodies decisions about what is measured, what is ignored, who benefits and who is excluded. For that reason, the way this region adopts artificial intelligence cannot be left to chance or to the logic of the global market alone: it must be a deliberate, informed and shared decision.

Convinced that no country, company, university or organization can face this transformation alone, and that the strength of Latin America and the Caribbean lies precisely in its capacity to come together—public sector, private sector, academia and civil society, around the same table—we establish the Artificial Intelligence Institute for Latin America and the Caribbean (AINI) and adopt this Constitution as the set of principles and commitments that will guide our work.

We invite the presidents and heads of state of the region, the companies that lead the global artificial intelligence value chain, the startups launching in each of our countries, Nobel laureates and civil society leaders to join us in this commitment: that the artificial intelligence built in, for and from Latin America and the Caribbean always serve the dignity of the human person and the integral development of our peoples.

Chapter I

Foundations

Article 1. Dignity of the human person.

Every decision related to artificial intelligence—who has access to it, how it is designed, what it is used for—must start from the recognition that each person has a worth that no automated system can measure or replace. No decision that decisively affects a person's work, credit, freedom or reputation may be delegated entirely to an algorithm without identifiable human accountability.

Article 2. Common good and shared benefit.

The benefits of artificial intelligence—the so-called AI dividend—cannot be concentrated in a few hands, countries or companies. AINI exists so that this dividend also reaches the rural teacher in Central America, the entrepreneur in Peru, the public hospital in the Caribbean, the young woman who codes in Brazil and the Indigenous community in Bolivia, and in general every country in the region, not only those already leading the technological frontier.

Article 3. Sovereign equality and diversity.

We recognize the sovereign equality of all the States of the region, large and small, and the right of each nation to define its own strategy for adopting artificial intelligence in keeping with its culture, its institutions and its development priorities. The diversity of our peoples—Indigenous, Afro-descendant, mestizo, migrant—is a source of strength that artificial intelligence must reflect, not erase. Our diasporas extend our reach in the world.

Article 4. Reciprocity and shared work.

Every actor that benefits from the regional artificial intelligence ecosystem—government, company, university or organization—commits to contributing back to it: sharing knowledge, training talent, opening data and tools whenever possible, fostering cooperation and collaboration, and strengthening those who are just starting out. No advantage obtained from the region may be extracted without leaving something in return.

Article 5. Subsidiarity and solidarity.

Decisions about the use of artificial intelligence should be made, whenever possible, at the level closest to the people affected by them—the community, the company, the municipality, the country—and AINI acts to support those capacities, not to replace them. At the same time, no country or community may be left behind: regional solidarity requires those with greater homegrown capabilities to support those who are just beginning.

Article 6. Openness as a path to safety.

Global experience shows that transparency strengthens safety more than secrecy does: just as open-source software ended up underpinning much of the world's digital infrastructure, we promote an artificial intelligence ecosystem in which knowledge can be audited, adapted and improved collectively, preventing critical capabilities from being concentrated in the hands of a few providers.

Chapter II

Mission and purposes

Article 7. Mission.

AINI's mission is to co-create frontier artificial intelligence research, development and innovation for Latin America and the Caribbean, bringing together those who make public policy, those who invest and build companies, those who conduct research and train talent, and those who represent citizens, under a single regional purpose.

Article 8. Purpose. To fulfill this mission, AINI sets out to:

• a. People-centered approach. promote the development, adoption and use of artificial intelligence for the good of the region and of all humanity.
• b. Regional and global cooperation. expand cooperation among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and between them and the rest of the world, to build an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment.
• c. Promotion of access. reduce disparities among countries and strengthen the technological sovereignty of each nation.
• d. Collective risk mitigation. promote artificial intelligence that is safe, trustworthy, ethical and under human oversight.
• e. Multilateral bridge. connect the region with global artificial intelligence governance processes, and monitor global developments in the field and the provisions of international organizations.

Chapter III

Values we promote in AI

Article 9. Safety.

We promote artificial intelligence systems that preserve effective mechanisms of human oversight, especially in this early stage of the technology's development, and that are not designed or deployed in ways that undermine the ability of people and institutions to correct their course.

Article 10. Honesty, responsibility and ethics.

We believe in artificial intelligence that does not deceive, that is transparent about its capabilities and limits, and that avoids causing disproportionate or irreversible harm. No system is morally neutral: those who design, train and deploy it are responsible for the decisions and priorities that system embodies.

Article 11. Genuinely useful to integral human development.

We promote artificial intelligence that expands people's real capabilities—in education, health, work, entrepreneurship and public life—and not one that replaces human judgment where compassion, responsibility and political deliberation must remain in the hands of people.

Article 12. Transparency.

We promote systems whose workings can be explained, audited and corrected, and artificial intelligence governance built through open dialogue among governments, companies, academia and civil society, rather than rules imposed without deliberation.

Chapter IV

Our commitments

• 1. Technological sovereignty. we build up the region's own capacity to research, train, adapt and deploy artificial intelligence models, so that Latin America and the Caribbean take part as builders of this technology and not merely as its consumers.
• 2. Openness. we promote access to open models, interoperable standards and shared knowledge, so that universities, startups, governments and organizations throughout the region can build on the frontier of artificial intelligence.
• 3. People-centered. we defend the dignity of human work in the transition to an economy driven by artificial intelligence, the protection of the most vulnerable groups in the face of automation, and the right of every person to understand and challenge the automated decisions that affect them.
• 4. Legitimacy. we oppose the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate information, erode public trust or weaken our democracies, and we promote an ecology of digital communication that strengthens public debate in our countries.
• 5. Multilateral governance. we engage in dialogue with multilateral cooperation bodies on artificial intelligence and with our peers in other regions, contributing a united Latin American and Caribbean voice of our own to the global conversations that will define the rules of this technology.
• 6. Education and talent. we train the next generation of researchers, developers, entrepreneurs and public servants capable of leading the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence in their countries.
• 7. Responsible innovation. we support the founders and companies building with artificial intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean, convinced that innovation and ethical responsibility are mutually dependent conditions for sustainable growth.
• 8. Peace. we reject the use of artificial intelligence for developing autonomous weapons or for the domination of some peoples by others, and we reaffirm that this technology must be used to build bridges between nations, not to raise new walls.

Chapter V

How we work

Article 13. The four-actor table.

AINI is organized around a permanent table where the public sector, the private sector, academia and civil society take part with an equal voice. None of these actors can, on its own, set the course of artificial intelligence in the region; bringing them together is precisely this Institute's reason for being.

Article 14. Decisions through dialogue and consensus.

We favor shared good judgment, built through open deliberation among our members, over rigid rules that cannot adapt to the diversity of contexts in our countries and their communities. We seek consensus as our method, and when it is not possible, we decide with the greatest possible transparency about the reasons for our decisions.

Article 15. Open doors.

Membership in and collaboration with AINI are open to every government, company, university and civil society organization in Latin America and the Caribbean that subscribes to the principles of this Constitution, as well as to international partners that share this same purpose.

Closing

Latin America and the Caribbean are not late to the age of artificial intelligence: they arrive with their own traditions of reciprocity, of shared work and of roads that unite rather than divide. That is the heritage we place at the service of humanity.

We invite presidents, every company in the global artificial intelligence value chain, every founder, every Nobel laureate and every civil society leader to build with us—not in our name, but alongside us—the artificial intelligence our region deserves.

“The artificial intelligence of Latin America and the Caribbean is built together.”