Declaration of Montevideo: For the construction of a regional approach on the governance of Artificial Intelligence and its impacts on our society

Summary

Ministerial declaration adopted at the second regional summit on AI ethics (Montevideo, 3-4 October 2024) that reaffirms human-rights-centred AI governance, promotes international cooperation to maximise AI's benefits and mitigate its risks, and approves the Roadmap for Ethical AI for Latin America and the Caribbean 2024-2025. The roadmap's five areas are governance and regulation (including a mechanism against AI-amplified disinformation), talent and the future of work, protection of vulnerable groups, environment and climate change, and infrastructure. The declaration consolidates the regional Working Group on AI Ethics as a permanent dialogue body and makes the ministerial summit annual.

Safety topics

Status notes

Follow-up to the Santiago Declaration of October 2023 (INT-12), in line with the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI; it also highlights the UNESCO Readiness Assessment Methodology and CAF's practical guide on designing AI public policies. The declaration and its roadmap were approved at the summit's closed session on 4 October 2024 with representatives of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Curaçao, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay; Bolivia and Dominica adhered later (update as of 1 December 2024), and Antigua and Barbuda (update as of 1 September 2025). The roadmap (version of 2 October 2024) calls for clear responsibilities among actors in the AI ecosystem and plans a methodology for designing AI regulatory proposals, annual reports on the use of UNESCO's readiness and ethical impact assessment tools, a regional study on racism and discrimination in AI used for public security, and guidelines on data governance for algorithm training, over a 12-month horizon with half-yearly follow-up. Chile handed leadership of the Working Group to Uruguay. The third summit, held in Santo Domingo on 25-26 June 2026, approved the Declaration of Santo Domingo and a 2026-2027 roadmap.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.gub.uy/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/sites/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/files/documentos/noticias/ENG_Montevideo%20Declaration%20approved_version%204.0.pdf

Secondary source: https://www.gub.uy/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/comunicacion/noticias/aprobacion-declaracion-montevideo

Local copy

Verification

History

1. 2026-10-17notes: Follow-up to the 2023 Santiago Declaration (INT-12); builds on the UNESCO Recomm → Follow-up to the Santiago Declaration of October 2023 (INT-12), in line with the — 'The text does not list signatory countries' was wrong: the PDF names the 15 countries present at approval and three later adhesions; these added; the roadmap's products and the June 2026 Santo Domingo follow-up added; the third-summit host line replaced by the summit itself2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2. 2026-10-17safety_topics: ["international cooperation", "accountability & liability"] → ["international cooperation", "accountability & liability", "general-purpose / f — 'general-purpose / frontier AI' (the roadmap's governance line addresses the challenges of generative AI) and 'deepfakes & synthetic media' (a regional mechanism against disinformation amplified by AI, with a focus on elections) added; 'accountability & liability' now rests on the roadmap's call for clear responsibilities among actors2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
3. 2026-10-17summary: Ministerial declaration adopted at the second regional AI-ethics summit (Montevi → Ministerial declaration adopted at the second regional summit on AI ethics (Mont — the roadmap's name and its five areas restated from the stored roadmap and declaration; the disinformation mechanism added2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
4. 2026-10-17issuing_body: Second Ministerial and High-Level Authorities Summit on the Ethics of Artificial → Ministers and high-level authorities of Latin American and Caribbean countries a — restated from the declaration's opening and closing clauses (the ministers and high-level authorities gathered at the summit; AGESIC, UNESCO and CAF organised it)2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
5. 2026-10-17original_title: Declaración de Montevideo: Por la construcción de un enfoque regional sobre la g → Declaración de Montevideo: Para la construcción de un enfoque regional sobre la — corrected from the stored Spanish text: the subtitle begins 'Para la construcción', not 'Por la construcción'2026-10-17-recheck-international-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

Santiago Declaration Santiago ministerial summit on AI (2023) · Published (non-binding, current)

Uruguay AI Strategy 2024–2030 Uruguay · Published (non-binding, current)

Chile National AI Policy 2024 Chile · Published (non-binding, current)

UNESCO AI Ethics Recommendation UNESCO · Published (non-binding, current)

Citation

Ministers and high-level authorities of Latin American and Caribbean countries at the Second Ministerial and High-Level Authorities Summit on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean, Montevideo (organised by Uruguay's AGESIC with UNESCO and CAF). Declaration of Montevideo: For the construction of a regional approach on the governance of Artificial Intelligence and its impacts on our society. 2024-10-04. https://www.gub.uy/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/sites/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/files/documentos/noticias/ENG_Montevideo%20Declaration%20approved_version%204.0.pdf. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/INT-17/2026-10-11/official.pdf retrieved 2026-10-11 19:38:34 UTC, SHA-256 d7a6d38f6aed11aa91575132496f9f00ab836ac3ea29e6c6f762833ef0b30987. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record INT-17.

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