Artificial Intelligence · Cuba
AI regulation in Cuba: laws & policy (2026)
Cuba shaded by its artificial intelligence status
AI in Cuba: guidelines only.
FrameworkStrategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence (Estrategia para el Desarrollo de la Inteligencia Artificial), adopted May 2024 by the Council of Ministers, led by the Ministry of Communications (MINCOM)
Cuba has no enacted AI-specific legislation; its primary AI instrument is a national strategic policy document approved by the Council of Ministers in May 2024 as part of the broader Digital Transformation Policy. The strategy sets six thematic axes, including an ethics and legal framework axis, but binding sectoral AI rules and a comprehensive AI law remain absent. The adjacent Law 149/2022 on Personal Data Protection (in force February 2023) is the closest statutory instrument with relevance to AI data governance.
Key points
Cuba's Council of Ministers formally adopted the Estrategia para el Desarrollo de la Inteligencia Artificial in May 2024 as a component of the national Digital Transformation Policy and Digital Agenda. MINCOM leads coordination, evaluation of socioeconomic impacts, and risk management across sectors.
The strategy is organised around: (1) ethics and legal framework; (2) human capital; (3) applications and services; (4) public administration; (5) science and innovation; and (6) social communication. Priority application sectors include health, education, agriculture, transport, and water supply.
UNESCO's AI Ethics and Governance Observatory country assessment confirms Cuba 'currently lacks specific AI legislation.' The strategy is a policy framework, not a statute with enforcement mechanisms; the ethics and regulatory axis signals intent to develop norms rather than establishing them.
Cuba enacted Law No. 149/2022 on Personal Data Protection, published in the Official Gazette on 25 August 2022 and entering into force in February 2023. It embodies consent and data-minimisation principles relevant to AI data pipelines but is not AI-specific legislation.
In November 2025 Cuba launched a national AI Consortium coordinated by the Havana Scientific and Technological Park to pool institutional capacity across health, education, and transport. Cuba also joined the BRICS AI Alliance Network, with the University of Computer Sciences and the Havana Science Park as member entities.
In February 2025, UNESCO and MINCOM co-hosted a national workshop in Havana on 'Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Equity, Rights, Inclusion.' UNESCO's Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) was applied to Cuba and recommended establishing multi-stakeholder governance and updating existing laws to align with ethical AI and human-rights standards.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Cuba's national AI strategy is praised by Mexico and other partners at regional forums as a model of sovereign, human-centered AI development; Radio Angulo characterises it as 'technology at the service of humanity,' cementing Cuba's diplomatic positioning on AI.
Radio Angulo (Cuban state media) ↗Cuba's Ministry of Communications (MINCOM) and UNESCO co-hosted a workshop presenting results of the AI Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) and introducing the Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA) tool; the event signalled Cuba's formal alignment with the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI adopted in 2021.
UNESCO ↗At year-end, President Díaz-Canel publicly called on Cuban institutions to deploy AI to address pressing socioeconomic challenges, marking a shift from strategy formulation to implementation and elevating AI as a top executive priority.
CiberCuba ↗Cuba's Council of Ministers approved the Strategy for the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence as part of the broader Digital Transformation Policy and Cuban Digital Agenda 2030; the strategy is structured around six dimensions—ethics and regulatory framework, human capital, applications and services, public administration, science and innovation, and social communication—with MINCOM as the lead governing body.
OECD.AI Policy Observatory ↗Ley 149/2022 formally took effect 180 days after its August 2022 publication; it requires ethical management of data used to train algorithms—addressing origin, quality, and bias—making it the first Cuban law with explicit AI-relevant obligations for both public and private entities.
WIPO Lex / Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba ↗Granma (official Communist Party newspaper) reported that President Díaz-Canel and MINCOM had announced work toward a formal national AI strategy; this public declaration launched the strategy drafting process and framed AI as central to Cuba's development model.
Granma (official PCC newspaper) ↗Decree Law 35 entered into force, requiring internet service providers to remove or restrict online content without judicial oversight; while not AI-specific, it defined the restrictive digital governance environment in which all AI systems operating in Cuba must function.
Freedom House (Freedom on the Net 2022) ↗ETECSA launched mobile data services in December 2018, giving Cubans mass internet access for the first time; this foundational infrastructure milestone underpins all subsequent digital transformation, data collection, and AI deployment initiatives.
MINCOM (Ministry of Communications) ↗The Cuban government declared the informatization and digitalization of society a strategic national priority, establishing the policy foundation that would evolve into successive digital transformation plans and ultimately the 2024 AI strategy.
Granma (official PCC newspaper) ↗Cuba - other topics
Artificial Intelligence in other countries
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