AI regulation in Mexico (2026)

Amendments to Mexico's Federal Labor Law and Federal Copyright Law take legal effect, banning AI-generated dubbing of foreign films into Spanish and requiring artist consent for AI exploitation of performers' voice and image. This marks Mexico's first enacted statutory law directly restricting AI applications.

President Sheinbaum's initiative amending the Federal Labor Law and Federal Copyright Law cleared the Chamber of Deputies 335 to 129, prohibiting AI-generated dubbing and mandating performer consent for AI use of voice and likeness. Industry group AMITI warned the AI dubbing ban could complicate the 2026 USMCA review.

The Instituto Nacional de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos Personales (INAI) is formally extinguished and its personal-data-protection functions transferred to the new Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno. The dissolution ends Mexico's independent data-protection regulator—the principal body that had overseen AI-adjacent personal-data processing under the LFPDPPP and LGPDPPSO.

Congressman Ricardo Monreal filed a bill to amend Article 73 of the Constitution to explicitly empower Congress to legislate on AI, and to require passage of a General AI Law within 180 days of approval. The proposal addresses a constitutional gap that leaves AI regulation without a clear federal legislative foundation.

A constitutional reform eliminating INAI and six other autonomous regulatory bodies takes effect, removing the independent watchdog that enforced data-protection rights applicable to commercial AI systems. Promoted by the ruling Morena party, the reform shifts oversight to executive-branch bodies, raising concerns about AI accountability.

ANIA, with UNESCO and OECD support, presented the Agenda Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial 2024–2030 at the Senate after 13 months of work involving 340+ experts—containing 8 public-policy recommendations, 56 action points, 29 regulatory proposals, and 14 governance recommendations. The Agenda became the primary policy roadmap driving subsequent AI legislation in Mexico.

Senator Ricardo Monreal (Morena) introduced Mexico's most comprehensive AI bill, establishing a risk-tiered framework modeled on the EU AI Act, a National AI Commission (CONAIA) as an advisory body to the Federal Telecommunications Institute, mandatory authorization for high-risk AI systems, and extraterritorial scope covering foreign providers serving Mexico. The bill remained in the Senate Science and Technology Commission as of mid-2026.

Senator Alejandra Lagunes founded ANIA—a multi-sector platform integrating government, academia, private sector, and civil society with UNESCO and OECD support—to develop ethical standards, regulatory frameworks, and Mexico's national AI agenda. ANIA became the principal organized forum channeling expert input into the Senate AI Commission and subsequent legislation.

UNESCO published its AI Readiness Assessment for Mexico, evaluating legal frameworks, technical capacity, and human-rights alignment for AI governance. The assessment identified significant regulatory gaps and directly informed Mexico's subsequent national AI agenda and legislative proposals.

Mexico's Secretaría de la Función Pública published the first government document specifically addressing AI: non-binding principles for ethical, transparent, and rights-respecting use of AI-based systems in federal agencies. Though limited in scope, it established the foundational vocabulary and norms for Mexico's AI governance debate that persisted into the legislative era.

Congress enacted the Ley General de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de Sujetos Obligados, extending data-protection rights and obligations to government entities and granting INAI oversight authority over public-sector data processing. The law established the legal baseline governing automated and AI-driven personal data processing by government actors.

Mexico's first comprehensive data-protection statute was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, creating ARCO rights (access, rectification, cancellation, opposition), consent requirements, and INAI as the enforcement authority over private-sector data controllers. For over a decade it served as the primary legal constraint on commercial AI systems processing personal data.