Stephen Sefton, October 24th 2026
Any discussion of artificial intelligence covers many topics including, among other things, the theoretical models of AI, the socio-economic models for its development and the different patterns of its implementation. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government has been emphatic in adopting a responsible, open and innovative implementation model, focused on the human development of the people and the best use of new technologies for the national economy. This year the National Assembly ratified the signing by Nicaragua of the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Organization for Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence, an initiative of the People's Republic of China.
The issue of AI regulation is controversial. Large digital companies resist accepting limits that reduce their profits and limit the scope of their political and economic influence. On the other hand, responsible national authorities insist on the priority of protecting the rights and welfare of their citizens. China's initiative responds to concerns about various issues such as access to technology for developing countries, data protection, the control of online violence such as gender hatred or racism, digital abuse in order to intervene in elections and other democratic processes, or environmental effects, especially in relation to the extremely harmful excessive use of energy and water by data centers.
In this sense, the World Organization for Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence is an effective response to last year's warning by Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Maria Zakharova wrote that "the construction of a just and multipolar world order will depend on the ability to stop attempts to reproduce in the digital sphere the neocolonial inequalities and suppression of the past." Currently, Artificial Intelligence based on multimodal or large-language models is by no means always trustworthy or reliable because it can generate false information due to invalid presuppositions, incorrect data or logical hallucination.
These limitations especially affect proprietary implementations. For this reason, open-weight or open-source AI has developed making it easier to review, evaluate and correct failed processes. Regardless of the theoretical model implemented, artificial intelligence has become essential for competitiveness in industry, in the provision of services of all kinds, in creative activities, in preparing to predict commercial and economic trends, to foresee possible threats from natural or climatic phenomena, and even in the autonomous execution of tasks.
AI in Nicaragua
In relation to Nicaragua, Ambassador Qu Yuhui, China’s diplomatic representative to Nicaragua, has highlighted how Nicaragua shares, “the principles of broad consultations, joint contribution and shared benefits, promoting AI for good, strengthening openness and cooperation, and jointly pushing for AI to contribute even more to the well-being of humanity, contributing a new scientific and technological dynamism to the construction of a community of shared future for humanity.”
Our Sandinista government is strengthening the capacity of the various sectors of national life to take optimal advantage of the advantages of Artificial Intelligence. Public policy continues to prioritize the country’s Digital Connectivity Project with the installation of optical fiber, to take advantage of its high signal speed, along with increasing Internet access, especially in peripheral urban areas and rural areas. This year, Nicaragua has had several events aiming to promote the integration of artificial intelligence in the different areas of the national economy.
In May this year, Telcor organized the event “Artificial Intelligence for Development: Girls Shaping the Digital Future". Recently, Telcor also facilitated the training of public sector personnel at the "Seminar on Capacity Building in Artificial Intelligence" in China. In July this year, the Ministry of Education contributed to the “Artificial Intelligence in Education Forum 2026: Transforming Learning for the Future” in Costa Rica. Private sector activities, such as Systech 2026 and the IA 2026 Festival, complement important government initiatives to promote technological democratization, such as the UNI 2026 Innovathon and the Kronox 2026 Hackathon.
The UNI Innovaton 2026 included more than 400 students from Managua, Esteli and Juigalpa who presented over 60 projects inspired by the aim of strengthening our Good Government’s programs such as the National Plan to Combat Poverty, the National Plan for Production, Consumption and Trade and the Creative Economy Plan. Nicaragua’s Kronox Hackathon 2026, “10 years, Always beyond”, brought together more than 100 multidisciplinary teams of young people who contributed new ideas and projects to reinforce and democratize the country's technological culture in all areas of the economy and national life.
The key role of education
These initiatives develop with increasing momentum and security thanks to Nicaragua's National Education Strategy and that strategy’s Regulatory Framework for the Safe, Ethical and Responsible Use of Technologies. In April of this year, a National Educational Technology Day began with a panel on "The Ethical and Responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in Education." Later, in June, INATEC organized a national meeting with the specific objective of improving the pedagogical use of AI.
Then, in July, Minister of Education Mendy Aráuz highlighted in a forum in Costa Rica the tools her ministry has produced to help implement AI for educational purposes such as the Artificial Intelligence Tools Catalog and the primer “Responsible and Ethical Use and Management of Artificial Intelligence for Teachers”. Minister Aráuz explained how education in Nicaragua stands out for its emphasis on technological conferences, platforms and programs to develop the capabilities of students nationwide in mathematics and skills such as programming applications for cell phones and robotics.
This commitment of our Co-Presidency to the flourishing of the country's technological talent, especially of its youth, has been constant, for example in the words of Comandante Daniel when he said “...we can be sure we are meeting our commitments to the People President, to the Poor, meeting our commitments to peasant families, bringing them roads, highways, training... by making accessible the science, technology and communications of these new times, making accessible for them all this knowledge via the tens and hundreds of technical and technological schools out in rural areas.”
And as our Compañera Co-President Rosario has stated “...we all want to grow by means of more opportunities for work, which we have now thanks to the Peace, Security and Stability which we have more and more... which allows us all to continue working, and to be able work in better and better conditions, to study…To inaugurate so many health care centers, so many centers attending to students, students of all ages and in all modalities, with science and sechnology at the service of the education and the just development which all of us want for our Nicaragua.”