UNESCO launched the Observatory on Artificial Intelligence in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, a regional platform designed to support States in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their education systems, with a focus on equity, quality and sustainable development.
The launch took place at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, as part of the 2026 Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. The event brought together authorities, experts, representatives of multilateral organisations, academia, the technology sector and civil society, consolidating itself as a space for regional coordination on educational transformation.
In a context of rapid expansion of artificial intelligence in education, the Observatory emerges as the first multi-stakeholder platform and a space for regional cooperation aimed at supporting countries in the growing incorporation of these emerging technologies into teaching, learning and educational management processes. It is not a space for passive observation, but rather a coordinated action that will generate contextualised evidence to guide public policies, strengthen teacher training and decision-making, and promote innovations validated in classrooms under ethical frameworks.
The initiative responds to a twofold regional urgency. On the one hand, the learning crisis: six out of ten sixth-grade students in Latin America do not reach minimum levels in reading and mathematics, according to data from the Latin American Laboratory for the Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE). On the other hand, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in classrooms: in countries such as Chile and Brazil, more than 50 per cent of teachers already use these tools, although fewer than 10 per cent of institutions in the region have formal guidelines and sufficient capacities to integrate them with clear criteria.
“Artificial intelligence is transforming education around the world, and Latin America and the Caribbean are no exception. The challenge is not its emergence, but how we ensure that it translates into more and better opportunities for all. In a context of learning crisis and rapid technological adoption, we must act urgently, but also with ethical responsibility and pedagogical purpose, so that artificial intelligence strengthens learning, supports teachers’ work and helps to close, rather than widen, existing gaps,” said Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago.
The expansion of artificial intelligence in education also poses decisive challenges for the future of work in the region. Without consolidated foundational learning and the critical thinking needed to understand, evaluate and use technology with judgement, the labour reskilling required by this transition cannot rest solely on education systems. This is a challenge that calls for an intersectoral and sustained response in a context where the expansion of artificial intelligence still coexists with structural gaps in education.
