Colombia is making significant progress in developing its national AI strategy. In February 2024, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation launched an AI Roadmap to ensure the ethical and sustainable adoption of AI in the country. This Roadmap identifies Ethics and Governance as a key theme and suggests establishing a legal and regulatory AI framework to address ethical challenges.
The Roadmap defines nine key principles: transparency and explainability, privacy, human control, security, responsibility, non-discrimination, inclusion, primacy of children's rights, and societal benefit. The government aims to use this Roadmap as the basis for a national AI policy, to be developed by September 2024. To support this effort, a Committee of High Level Experts on AI is being formed to advise the government on AI policies.
These initiatives align with the objectives of Colombia's National Development Plan 2022-2026, "Columbia World Power of Life," adopted in May 2023.
Colombia has placed a strong emphasis on ethical AI development. In March 2022, the country issued its Ethical Framework for AI, providing tools to strengthen democracy, free competition, and equity. This framework includes ten principles to guide the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of AI systems.
An ethical algorithm register has been proposed, allowing entities to report on their AI projects and implementation of ethical principles. The Presidential Advisory for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (DAPRE) and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) are responsible for monitoring AI projects.
Colombia has comprehensive data protection laws. The Constitution establishes a right to data protection, and Law No. 8968 protects personal data handling, while Law No. 7975 specifies unauthorised disclosure of personal data as a crime. The independent Agency for Protection of Citizen's Data (Prodhab) oversees compliance.
In 2021, Colombia reformed its data protection law based on the EU's GDPR model and adopted the Council of Europe's Convention 108 on data protection, further strengthening its privacy framework.
While Colombian data protection law does not explicitly provide for algorithmic transparency, recent developments show progress in this area. The 2022 Ethical Framework for AI and the 2024 AI Roadmap both address transparency and explainability. Additionally, a draft bill introduced in November 2022 aims to establish guidelines for an AI policy, which would enshrine algorithmic transparency in law if passed.
Colombia is exploring the use of AI in various public sectors. The country has adopted the Ibero American Charter on AI in Civil Service, which provides a framework for implementing AI in public administration. AI systems are being used in courts, including Prometea in the Constitutional Court and Fiscal Watson in the Office of the Attorney General. However, concerns have been raised about the use of AI tools like ChatGPT in judicial decision-making without proper verification.
Colombia has implemented facial recognition technology in various contexts, including transportation systems, stadiums, and border control. However, concerns have been raised by civil society organisations about the potential impact on privacy and human rights.
Colombia is actively engaged in international AI initiatives. The country has endorsed the OECD AI Principles and UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. Colombia is part of the Regional Council for implementing the UNESCO recommendation on AI Ethics. The country has also been a vocal advocate for banning lethal autonomous weapons systems.
This country report is our interpretation and summary of the "CAIDP Artificial Intelligence & Democratic Values Index 2023". The full report can be found here - https://www.caidp.org/reports/aidv-2023/