Public observatory
Open map of AI adoption across Costa Rica’s public sector: institutions, projects, legislation and indicators benchmarked against the region.
01 / Institutions
Six public institutions run at least one active AI project, in production or pilot.
Judicial Branch
Broadest state portfolio: document classification, Continuous Disbursement (¢5,245M in 2024), budget ML with +₡100M saved, Nymiz anonymization, Constitutional Chamber analysis with UCR/PEN, ChatbotPJ since 2018.
Autonomous institution
TEC-CCSS medical AI training program, EDUS (100% member coverage), AIDA (in-consultation AI assistant, 15-area pilot) and LIDIA (predictive models, diabetes pilot at Clorito Picado with 95% accuracy).
Ministry
Tax fraud detection with Microsoft Anomaly Detector (₡8,000M recovered in 2025), TRIBU-CR (live since October 2025, replacing ATV/Travi) and virtual taxpayer assistant.
View details →Ministry
Technical AI specialization with Intel in vocational high schools. First Latin American country with AI as a formal technical track in secondary education.
View details →Ministry
National AI Strategy (ENIA) 2024-2027 — first national AI policy in Central America. LINC Labs: 16 labs, +4,500 people trained, 70% female participation.
View details →Research center
Interuniversity center under CONARE, operating 5 labs (CENIBiot, CNCA, PRIAS, LANOTEC, LANBA). Champions LaNIA, the proposed National AI Laboratory in partnership with IDB’s fAIr LAC.
View details →02 / Legislation
Costa Rica still has no formal AI regulatory framework. The three bills filed since 2023 remain stuck in committee.
General framework to regulate the development, use and application of AI in Costa Rica. Creates the AI Regulatory Authority (ARIA). Blocked by opposition from CAMTIC and other ecosystem stakeholders.
Creates controlled spaces for regulatory experimentation with emerging AI technologies. Modeled after financial sandboxes in the fintech sector.
Proposes a tiered classification by risk level (similar to the EU AI Act). The most recent and technically robust of the three bills.
03 / Indicators
Ranking in the Latin American AI Index (ILIA), published annually by CEPAL. 2025 data.
Costa Rica’s gap behind Chile (regional leader) is 19.24 points. Closing the gap requires implementing ENIA with measurable targets, allocated budget and an approved regulatory framework.
04 / Resources
Public policy
National AI Strategy (ENIA) 2024-2027
MICITT
Institutional framework
Basic Guidelines for Generative AI use in the Judicial Branch
Poder Judicial
Coverage
LIDIA Program — Predictive AI in healthcare
CCSS / Teletica
Regulation
Judicial Branch Data Protection Regulation
Poder Judicial
Regional indicator
Latin American AI Index (ILIA)
CEPAL
International indicator
Government AI Readiness Index (GTMI)
Banco Mundial
05 / About
AI Observatory Costa Rica fills a gap: there is no public, up-to-date and verifiable source on where, how and with what results artificial intelligence is being adopted across Costa Rica’s public sector.
This site gathers active projects, pending bills and indicators benchmarked against the region. Every data point comes from official sources and links back to the original document.
The goal is to build a useful tool for decision makers, journalists, academia, the private sector and citizens interested in how AI is being used with public funds.
Do you know of an AI project in a public institution that is not listed here?
info@observatorioia.org →Learn who maintains the observatory and how data is verified →