{"name":"Applied AI in Costa Rica — the record","description":"Every announced initiative, deployment, published result and regulation of applied AI on the record for Costa Rica, tagged by kind, industry, region and role, sourced and dated. A slice of the State of Applied AI record, maintained continuously by the Industrial Research Unit of the Straits Institute for Applied AI.","source":"https://www.straitsai.institute/state-of-applied-ai/costa-rica","partOf":"https://www.straitsai.institute/state-of-applied-ai/evidence.json","attribution":"Industrial Research Unit, Straits Institute for Applied AI","updated":"2026-10-29","facet":{"kind":"country","name":"Costa Rica","slug":"costa-rica","iso2":"CR","region":"Latin America & Caribbean"},"nationalStrategy":{"name":"Estrategia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial 2024–2027","year":2024},"counts":{"entries":15,"deployments":7,"evidenceImpact":1,"evidenceAdoption":3,"regulation":4,"industries":7,"countries":1,"linked":15},"entries":[{"kind":"evidence-adoption","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Incubadora de Liderazgos +CR with InnovaLab","text":"126 people graduated from the first Bootcamp de Inteligencia Artificial para la Gobernanza Local, AI training for local government run July to September 2026 by Incubadora de Liderazgos +CR and InnovaLab; 121 of 150 selected held elected municipal posts. The 27-hour municipal AI literacy course spanned analytics, writing, services, data governance and risk. Of Costa Rican applicants, 73% used generative tools weekly, yet 65% claimed little or no knowledge.","date":"2026-10-07","source":"https://delfino.cr/2026/10/126-personas-completan-capacitacion-sobre-inteligencia-artificial-para-gobiernos-locales"},{"kind":"evidence-adoption","industry":"Business Operations","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Microsoft (Global AI Diffusion Report Q2 2026)","text":"Costa Rica leads Latin America and the Caribbean in generative AI adoption: 29.7% of 15-to-64-year-olds, per Microsoft's Global AI Diffusion Report for Q2 2026, up from 28.5%. The nation ranks 32nd globally, beating the 18.8% world figure plus Colombia (25.9%), Panama (24.2%), Mexico (21.4%) and Brazil (20.2%) on AI usage.","date":"2026-09-28","source":"https://www.infobae.com/costa-rica/2026/09/28/costa-rica-lidera-en-america-latina-el-uso-de-inteligencia-artificial-casi-tres-de-cada-diez-personas-utilizan-esta-tecnologia/"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD)","text":"Costa Rica's Institute on Drugs (ICD) imposed a total, immediate AI ban on processing its own data, inputs or information, through circular CIRCULAR-ICD-DG-016-2026 issued on 28 August by director general Jorge Torres. It revokes an April 2025 directive permitting regulated use, as Torres cites a social and national-security duty to guard its information.","date":"2026-09-08","source":"https://www.diarioextra.com/noticia/icd-prohibe-uso-de-inteligencia-artificial-en-la-institucion/"},{"kind":"evidence-adoption","industry":"Manufacturing, Energy & Resources","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica (CICR)","text":"The Costa Rican Chamber of Industries (CICR) finds, asking for the first time in its annual competitiveness survey, that 53% of manufacturers run some AI system or software. AI adoption in manufacturing hits 71.4% in free-trade zones versus 47.1% under the definitive regime, and 60.6% of large definitive-regime firms versus 38.9% of small and medium ones. Administration and business management (54.1%) and marketing or sales (52.5%) lead the uses, and 95.1% of AI users report no headcount change as a result.","date":"2026-09-07","source":"https://cicr.com/cicr-uso-de-la-inteligencia-artificial-gana-terreno-en-la-industria-manufacturera-pero-persisten-brechas-en-su-adopcion/"},{"kind":"evidence-impact","industry":"Manufacturing, Energy & Resources","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica (CICR)","text":"Costa Rica's manufacturers register almost no AI employment impact on staffing: 95.1% of businesses running artificial intelligence reported headcount unmoved, the Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica found. Its Encuesta anual Perspectivas Empresariales y Valoración de Factores de Competitividad de la Industria Manufacturera, 2026 puts uptake at 53%, climbing past 71.4% inside free-trade zones. Hours, pay and task mix escaped measurement.","date":"2026-09-07","source":"https://www.revistaeyn.com/portada/encuesta-53-de-empresas-manufactureras-en-costa-rica-ya-utiliza-la-ia-CO31951939"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Healthcare & Life Sciences","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Radiologist","org":"Hospital Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (CCSS)","text":"Hospital Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, run by Costa Rica's social security fund (CCSS), has added three AI ultrasound machines to its radiology and medical imaging service. They track breast lesions live and advise the doctor on how suspicious findings are, help identify and classify thyroid lesions, and estimate liver fat percentage and elasticity. Each costs USD 67,000, part of a renewal replacing the service's seven older scanners, which see about 950 patients a month.","date":"2026-09-04","source":"https://www.infobae.com/costa-rica/2026/09/07/hospital-de-costa-rica-suma-ultrasonidos-con-inteligencia-artificial-para-mamas-y-tiroides/"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Municipal procurement officer","org":"Municipalidad de Santa Ana","text":"Costa Rica's Municipality of Santa Ana has started a pilot in which two AI agents for public procurement will help departments draft market studies and technical specifications for tender documents. A workload study showed departments sinking time into SICOP e-procurement paperwork; municipal police, parks, culture, public works and purchasing are all taking part.","date":"2026-06-01","source":"https://delfino.cr/2026/06/municipalidad-de-santa-ana-impulsa-proyecto-de-inteligencia-artificial-para-mejorar-procesos-de-contratacion-administrativa"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Healthcare & Life Sciences","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Waiting-list administrator","org":"Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS)","text":"Costa Rica's social security fund, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), is using AI waiting list management to update and prune lists for surgeries, procedures and outpatient consultations. The bot compares the digital health record, civil registry and other records to find cases no longer needing care, and staff validate every case before anyone leaves a list.","date":"2026-05","source":"https://delfino.cr/2026/05/ccss-usara-inteligencia-artificial-para-depurar-listas-de-espera"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice)","text":"Human judgment cannot be delegated away, per new guidance from Costa Rica's Supreme Court of Justice, issued through its Superior Council on 20 February 2026 for generative AI in judicial work. The signer of any ruling bears full responsibility, states the circular 'Lineamientos básicos para el uso de la Inteligencia Artificial Generativa autorizada en el Poder Judicial', binding court staff, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defence and the Judicial Investigation Agency to treat such AI use in courts as support, not substitution. Personal data must be anonymised manually, and staff must disclose which AI tool was used and how.","date":"2026-02-20","source":"https://crhoy.com/tecnologia/uso-de-ia-en-poder-judicial-la-responsabilidad-del-contenido-recae-sobre-el-funcionario/"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Retail & Consumer","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Checkout staff / cashiers","org":"Megasuper","text":"A first for Central America and the Caribbean: Toshiba's ELERA Produce Recognition now runs inside Megasuper stores in Costa Rica, bringing AI produce recognition in retail checkouts to the region. Lenses catch unbarcoded produce mid-scan, freeing shoppers from typing codes. The rollout extends Toshiba's MxP Self-Checkout kiosks, already beyond 10% of Megasuper's lanes — computer vision item identification at self-checkout, now part of daily grocery runs.","date":"2025-11","source":"https://retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2025/11/11/megasuper-becomes-first-retailer-implement-ai-powered-elera-produce-recognition-in-the-central-america-and-caribbean-region"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Finance & Insurance","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Cybersecurity analysts","org":"Banco Nacional de Costa Rica","text":"Banco Nacional, Costa Rica's largest state-owned lender, adopted AI cybersecurity tools between June 2024 and June 2025, sharpening detection of digital intrusions and speeding up its reaction to them. That upgrade helped judges award the bank its fifth Bank of the Year title, calling the AI-driven threat detection one of the strongest factors behind the win.","date":"2025-06","source":"https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/bn-es-nombrado-banco-del-ano-2025-en-costa-rica-por-the-banker"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica","text":"Costa Rica AI regulation cleared a key hurdle as the Legislative Assembly's Human Rights Committee backed Expediente 23.919 with a favourable majority opinion (dictamen afirmativo). Officially named 'Ley para la Promoción Responsable de la Inteligencia Artificial en Costa Rica', this AI governance law envisions ethics-driven oversight for every stage of machine intelligence work nationwide — spanning research, design, construction and eventual rollout — anchored by a proposed watchdog, the Interinstitutional Commission for the Development of Artificial Intelligence (CIDIA), alongside a standalone, autonomous panel of technical and ethical advisers. No plenary ballot had been cast as of September 2026.","date":"2025-03","source":"https://delfino.cr/2025/03/camaras-advierten-que-aprobacion-apresurada-de-ley-sobre-ia-podria-alejar-inversiones-y-frenar-innovacion"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Healthcare & Life Sciences","region":"Costa Rica","role":"Doctors / physicians","org":"Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS)","text":"A million-plus health records mined by an algorithm at Costa Rica's Clorito Picado Clinic in Tibás are the basis for a new AI diabetes risk prediction pilot run by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, CCSS). Drawing on the Single Digital Health Record (EDUS) database, the tool marked 2% of patients as likely candidates for type 2 diabetes, and follow-up exams verified 132 had already progressed to the disease since 2023 - those individuals now receive ongoing monitoring to halt further deterioration. Early findings surfaced within months, paving the way for broader predictive healthcare analytics targeting acute coronary syndromes, retinopathy and cancer.","date":"2025-02","source":"https://www.elfinancierocr.com/tecnologia/con-la-inteligencia-artificial-sera-posible/GC32YX7KJRCORGVFKJ5VEEN7XQ/story/"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Education & Training","region":"Costa Rica","role":"University administrative staff / student advisors","org":"Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED)","text":"Costa Rica gained an AI assistant for higher education when UNED (Universidad Estatal a Distancia) unveiled Unedia, a metahuman avatar helper — the first at a public university nationally. Generative AI drives the lifelike figure, fielding enrolment, academic and service questions nonstop, 24 hours daily, by text or voice — a university virtual assistant Leandro Camacho built free in two months.","date":"2025-01-21","source":"https://elmundo.cr/tendencias/uned-presenta-a-unedia-la-primera-metahumana-interactiva-en-una-universidad-publica-de-costa-rica/"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Costa Rica","org":"Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT)","text":"The Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) launched the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (ENIA), Central America's first AI public policy. Costa Rica AI policy sets seven strategic axes, including ethical AI, research and innovation, talent and skills, smart government, and infrastructure and data, guided by principles of transparency, human dignity, equity, cybersecurity and risk management. The national AI roadmap prioritises 5G rollout and a National Centre of Excellence in AI.","date":"2024-10-24","source":"https://elmundo.cr/costa-rica/micitt-presento-estrategia-nacional-de-inteligencia-artificial/"}]}