{"name":"Applied AI in Panama — the record","description":"Every announced initiative, deployment, published result and regulation of applied AI on the record for Panama, 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/panama","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":"Panama","slug":"panama","iso2":"PA","region":"Latin America & Caribbean"},"nationalStrategy":{"name":"Estrategia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial","year":2026},"counts":{"entries":10,"deployments":5,"evidenceImpact":0,"evidenceAdoption":1,"regulation":4,"industries":5,"countries":1,"linked":10},"entries":[{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Education & Training","region":"Panama","role":"Teacher","org":"Ministry of Education (Meduca)","text":"The Ministry of Education (Meduca) is handing out 54,000 Copilot+ PCs, AI laptops for teachers that run language models locally with no internet link. Staff can draft tests, revision sheets and lesson outlines and design visuals in Intel AI Playground. So far 28,585 units are formally accepted and 25,415 outstanding under a $26,619,300 contract (before ITBMS) won by assembler ISGroup, or $492.95 each. Panama wants every state-sector educator on these offline teaching computers, remote schools first.","date":"2026-10-08","source":"https://www.panamaamerica.com.pa/sociedad/panama-entrega-docentes-computadoras-con-ia-que-funcionan-sin-internet-1267254"},{"kind":"evidence-adoption","industry":"Business Operations","region":"Panama","org":"Microsoft AI Economy Institute (Global AI Diffusion Report Q2 2026)","text":"AI adoption in Panama reached 24.2% of 15-to-64-year-olds by June 2026, 0.9 points above 23.3% in Q1, against 18.8% worldwide. Microsoft's Global AI Diffusion study derives that generative AI use estimate from pooled, anonymised telemetry, corrected for operating-system and device mix, connectivity and headcount.","date":"2026-09-21","source":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-Diffusion-Report-2026-Q2.pdf"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Panama","role":"Citizen-service contact-centre agent","org":"Panamá Conecta / Centro de Atención Ciudadana 311","text":"Panamá Conecta, the Panamanian government's single public-services portal, now has an AI government chatbot for fast reports to the 311 Citizen Attention Centre. The 311 platform also offers live chat with a contact-centre agent.","date":"2026-09-03","source":"https://www.telemetro.com/nacionales/panama-conecta-chatbot-ia-permitira-hacer-reportes-al-311-n6090700"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Transport & Logistics","region":"Panama","role":"Airport passenger services agent","org":"Tocumen International Airport","text":"Tocumen International Airport's rebuilt digital platform features Tocumín, an AI airport assistant that tells a traveller at gate 115 how long the walk to gate 205 takes and the route, alongside retail, parking, connection and flight details. Tocumen S.A.'s in-house team built the wayfinding assistant in about 18 months; biometric access to travel information is due in 2027. The airport handled 13.7 million passengers from January to July 2026, 15 per cent up on a year earlier.","date":"2026-08-21","source":"https://www.infobae.com/panama/2026/08/22/aeropuerto-de-tocumen-en-panama-incorporara-biometria-y-marketplace-a-su-plataforma-digital/"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Panama","org":"Asamblea Nacional de Panamá","text":"The National Assembly passed Bill 588, an adaptive-governance Panama AI regulation, in third debate, sending it to the Executive for presidential sanction. The AI rules rank systems across four impact levels (low, moderate, high, critical) with matching transparency, oversight and safeguard duties. SENACYT chairs a National Commission for Regulatory Experimentation; high-impact decisions need human oversight, and public entities must embed design-to-deployment safeguards.","date":"2026-08","source":"https://es.linkedin.com/posts/panama-legal-group_pdl-588-gobernanza-adaptativa-de-la-ia-en-activity-7498504959806676992--WnU"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Panama","org":"Consejo de Gabinete / SENACYT","text":"Panama's Cabinet Council has approved the National AI Strategy through Resolution 89-26, drafted under SENACYT, setting objectives, programmes and priorities for ethical, responsible, inclusive and secure AI and aiming to make the country a trusted AI innovation hub in Latin America. The resolution works as a policy roadmap: it adds no testing, certification or product-authorisation requirements, and ASEP equipment homologation stays as it is.","date":"2026-08-12","source":"https://www.gmalabs.com/post/panama-national-ai-strategy-approved-resolution-89-26"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Panama","org":"Government of Panama (Executive Decree No. 11 of 2026)","text":"Panama's Executive Decree No. 11 of 17 June 2026 regulates the national Amber Alert system, implementing Law 469 of 2025 with responsibilities, procedures, response times and agency coordination. It promotes AI in missing-child searches with mobile apps, CCTV, video analysis and geolocation, and creates an Early Activation Office for reports, case assessment and alerts.","date":"2026-06-17","source":"https://www.infobae.com/panama/2026/06/18/inteligencia-artificial-y-geolocalizacion-se-suman-a-la-alerta-amber-en-panama/"},{"kind":"regulation","industry":"Government & Public Sector","region":"Panama","org":"Ministerio de la Presidencia de Panamá","text":"Panama AI policy gains a permanent Artificial Intelligence Subcommission, led by SENACYT's National Secretary, via Executive Decree No. 36. A National Commission for Critical and Emerging Technologies must bring a National AI Strategy before the Cabinet Council for sign-off. Gazetted 8 May 2026 (No. 30520-A), this AI governance measure deems critical and emerging technologies strategic priorities.","date":"2026-05-07","source":"https://www.theleveragedyears.com/ai-regulation-news/panama-executive-decree-36-2026-ai-subcommission"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Education & Training","region":"Panama","role":"Judicial training instructor","org":"Instituto Superior de la Judicatura de Panamá (ISJUP), Órgano Judicial","text":"Panama's judicial training institute, the Instituto Superior de la Judicatura (ISJUP), launched ISJUP IA, an AI study assistant for judicial staff and legal professionals' ongoing training. Curriculum designers, teachers and students can use the virtual assistant to consult course content, settle legal questions and find study materials.","date":"2026-03-20","source":"https://www.organojudicial.gob.pa/isjup/noticias/el-isjup-impulsa-la-innovacion-judicial-con-el-lanzamiento-de-su-asistente-virtual-basado-en-inteligencia-artificial"},{"kind":"deployment","industry":"Healthcare & Life Sciences","region":"Panama","role":"Epidemiological surveillance officer","org":"Ministerio de Salud de Panamá (Minsa)","text":"Panama's Ministry of Health is piloting VANESSA, an AI dengue surveillance platform, for six months in San Miguelito. Phase one is a WhatsApp bot where residents report suspected dengue cases and mosquito breeding sites with location, photos and text, backed by regional health-promotion, epidemiology, environmental-sanitation and vector-control teams.","date":"2026-01-08","source":"https://www.minsa.gob.pa/noticia/minsa-implementa-plan-piloto-vanessa-para-prevenir-el-dengue-en-san-miguelito"}]}