WILLEMSTAD — The Social and Economic Council (SER) of Curaçao submitted today its 2024 annual report to the Government of the Leeward Island, framing artificial intelligence as a general-purpose technology whose benefits and risks require stronger oversight in a democratic system. In its foreword, the council argues that clear rules, independent advice and modern checks and balances are needed to ensure innovation serves the public interest. “AI must serve humanity, not undermine it,” the council writes.
The report situates AI within a broader policy agenda that weighs growth against social well-being, environmental quality and long-term sustainability. The council points to its tripartite structure—employers, workers and independent members—supported by a research-driven secretariat, to anchor decisions in evidence and a wider notion of prosperity.
The foreword cautions that inclusion is not automatic. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 60 percent of workers remain in the informal economy and only 53 percent of the population has internet access, conditions under which technological gains risk bypassing many households unless paired with investments in infrastructure, skills and social protection.
Within Curaçao’s public administration, the council points to the Central Organized Consultation on Civil Service Affairs (CGOA) as a forum to set binding guardrails for public-sector AI, including prior risk- and impact assessments, human-in-the-loop accountability, transparency through algorithm registers and audits, robust data protection and targeted training and re-skilling.
The report places Curaçao in a fast-moving rule-setting landscape that includes the European Union’s AI Act, in force since August 1, 2024, UNESCO’s 2021 global AI ethics framework and a recent Council of Europe convention on human rights, democracy and the rule of law in AI. The council encourages Curaçao to anticipate and align with these standards domestically to safeguard trustworthy, human-centric AI.
The council also highlights its convening role on the future of work and its leadership in regional and global networks of social and economic councils, positioning Curaçao as an active partner in debates on digitalization and socioeconomic policy.
