Mexico · Americas Bridge
The Guadalajara Declaration on the AI Middle Way is signed at Universidad de Guadalajara, with UNAM as national academic co-host — positioning Mexico as the Americas bridge for sovereign, culturally rooted AI governance.
Mexico sits at the intersection of North and South America — a USMCA member that is also the gateway to 650 million Latin Americans. Its tianguis market tradition, predating the Aztec empire, is the world's most sophisticated informal economy infrastructure, ready for cooperative digital formalization. Mexico's role in the AI Middle Way is to demonstrate that a Latin American sovereign AI framework — rooted in cultural protection, geopolitical neutrality, and resilient governance — is not only possible but already underway.
Local host: Universidad de Guadalajara, leveraging Jalisco's regional tech ecosystem. National academic co-host: UNAM (Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas or IIMAS) for cross-provincial alignment.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 · 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías.
Opening Remarks: Welcome by hosts from Universidad de Guadalajara and UNAM.
Context Setting: Establishing the "Middle Way" ethos — avoiding tech-monopoly dependence while leveraging AI for deep social equity.
"El Camino Intermedio de la Inteligencia Artificial: Soberanía, Cultura y Gobernanza en México"
Mapping out the strategic vision of the AI Middle Way and framing the three core structural pillars of the session.
AI's role in protecting and enhancing the cultural and artisanal legacy of lower-middle-class communities (focused on Oaxaca). Action: Deploying localized LLMs to protect indigenous languages, intellectual property of artisans against exploitation, and optimizing fair-trade supply chains.
A national AI governance model balancing the digital hegemony of the USA (Silicon Valley commercial models) against China (state-led surveillance and infrastructure). Action: Developing a hybrid, sovereign Mexican framework rooted in Latin American data privacy standards and open-source infrastructure.
Addressing the interpenetration of criminal cartels and local/provincial governance by drawing on best practices from Colombia. Action: Implementing automated, decentralized oversight systems, anonymized whistleblowing channels, and AI-driven forensic auditing modeled after Colombia's anti-corruption and community security data initiatives.
10:45 · Mesas de Trabajo: Participants split into three breakout circles (Cultural Legacy, Geopolitics, Governance & Security) to critique the proposals.
11:15 · Conclusiones Generales: Rapporteurs from each table share feedback with the full room to synthesize final updates.
Final Reading: Reading of the core principles of the Guadalajara Declaration on the AI Middle Way.
Signing Ceremony: Hybrid signing (in-person ink and virtual cryptographic signatures for remote UNAM stakeholders).
The foundational document signed on July 15, 2026. Below is the working text in Spanish, the language of signing.
Declaración de
Guadalajara sobre el Camino Intermedio de la Inteligencia Artificial
Reunidos en la ciudad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, el 15 de julio de 2026, académicos, líderes sociales y tecnólogos convocados por la Universidad de Guadalajara y la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), manifestamos la urgencia de trazar una ruta soberana para el desarrollo tecnológico de nuestra nación. Rechazamos la falsa dicotomía de adoptar pasivamente modelos tecnológicos externos que no responden a nuestra realidad social.
Firmado en la fecha de su celebración, como un pacto vinculante para el desarrollo justo de la tecnología en México.
The tianguis tradition and Oaxaca's artisanal economy — living examples of cooperative formalization that AI can strengthen rather than displace.
USMCA membership gives Mexico unique leverage with the US, while its Latin American identity opens a sovereign data privacy framework for the region.
Adapting Colombia's resilience playbook against organized crime to build forensic auditing, whistleblower protection, and decentralized oversight at the provincial level.
Mexico is the third Tier One signing of 2026. Senior representatives from Bangkok and Jakarta attend as honored observers, carrying the continuity of the Coalition from Asia to the Americas.