Curaçao and the AI Hype: Façades or Future?

Curaçao and the AI Hype: Façades or Future?

9 September 2025

On Saturday, 6 September 2025, with the help of AI, I read UNESCO’s Artificial Intelligence Readiness Assessment Report for Curaçao (UNESCO, 2025). The document outlines the country’s ambitions: since 2018, Curaçao has envisioned itself as a SMART Nation, with AI as one of the pillars of national development. More recently, in 2023, Parliament requested the drafting of a National AI Strategy, aligned with UNESCO’s ethical framework.

The report highlights progress and gaps. AI is currently applied primarily in tourism and marketing, where approximately 40% of operators utilize generative AI. Yet, on a national scale, adoption remains modest, estimated between 5% and 7%. Local industry is minimal, R&D investments are small, and most AI services are imported. UNESCO recommends developing legislation, oversight structures, and education programs to build capacity and ensure ethical implementation.

While these ambitions are not without merit, I find myself reflecting on a recurring pattern in Curaçao. As with earlier initiatives, such as hydro energy, there is a tendency toward projects that feel more like “pet projects” than open, inclusive structures. They generate discussion in certain circles, but they do not always invite broader public engagement. The University of Curaçao has also placed AI on its agenda, which can be valuable if it results in real investment in human capital. Yet the risk is that conversations drift into promises that are difficult to realize.

In this sense, I recognize what Dr. Jan Huurman has described as “illusions,” and I sometimes see them as façades. AI carries the aura of innovation, but whether it will truly transform Curaçao’s economy and society remains uncertain.

This leaves me with a broader question: should our focus be primarily on artificial intelligence, or on strengthening sustainability and humanity first? AI may contribute to these goals if applied wisely. But if it becomes an end in itself. There is a risk that Curaçao will once again follow global trends without shaping them to its own needs.

Miguel Goede