In a landmark event held at the National Palace in Santo Domingo, the Dominican government has unveiled an ambitious national initiative, RD Inteligente, that aims to upskill 1 million Dominican residents by teaching them how to integrate artificial intelligence tools into their existing professional and academic work. Speaking at the official launch, President Luis Abinader clarified that the program does not seek to turn all participants into AI developers, but rather to help workers across every sector enhance their existing capabilities, boost workplace output, and unlock new economic opportunities for all segments of the population.
President Abinader outlined the inclusive vision behind the program, noting that it is designed to lift performance across diverse areas of Dominican society: teachers will gain tools to improve classroom instruction, healthcare providers will access cutting-edge AI resources to support patient care, small business owners will learn to leverage AI to expand sales and streamline operations, young job seekers will uncover new employment pathways, and local entrepreneurs will gain the skills to compete in global digital markets from anywhere in the country.
The training curriculum is structured as a progressive learning journey, starting with foundational AI literacy for beginners and extending all the way to specialized professional certifications in high-demand AI-related fields including process automation, data analysis, and software programming. A key highlight of the initiative is its partnership with global tech leaders Amazon, Google, Cisco, and Microsoft, which will back the program with internationally recognized credentials that hold weight in global job markets.
Beyond individual skill development, Abinader emphasized that the initiative will deliver broader national benefits: it will support the ongoing modernization of public government services, strengthen the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and position the Dominican Republic as a leading regional hub for technological innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Jimmy Rosario, rector of the Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA), the institution leading the program’s implementation, explained that the RD Inteligente digital platform features 28 customized training tracks designed to align with the specific needs of different professions and industry sectors. The platform’s infrastructure is built to deliver accessible learning to communities across every region of the country, ensuring no group is left behind in the national AI upskilling effort. Rosario emphasized that the true impact of the program extends far beyond technical knowledge, noting that when 1 million Dominicans gain AI proficiency, the transformation will improve quality of life for the entire nation.
José Ignacio Paliza, Minister of the Presidency, added context to the government’s strategic approach, stressing that artificial intelligence is no longer a distant future technology but a present-day disruption reshaping how people work, learn, launch ventures, and solve critical challenges. The RD Inteligente program forms a core pillar of the Dominican Republic’s broader National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (ENIA), a national framework focused on accelerating innovation, building widespread digital capacity, and developing the skilled tech workforce required to compete in the 21st century knowledge economy. Paliza also noted that the country has already made significant progress on complementary AI initiatives, including the ongoing establishment of the national Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CEIA-RD).