In July of 2025, the Legislative Assembly approved a new piece of legislation, known as the Robotics Law, which is why El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt a legal regime of its own to regulate this new technology. The purpose of the new regulation is to drive technological modernization, attract foreign investment, and develop new educational programs in the area of artificial intelligence (AI).
This move seeks to not only become a reference in the region but also to lay the foundations of an ambitious process of economic transformation that will move away from the chronic dependence on remittances and low added–value sectors.
The process contemplates, among other elements, the attraction of foreign capital, the modernization of national production, and the development of a highly qualified workforce. But it also implies the overcoming of deep structural problems, such as the multimillion-dollar investment that it initially requires, the need to upgrade technological infrastructure, and the urgency of designing a series of policies to prevent automation from aggravating existing social inequality.
Diversifying the Salvadoran Economy
One of the first benefits of this legal package will be economic diversification. To date, more than 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in El Salvador depends on the amount of remittances sent by Salvadorans residing abroad, and a large part of its exports comes from activities of low added value, such as agriculture or the maquila industry.
With the entry into force of the new framework, the Executive Branch hopes to open the door for high–added value activities such as industrial automation, robotics applied to health, and smart agriculture, among others.
In the first case, agricultural robots would be implemented for crop monitoring, intelligent irrigation management, or pest detection using sensors, among others. The idea is to help improve productivity, reduce costs, and, in this way, improve competitiveness in foreign markets.
In the case of industry, the installation of automated assembly lines could improve the efficiency of maquilas, but at the same time, diversify production to goods with greater technological complexity.
Pulling in Foreign Investment
But the ambition of El Salvador is even greater, because with this regulation, it wants to position itself as a regional technological benchmark. The mere existence of a specific norm that regulates and provides legal certainty for the operation of robots and AI systems is, in itself, an incentive for international companies interested in expanding into the region.
In a global environment in which technology companies are interested in regulatory frameworks and also in macroeconomic stability, El Salvador is in a good position to capture new capital. If it succeeds in attracting multinationals from robotics or automation, this would result in the creation of quality jobs, the transfer of knowledge, and new value chains. In this way, robotics in El Salvador is already one of the central pillars of the country’s long–term strategy for economic diversification.
Advancing in Key Sectors
The new legislation, meanwhile, opens the way to improvements in strategic areas:
- In health: surgical or rehabilitation robots could reduce waiting times and expand care to both private and public hospitals.
- In industry: automation would improve maquila productivity and transform them into centers of advanced manufacturing.
- In public services: robots could be used for urban cleaning, infrastructure maintenance, and environmental monitoring, among others, optimizing the spending of state resources.
Each of these advances will not only improve efficiency but will also help to increase the country’s competitiveness compared to its regional neighbors.
Education and Human Capital
A central axis of this strategy is talent generation. The norm is being accompanied by educational programs in AI and robotics for children, young people, and professionals. The main objective is to prepare new generations to participate in a globalized job market where technological skills are in increasing demand.
In this way, training local engineers and technicians, among others, would reduce the need to hire foreign consultants and also open the possibility for El Salvador to export technological services. But beyond that, it would create a virtuous cycle in which education boosts innovation and, in turn, stimulates the generation of wealth. Robotics in El Salvador will depend increasingly on a qualified workforce capable of designing, operating, and maintaining complex systems.
The Costs of Modernization
But there is a price to pay for all this. The construction of research laboratories, the installation of advanced digital infrastructure, such as 5G networks or data centers, and the execution of training programs will require billions of dollars in public and private investment.
At present, the Central American nation dedicates only about 0.2% of its GDP to research and development (R&D). By way of comparison, South Korea invests more than 4.5%. For this ambitious plan to take off, it will be necessary to multiply the budgetary efforts, as well as to capture foreign capital willing to finance the transition.
Another challenge has to do with the risk of social inequality. If robotics projects are concentrated only in major urban centers such as San Salvador or Santa Tecla, this could lead to leaving out rural areas. For this reason, it will be necessary for the government to promote that innovations reach small farmers or microentrepreneurs.
In addition, concern is also expressed about a possible loss of jobs, since automation will end up replacing tasks of routine character in manufacturing or services, with the risk that thousands of low–qualified workers are left without work. The solution to this problem is in the design of labor retraining policies that prepare workers for new occupations related to the operation, programming, and maintenance of robotic systems.
The Regulatory and Ethical Challenge
As a pioneer in the region, El Salvador has raised complex questions for the future. In case of doubt: who will be responsible if a surgical robot fails during an operation? Or how can we protect the data that machines are generating? What are the limits of the use of automated systems for security or surveillance?
The new law, in this regard, is only a first step. The country will have to update it in the coming years to address ethical and technical dilemmas that will arise. Without an adequate regulatory framework, there is the risk that innovation ends up running ahead of the regulation, creating uncertainty among both citizens and investors.
Balance
Economists are clear: the potential for growth is very high. If everything is done correctly, robotics could add an additional 2% or 3% to annual GDP growth over the next decade.
The counterpoint, however, is that in the short and medium term, the cost will be high—several percentage points of GDP over the next five years—to finance the expansion of the infrastructure, the training programs, and the design and application of a new regulatory structure. The risk–reward equation is clear: on the one hand, the investment is high, with high uncertainty. But on the other hand, the risk of continuing with an undiversified economy would be much higher in the medium term.
The approval of the Robotics Law has been a milestone in the history of El Salvador. Beyond being a gesture of modernity, what it represents is a commitment to a new economic model based on innovation and technology. In the end, the future of robotics in El Salvador will depend on the capacity for balance, between investment, inclusion, and education, to make sure that the benefits of automation are enjoyed in a fair way by all sectors of society.