AI in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste

Verified September 29, 2026

Strategy

None

AI law

None

Guidance

None

Lead agency

No designated AI lead. In practice: Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) with its agency TIC Timor I.P. (digital strategy and RAM counterpart); the Presidency of the Council of Ministers convened the 2026 Government Dialogue on AI; an AI Readiness Task Force and ACNOC oversee the Anunnai pilot

Data law

None

Sector rules

• Authorisation of the Anunnai AI platform pilot for ASEAN Chairmanship 2029 preparations2026On 2026-09-16 the Council endorsed the use of AI, knowledge graphs, digital twins and predictive intelligence for chairmanship planning, authorising a phased pilot with cybersecurity, data protection and human oversight safeguards, to be evaluated by an AI Readiness Task Force before any expansion.
• Participation in the ASEAN Ministers-Regulators Roundtable on online safety and digital platform regulation2026On 2026-09-09 the minister and ANC president discussed cybersecurity, data protection and AI governance and asked for regional focal points so small states can reach global platforms; no domestic rule was issued.

Latest

The Council of Ministers authorised a pilot of the Anunnai AI platform for ASEAN 2029 chairmanship preparations under cybersecurity, data protection and human oversight safeguards, with an AI Readiness Task Force to assess results; this followed the 2026-08-24 Government Dialogue on AI (Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the Presidency of the Republic) billed as input to the Digital Transformation Strategy 2026-2036 and a future national AI framework.September 16, 2026

Timor-Leste has no AI strategy, AI law, AI ethics framework of its own, data protection law or data protection authority; every 'None' above is grounded in the government's own pages plus the July 2026 cybersecurity package listing. Name variants: TIC Timor I.P. is the Agencia de Tecnologia de Informacao e Comunicacao (Information and Communication Technology Agency), sometimes written TIC TIMOR; the ministry is Ministerio dos Transportes e Comunicacoes (Minister Miguel Marques Goncalves Manetelu); the regulator is Autoridade Nacional de Comunicacoes (ANC). Timor Digital 2032 is the official English name of the Plano Estrategico Nacional para o Desenvolvimento Digital e das TIC. The 2026 government search page returned 48 hits for 'artificial intelligence', almost all speeches or ASEAN meeting reports; the only binding-style act is the 2026-09-16 Council decision, which is an internal pilot authorisation, not a regulation. The 'AI Readiness Task Force' appears only in that communique; its legal basis and membership were not found. The gov.tl page for the 2026-08-24 Government Dialogue on AI was not located; the event announcement is from state news agency Tatoli, and the government's own 2026-08-24 page (?p=50979) covers the wider Science for Development Summit hosted by the President. The cybersecurity package is a request for legislative authorisation (Parliament delegates power to the Government to legislate by decree-law), so if granted the data protection rules would arrive as government decree-laws rather than a parliamentary act; civil society has criticised earlier cyber-law drafts. Timor-Leste joined ASEAN on 2025-10-26; the government has said it aligns with the voluntary ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics and asked ASEAN for AI skills support, but no ASEAN instrument is binding. Decree-Law 12/2024 entry into force: the trade portal says 13 August 2024 while a law-firm tracker says 18 August 2024; the gazette scan could not be read to settle this. Speech PDF for the Dili Dialogue Forum 2025 (2025-05-10) sits at https://timor-leste.gov.tl/?lang=pt&p=43270 but only metadata rendered.