Cathie Wood, founder of the Ark Invest investment firm, will give the inaugural lecture for El Salvador’s new Urban Centers for Welfare and Opportunities (CUBO) AI program, a public education initiative spearheaded by the government of El Salvador.

According to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office, the program will bring university-level AI courses to students and professionals and follows the country’s highly successful CUBO Bitcoin (BTC) and Lightning Network developer program.

The program will leverage industry experts to provide AI education to the public. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office wrote in a March 23 X post:

“As El Salvador turbocharges its transformation into the ultimate tech and financial powerhouse of the region, CUBO AI will arm students and professionals in the country with the tools to dominate the AI frontier.”

El Salvador continues to attract crypto businesses and foreign direct investment as the Central American country positions itself as a regional tech and digital finance hub.

Cathie Wood pictured left, with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in the center, and economist Art Laffer, on the right, meet in May 2024. Source: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office

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El Salvador becoming a regional tech hub amid education and investment push

El Salvador has taken several steps to establish itself as a regional hub for innovation, including integrating Bitcoin classes into public education, leveraging geothermal energy to mine BTC, and passing pro-crypto and AI policies.

Cathie Wood met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in May 2024 to discuss the future of digital assets and AI policy in the Central American country, including potential education initiatives tailored by Ark Invest.

Wood left the meeting confident that El Salvador could increase its gross domestic product (GDP) tenfold over the next five years if it continues pursuing its tech-focused agenda.

“The President could scale El Salvador’s GDP 10-fold during his next 5-year term,” Wood wrote in a May 2024 X post and praised Bukele as forward-thinking.

Bukele also met with Elon Musk in September 2024 to discuss artificial intelligence and other 21st-century technologies, including crypto.

Musk likewise praised Bukele as “an amazing leader,” and the two continue to build rapport that could potentially lead to collaboration between the businessman and the government of El Salvador.

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