Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exploded in the public consciousness in the past few years and Caribbean governments, like many others around the world, are grappling with how to best exploit this groundbreaking technology for the good of the region and its people. AI’s potential should not be overstated, but with projected impacts on the economy, development, and everyday life, the technology is slated to radically reshape how we interact with the world around us, and with these new realities come new threats. To properly meet this challenge, governments must understand the ways that artificial intelligence can positively impact our societies but must also work to cultivate a keen understanding of associated threats in order to properly prepare for the negative consequences of mass deployment. This is no easy feat. It requires a balancing act, and critical missteps in either direction can either stagnate the region or drive it off an open cliff with no guardrails. In this CARICOM leaders are still trying to carve a path forward.
AI as a Driver of Progress
Thus far, official rhetoric has heavily focused on the positive role that artificial intelligence can play in advancing human welfare and development in the region, and there is good reason for this, with organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB), and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), recognizing the role that artificial intelligence can play in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the Caribbean, there are particular development objectives that are being prioritized including economic growth, environmental protection, and healthcare. 
As a new “factor of production” the potential contribution of artificial intelligence to the industrial sector is substantial. With novel methods of automation and process optimization facilitating increased productivity, adoption of AI is anticipated to have trillions of dollars impact on global GDP growth with labour productivity gains expected to account for over 55% of all GDP gains from AI over the period 2017–2030. As the most dominant sector in the Caribbean and simultaneously the one most exposed to external shocks, improvements in the tourism sector is projected to have the greatest impact on regional growth through simple product diversification and boosting of operational efficiency with automated tools.  
As another leading contributor to GDP in the Caribbean, improvements in the agricultural sector due to artificial intelligence are also expected to have a positive impact on development goals in the region. AI-enabled precision farming using satellite imagery and geographic information systems to monitor nutrient levels and soil moisture, machine learning for disease and pest detection, and robotics and automation to help plant, monitor, and harvest, are just some of the possible uses. In this area, Barbados is leading the charge with efforts such as its AI Agronomic Advisor, an AI-driven advisory platform to improve productivity and sustainability in the national agriculture industry, while countries like Guyana, St. Lucia, and Belize are also making significant headway by integrating artificial intelligence into agricultural research to improve crop resilience against climate change and ecological disasters.  
Beyond agriculture, climate change adaptation and other environmental applications of AI can be invaluable to the region. Tools like early warning systems to predict extreme weather events, AI-powered management systems to improve grid efficiency, and satellite imagery to support biodiversity conservation, can help in the region’s response to global warming and reverse damning cases of environmental degradation.
In the area of health, global private investments in artificial intelligence rose to $11 billion in 2024—compared to $5 billion the year previous—making it the third most invested area just behind AI infrastructure/research/governance at $37.3 billion and data management and processing at $16.6 billion. With these increased investments comes the opportunity to close the gap for the 4.5 billion who currently lack access to healthcare services across the world, figures which are just as stark in the Caribbean. This is also particularly important in the region because the median age is expected to increase from 36.1 years in 2024 to 45.1 years in 2050. Thus far, AI chat-boxes to improve patient services appear to be the most employed use of the technology in the Caribbean, with telehealth platforms such as Virtual Wellness and the Wellness Hub—both based in Trinidad and Tobago—being early adopters, but other implements are forthcoming. 
Goals Not Yet Within Reach
There is still so much room for innovation, but having ambition alone is not enough. There are serious infrastructural challenges sandbagging the Caribbean’s potential and its ability to exploit these new technologies. According to the Oxford Insights’ 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the least prepared regions for AI, with only Sub-Saharan Africa ranking lower.  Even worse, none of the top-ranked CARICOM countries—Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, or Trinidad and Tobago—managed to fall within the top ten most prepared regionally.
One key factor limiting AI advancement in the Caribbean is the lack of a well-developed technology sector. In terms of investment, although Latin America and the Caribbean account for 6.6% of global GDP, the region only receives 1.12% of global AI investment restricting its ability to produce, scale, and innovate new technologies. Though there are some countries making headway, progress is still limited to only a few territories. The Caribbean is primarily recognised as a data exporter, and in the case of adoption, usage is heavily geared towards consumption of ready-made products, so innovation is not at the forefront.  
Another factor that makes the environment unfavourable for entrepreneurship is the existing weak technological infrastructure.  CARICOM especially, does not have the digital infrastructure—affordable and reliable internet connectivity, adequate computing power, high storage capacity, etc—to support the development of large models. According to the World Bank, between 8% and 12% of jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean could receive a boost in productivity by harnessing Gen AI, but up to half will never be able to see the full scope of benefits because of deficient tech architecture. Compounding the issue is the lack of good data. In general, developing countries do not have access to the high-quality data needed to train AI models and this is no different in the Caribbean where, like many other small island developing states (SIDS), there is a lack of quality data for artificial intelligence. 
Even if these limitations were overcome, the human capital needed to support the technology is underdeveloped so there is no real way to sufficiently take advantage of the AI boom. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the talent gap in this field relative to the global average has widened in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2022, a phenomenon exacerbated by brain-drain of specialists. Culturally, there is also a need for a more risk-taking and agile driven work-force capable of embracing the new skills required to push countries in the region forward. 
From this perspective, it seems like the AI industry in the Caribbean is surviving more on hopes for the future than on a realistic ability to develop and deploy AI effectively. If technological upgrading and workforce upskilling does not take place at a faster rate, countries in the region will fail to realize the type of advancements that their governments are aspiring towards and that other countries are better positioned to achieve. The cost of this enterprise may be out of reach for many CARICOM countries, but the fact is that potential benefits—aforementioned or otherwise—will not materialize automatically without investment and nurturing.  Importantly, though, this process is not without its risks, some of which—including environmental degradation, deepening economic divides, loss of culture, and subversion of human rights—are of particular concern for the region.  
Caribbean Nations Uniquely Vulnerable
In some ways, excitement for AI’s prospective role in climate response has overshadowed conversations about its environmental impact. A massive amount of computational power is required to train large AI models with the energy input far above a typical household’s consumption over centuries. SIDS are some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, highly exposed to the impacts of global warming, with small island states in the Caribbean and the South Pacific being disproportionately affected relative to their population size. The consequences of AI’s carbon footprint are set to hit these countries the hardest unless safeguards are put in place to mitigate related risks. 
For Caribbean countries, another considerable threat that artificial intelligence poses is to cultural identity. The region is home to a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society but with artificial intelligence, there is a risk of homogenization due to the technology’s inherent majority bias. Artificial intelligence could play a role in cultural preservation—for instance computer vision models could be used to analyze artworks and correct damage, AI could create digital replicas of historical sites, allowing immersive experiences while limiting physical contact that could harm fragile artifacts, and it could help us better read and translate ancient texts by using tools like natural language processing (NLP). At the same time, there is a chance that the meanings of cultural artifacts may be misinterpreted—especially when AI systems are trained primarily on Western cultural traditions—creating cultural misunderstandings or offensive representations.  Furthermore, AI’s difficulties in reading darker skin tones and in discerning the facial features of non-white individuals present another challenge that could create more harm than good. 
In a society ranked as the second most unequal in the world, the threat that artificial intelligence poses to deepening economic divides is significant. Though when deployed correctly, digital technologies could potentially increase productivity and lead to job creation, much of the population may be left behind in the development wave if such systems are not integrated sustainably and with proper planning. For a region that is already struggling with high unemployment rates, labour shifts due to AI job displacement could exacerbate economic inequality, and already vulnerable groups like low-income individuals are the most at risk.  Data shows that 30-40% of jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean are exposed in some way to generative artificial intelligence. On the other hand, GenAI can possibly augment many jobs rather than displace them, transforming the labour market rather than collapse it. The struggle is finding that sweet spot where it can aid workers with targeted interventions but not fully replace them.
Aggravated economic divides are not the only danger to be mindful of. Biased algorithms and lack of input from minority groups—women, the LGBTQ+ community, indigenous peoples, etc—have been shown to produce systems that perpetuate discrimination in areas like hiring and law enforcement. When models are trained almost exclusively from the data and languages of select communities, it leads to exclusion and as much as AI chat-boxes are being pushed in the Caribbean, if these systems have not be developed to accommodate the nuances of creole, patois, or many of other the other regional dialects then they may not be able to provide the services they were intended to and in fact further entrench power imbalances. Enshrined in the Treaty of Chaguaramas—the foundational document that established CARICOM—is the right of every CARICOM citizen not be discriminated against, so this particular threat to Caribbean people is not just about social balance but about human rights. 
Further to this point, most CARICOM countries have constitutional provisions that explicitly or implicitly protect the right to privacy. This right is at increased risk because tech companies collect vast amounts of data to train their systems, and inevitably some of that data ends up being protected like finance data, medical history, or biometric data for facial recognition. The most obvious issue is that much of this data is appropriated without individuals’ knowledge but even when consent is sought, privacy risks remain because companies are not always diligent about disclosing all the intended uses of the collected information. Moreover, obscurity in this area makes private citizens more vulnerable, not only to tracking and surveillance, but to data breaches which expose sensitive information. The lack of transparency and accountability in AI algorithms must therefore be addressed to protect against the misuse of personal data but also to serve as a risk-reduction measure to protect fundamental human rights even when the threat may otherwise appear to be benign. 
CARICOM Still Behind
There are gains and losses to be had from artificial intelligence and governments must be prepared for both scenarios. Unfortunately, CARICOM is still lagging behind on both fronts.  While it would be impossible to outline every single action each government in the region has undertaken in their attempt to rise to this challenge, there are two core questions whose answers can help provide useful insight. First, does the government have a vision for implementing artificial intelligence outlined in a published strategy? And second, has the government created or signed any AI specific legislation?  
Regarding the first question, no CARICOM country has developed its own national AI strategy. Though such policies are often unenforceable, they provide clarity on vision for the country and establish a framework for achieving outlined goals. On top of lacking individual strategies, the Caribbean, unlike other regions, also does not have a regional policy on AI that would be the foundation for each nation to build its own strategy off of. To resolve this, UNSESCO in 2024 created a Caribbean AI policy roadmap but this document is not comprehensive, and it is only a guide for what regional cooperation on AI could look like. The good news is that countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are in the process of developing AI strategies, and more countries are sure to follow. The risk, however, is that AI development will outpace these measures leaving governments without the tools needed for a proper response. 
As of yet, no country in the region has implemented AI specific legislation, but that doesn’t mean the public is completely without protection. In all but Dominica, Suriname, and Haiti, CARICOM countries have established national data protection legislation and many have created their own cybercrime laws in tandem. There is still a need to establish institutions to enforce the developed policies—only a few have created relevant information commissioners to implement the data protection laws—but the creation of digital transformation ministries in countries like the Bahamas and Belize, and the formation of a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence as in the case with Trinidad and Tobago, demonstrates that adoption of advanced technologies remains on the regional agenda, even if as an ideal without a practical path forward.  
While there has not been widespread momentum in law and policy, where CARICOM has made a little more progress is in regional and international cooperation on AI and digital transformation, evidenced in initiatives like the previously mentioned UNESCO Caribbean AI policy roadmap, the Caribbean Digital Transformation Project  funded by the World Bank, the Santiago Declaration to Promote Ethical Artificial Intelligence, the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2026), and several others. But even with these initiatives, CARICOM’s approach to AI appears to be perpetually stuck in the planning stages, focused on outlining goals and making commitments but without taking actual steps to implement concrete projects. There is no way to benefit from the theorised advantages of new technologies if they are note developed or used, and there is no way to mitigate potential risks if there are insufficient legal protections in place. 
Concrete Steps Needed
With these considerations in mind, CARICOM should:

• Work to immediately close technical talent gaps, strengthen the region’s regulatory capacity, improve the existing digital infrastructure, and implement policies to absorb the potential negative impacts of large scale AI deployment
• Be more vocal on the global stage in discussions surrounding AI and advocate for international governance frameworks that consider the disproportionate effects of AI on the region in some areas
• Invest in the development of smaller—but still capable—models trained on Caribbean data and designed to meet its specific needs as a first step to accelerating AI adoption in the region
• Develop a unified CARICOM AI strategy that reflects its unique politics, culture, ideas, and ideals. 

Everything is a process, and all change does not have to happen at the same; in fact, gradual transition with realistic goals should be the aim, but at some point, CARICOM does actually need to get started on tangible actions. The Caribbean is playing catch up but it does not have to get left behind.

Latisha Harry is a Senior Fellow at Portulans Institute. She has worked with organizations such as the Stanford Institute for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence, Global Witness, the International Labour Organisation, Global Voices, CIVICUS, and others, on issues such as digital transformation, AI risks and mitigations, misinformation, data privacy and the digital economy.
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