A CARICOM AI response is a must!

FEARS SURROUNDING the potentially apocalyptic consequences of unchecked artificial intelligence (AI) development continue to be expressed all around the world. Many, including those who created AI, are asking if it is possible to get the genie back into the bottle! An impossibility, of course!

This growing anxiety underscores the need for the Caribbean to jointly engage in a full, transparent, inclusive debate about how to establish clear guardrails and safeguards to prevent AI tools from causing harm.

AI is already spiralling out of control. Delaying this conversation risks leaving CARICOM countries unprepared for a future where AI increasingly influences everything- from public services and healthcare to education, governance, and security.

A CARICOM-led initiative could establish uniform standards, ethical guidelines, and regulatory oversight mechanisms tailored to the regional context, while also enabling the Caribbean to present a unified voice on the international stage in AI governance discussions. Coordinated policies would help prevent fragmented or conflicting regulations that could hinder innovation or expose individual countries to disproportionate risks. Additionally, regional coordination could increase knowledge sharing, capacity building, and lead to innovation of ecosystems that maximize AI’s potential benefits while minimizing its dangers.

A collective regional framework would ensure that the smaller CARICOM nations, all of which share common economic and social contexts, pool their resources to address AI.

UNESCO’s Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap was developed through extensive regional consultation and is organized around four pillars: culture and creativity; governance and transformation; education; resilience and sustainability.

The Caribbean Telecommunications Union has also been working on regional AI governance. Its task force noted that a fragmented, country-by-country approach could create regulatory disparities, trade barriers and vulnerabilities, and proposed a harmonized regional AI governance framework.

In June 2026, regional and international organizations also met in Guyana to examine the development of a common AI agenda and tools for strengthening AI governance across Caribbean countries.

The foundations for regional AI cooperation already exist.

What is required now is political will, institutional coordination and strong public participation.

Maralyn Ballantyne LL.B. Hons.