‘Seize AI opportunity,’ academic urges, as UWI preps regional conference

The Caribbean risks falling behind in the global race for artificial intelligence innovation unless governments and institutions act swiftly to harness the technology’s transformative potential, a University of the West Indies academic warned ahead of a major regional conference.

Dr Curtis Charles, director of academic affairs of UWI Five Islands in Antigua, said the region is at a critical crossroads and must not miss the opportunity to leverage the possibilities of AI technology.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY ahead of the second annual Artificial Intelligence Research Conference, to be hosted at Five Islands on June 23 and 24, Dr Charles stressed the urgency of regional collaboration and forward-thinking policy to harness the benefits of AI.

“I think from an AI perspective, it’s the greatest time to be alive. The technology is moving so swiftly that what we have to do in the Caribbean is to make sure that we don’t miss this opportunity,” he said.

Dr Charles explained that UWI Five Islands anticipated the AI revolution early by launching its School of Science, Computing and Artificial Intelligence four years ago—before the current global wave of excitement took hold.

Now in its second year, this year’s conference is set to expand its reach with an even more diverse and globally recognised speaker line-up. Keynote speakers this year will come from India, China, South Africa, the United States, and the Caribbean, highlighting international best practices while keeping Caribbean sustainability at the centre of the dialogue.

Dr Charles explained: “This year we’re bringing in a different group; for example, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) is one of our major title sponsors. So we’re looking at how development banks could work with some of the campuses and entrepreneurs in terms of developing more technologies that are aligned with the Caribbean. We have six keynote speakers, so we want to bring the best, and our speakers want to bring the best to the Caribbean.”

Despite the numerous benefits of AI, the professor insisted that Caribbean countries must come to grips with the reality of the major disruption the growing technology will bring to the workforce.

“AI is a tool like everything else, but it’s an efficiency tool and it’s a tool that could be very productive for the average person.”

“Some people are going to be displaced, you know. I have a signature on my personal email, it says that ‘AI will not replace you now, but someone using AI will replace you right now’. I think people need to be aware. There was a piece that was published in the local newspaper here and it was called ‘Wake Up Everybody’,” he said.

That preparation begins with education, and the conference will include sessions aimed at educating the local population and regional policymakers, according to Dr Charles.

He described a recent internal session where he used anonymised social security data, with the support of AI tools, to explore whether Antigua and Barbuda could realistically become an economic powerhouse by 2030.

Dr Charles said: “As a data scientist, I wanted to reverse-engineer that and see whether that is possible. All that is an example of how governments could use these tools. Now, fortunately, after going through this study and the analysis, we could become a powerhouse in the region by 2030, but the decisions you have to make are brutal. When you think about the Caribbean, most Caribbean nations do not have a resilient industry. Tourism here is 60 per cent of GDP.

“So if you have a shock like COVID, your whole industry is going down. What I was showing this morning, again using AI, is that we have to have other industries, especially technology industries, to make sure that it offsets that shock. So the shock is distributed.”

For Dr Charles, one area in the region which could benefit from AI support would be the public service.

“I think we in the Caribbean just need to be able, especially in the governments,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that we need to reform the public service; the public service needs to be transformed. Transformation means that I’m going to go to the basement and see whether the structures in the basement are rotten or whether the structure needs to be rewired, because I’m getting some short circuit on the third floor.” (SB)