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Minister of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence, Dominic Smith, is rejecting any assertion that Artificial Intelligence could lead to a new form of colonisation in the Caribbean region.
The minister responded to recent warnings from Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley regarding the potential misuse of AI in the Caribbean.
In a WhatsApp exchange with Guardian Media, Smith acknowledged the concerns raised by Mottley, noting that anxiety over AI is common, particularly among Small Island Developing States (SIDS). However, he stressed that technology, including AI, has always played a pivotal role in shaping societies.
“The reality is that information inputs in the digital space — whether on the internet, social media, or AI systems — are often dominated by the most developed countries,” Smith said. “That is a fact of the global digital economy.”
Despite acknowledging the risks of AI misuse, including the spread of misinformation and the amplification of cultural biases, Smith rejected the notion that AI constitutes a new form of colonisation.
“AI is a tool. It does not have an intention of its own, nor can we ascribe human motives to the nature of technology,” he said. “What matters is how people choose to use it, whether for good or for harm.”
The minister emphasised that the Caribbean’s focus should be on the responsible, ethical, and culturally appropriate adoption of AI.
“If we empower and educate our citizens, AI can strengthen, not weaken, our independence, resilience, and innovation,” he added.
Smith called for a balanced approach that embraces the opportunities of AI while embedding the region’s cultural values into its development and regulation.
“The real task before us is not to resist AI out of fear, but to lead in shaping its responsible use so that it works for our societies and not against them,” he said.
However, Trinidad-born physicist Professor Stephon Alexander of Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island, and CEO of Sound+Science, echoed Mottley’s concerns, emphasising that AI-driven disinformation campaigns are “not only possible but already happening.”
He highlighted the risks of small island states being passive consumers of information produced elsewhere, noting that AI could distort historical knowledge, cultural narratives, and even influence public perception.
“I agree with the Prime Minister that it’s something we have to be very vigilant about and have that awareness,” Alexander said. “I also believe the intervention of that is both keeping true to our culture and our foundations as well as elevating the education system.”
Alexander stressed the importance of leveraging local and diaspora talent in AI development.
“Some of the best AI researchers and minds out there actually are from our diaspora…we could partner with them and partner with other like-minded global organisations to construct very smart and wise legislation that benefits us and puts us in a winning position into the future,” he added.
Alexander was speaking with Guardian Media at Sound+Science: A Summit for Youth, a two-day gathering in partnership with the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. The summit, held from August 24 to 26, 2025, at the Trinidad Hilton, brought together young people from across the country to reconnect with their potential.
During Carifesta XV at the Big Talk Conversation, Nuff Actio” on Saturday, Mottley cautioned that without reforms in education, strengthened regional governance, and safeguards for democracy, the Caribbean risks “being recolonised again.”
“The first thing we must recognise is that the Armada is not coming. The flotillas are not coming. They’re not dropping people in the centre of the careenage there to be distributed in Barbados and other islands as slaves. They are coming straight into your heads and your minds,” she said as she lifted her cell phone.
She recalled raising the issue at the last Caricom Heads of Government meeting, where she urged regional leaders to collectively take control over how information is generated and disseminated through the establishment of the education transformation commission, or risk becoming subject to the wills of other people.
To counter this, she said Barbados will partner with the University of the West Indies to establish a Caribbean Institute for Democracy and Political Governance at the Cave Hill campus.
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