No Spectators Here: This Is AI, on Caribbean Terms

ST JOHN’S, Antigua & Barbuda (June 23, 2025) — AI is often spoken about in global terms. But here in Antigua, a conversation is unfolding—about what it means, specifically and urgently, for the Caribbean.

Over three days, the Five Islands AI Conference is bringing together thinkers, builders, and decision-makers from across the region. Architected by Bevil Wooding, Director of Caribbean Affairs at the American Registry for Internet Numbers, and Executive Director of the Caribbean Agency for Justice Solutions, the conference is designed with a purpose: to centre the Caribbean in conversations that too often leave it out.

The conversations are wide-ranging—and necessarily so. Because in this Caribbean AI conference, the main character isn’t AI. It’s the Caribbean. This is about the future the Caribbean wants, and the work it will take to build it. There are no easy answers—only urgent questions.

How do Caribbean educators prepare students for tools that don’t exist yet? How do small island states model hurricanes and climate threats using tech they didn’t design? How do health and justice systems protect data on platforms never built with them in mind? And how do you build equity in a digital world that still treats the region as a test site—not a co-creator?

In room after room, participants wrestle not just with what AI can do, but what it should—and for whom. Some conversations focus on infrastructure. Others on ethics. From the granular—like regional data gaps and smart logistics—to the philosophical—like public trust and digital sovereignty—the conversation is less about tools than about terms. Caribbean terms.

In a session on tech-driven solutions for ocean health, Legena Henry, CEO and Founder of Rum & Sargassum Inc., unveils a breakthrough renewable natural gas made from sargassum, sheep manure, and rum distillery wastewater—recently demonstrated to power electric vehicles and stabilize energy grids. It’s not just adaptation. It’s invention.

Kevin Khelawan, CEO of Advent AI, joins Cathrona Samuel, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the Caribbean Agency for Justice Solutions, and other panelists examining AI’s role in regional safety and justice delivery. From crime prediction to data-driven policing, the conversation points toward a key concern: what safeguards are in place when the technology available to bad actors outpaces the legislative and digital infrastructure available to law enforcement?

In a plenary session on cyber resilience, Stephen Lee, Program Director of the Caribbean Network Operators Group, joins a panel exploring how AI is reshaping one of the region’s most urgent frontiers: fortifying its digital borders against invisible threats.

In a session on the future of work, Lorenzo Hodges, CEO of Plain White Table, joins other panelists to explore how AI is reshaping Caribbean workplaces. From automation to workforce analytics, the conversation turns to how the region can navigate disruption—not by resisting it, but by preparing people, systems, and policies for what’s already underway.

The programme includes Maxine Williams, Vice President of Accessibility and Engagement at Meta, in a panel that nods to a conversation still unfolding in the region: who AI is leaving behind, and what inclusion really means in small, multilingual, unequal societies.

An international keynote by Tianze Zhang, founder of the AI for Developing Countries Forum, promises to widen the frame—calling attention to the global governance gaps that persist when countries like those in the Caribbean are excluded from shaping the systems that will soon shape them.

Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, welcomed guests at the opening reception on June 22. The evening was hosted by Professor Justin Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, with remarks by Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy, Regional Manager for the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Now in its second year, the conference—“Bridging Digital Frontiers: AI Innovation for Caribbean Sustainability”—runs from June 23 to 24, bringing together researchers, academics, policymakers, industry leaders, and students to explore how artificial intelligence can support sustainable growth, equity, and digital transformation across the region. From tourism and justice to agriculture and infrastructure, the undercurrent is the same: the Caribbean is no longer content to be a passive consumer of technology.

The Caribbean isn’t “playing catch up” here. No games, and no spectators. This is a region getting down to the serious business of choosing its future. Not just adapting to what comes next, but deciding who gets to decide it.