CARICOM Endorsed an AI Roadmap Built on 1,000 Voices. The Forum That Tests It Opens This Week

More than 1,000 people across the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean were consulted for the UNESCO Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Policy Roadmap. On 7 July 2026, CARICOM's Council for Trade and Economic Development for Information and Communication Technologies (COTED-ICT) endorsed it at its 126th Special Meeting. Sixteen days later, on 23 July, the Caribbean AI Forum opens at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine, Trinidad, where the Caribbean Telecommunications Union launches the Final Report of the region's AI Task Force. Of the two documents, the Final Report will tell us more, because it is where commitments get names and budgets or do not.

Wenceslaus Hollar, Proclamation of the Treaty of Munster, 1648. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.

What the 7 July endorsement commits CARICOM to

It commits the region to a shared direction and nothing enforceable. COTED-ICT is the CARICOM organ for ICT policy across the fifteen member states. Its endorsement means ministers agree, as a bloc, that the roadmap reflects regional intent. No law was passed, no enforcement body created and no parliament voted.

Grenada's Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, who holds CARICOM's lead portfolio for science and technology, made the point that matters: the roadmap only works if governments act on it together.

The roadmap rests on the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Eric Falt, UNESCO's Regional Director and Representative for the Caribbean, said the aim is for the Caribbean to help shape how AI is governed instead of only consuming technology built elsewhere. UNESCO reports that readiness assessments under its methodology are under way in several countries. Those assessments need no legislature or budget line, which is why they move first.

What the Task Force's interim report asked for

The Caribbean AI Task Force (CAITF), convened by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and chaired by Dr Craig Ramlal, Executive Director of UWI St Augustine's Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre, published Toward Harmonised AI Policies and Recommendations for the Caribbean on 13 December 2025. Kirk Sookram, Deputy CEO of Trinidad and Tobago's Telecommunications Authority, presented part of it. It set five priorities:

1. A regional AI policy framework with model laws and shared oversight.
2. Data governance and digital infrastructure, including a proposed Caribbean Data Commons.
3. AI innovation support for agriculture, disaster risk reduction, tourism, financial services, health and public administration.
4. Investment in human capacity and AI literacy.
5. Standing public consultation through the Forum.

It also described a "connectivity paradox": high digital engagement on top of fragile infrastructure, costly connectivity relative to income, fragmented telecoms regulation and thin data governance capacity. Its warning that the region risks remaining a "marginal standards-taker in a rapidly consolidating global AI ecosystem" is the sharpest line in the report.

What the Final Report needs to contain

Julianna Diehl Fenstermacher, Signature Quilt, 1855. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.

The Forum runs 23 and 24 July at the University Inn Conference Centre, UWI St Augustine, hosted by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, UWI St Augustine and the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre, under the theme "AI for Caribbean Transformation: Governance, Innovation and Resilience for a Shared Digital Future". Ministers, regulators, development partners, businesses, academics, civil society and youth attend.

I will check the Final Report's text against four tests:

1. Data Commons: does it have a named institutional owner and a first-year budget?
2. Legislation: is there a date by which at least one member state tables model AI legislation?
3. Skills money: is a specific sum attached to AI literacy, and does it reach technical and vocational institutions as well as universities?
4. Tracking: is there a body or schedule that reports progress before the next COTED-ICT meeting?

None of these was in the interim report. I do not know yet whether the Final Report has them. Fifteen governments agreeing that AI governance matters is easy; getting three of them to fund the same institution on the same timeline is the real test.

Builders are moving faster than the policy calendar

Future Caribbean, founded by Lily Dash and working with Steven Echtman of ClawCamp, ran its first Agentic AI Assembly from 10 to 12 July at the Inter-American Development Bank's Barbados Country Office. It was part of a Global Open-Source Agentic AI Buildathon with a $140,000 prize pool and close to 700 builders, founders, investors, advisors and judges, with satellite events across the region. Its tracks covered finance, energy, healthcare, tourism and climate resilience, most of the sectors on CAITF's list.

If the Final Report treats builder activity like this as a separate track, the roadmap will describe a community it never reaches. National groups such as Maestro AI Lab and AI Jamaica can connect regional policy to deployed systems, if the funding lets them.

A disclosure: I lead the Caribbean AI Association and chair the Caribbean AI Risk Management Council, both of which argued for this framework, so I am not a neutral observer. The part of my case I am least sure of is timing. Delivery on this scale takes eighteen months to three years, and it is possible that pressing for dates now produces rushed model laws that serve the region worse than a slower process would.

What Caribbean organisations should do before any law arrives

1. Heads of data or IT in any business: this quarter, list every AI system in use, what data feeds it and where that data came from. The list is the base for any future compliance.
2. Risk and compliance teams at banks and insurers: adopt an internal AI risk framework now, such as the one CAIRMC publishes, and map it to your existing data protection obligations.
3. Permanent secretaries and agency heads: name an owner for each major government dataset and record who may access it, so your agency can join a Caribbean Data Commons when one exists.
4. Training institutions and employers: start applied AI courses for existing staff using programmes such as The Genius Project, rather than waiting for literacy funding.
5. Anyone following the process: put the next COTED-ICT meeting in your diary and check what has been reported against the four tests above.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is UNESCO's Readiness Assessment Methodology?

It is a UNESCO tool that helps a country measure how prepared it is to use and govern AI in line with the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. It looks across five areas: legal and regulatory, social and cultural, economic, scientific and educational, and technological and infrastructural. The result is a country report with gaps and recommendations, usually prepared with the government and local experts.

Which Caribbean data protection laws already apply to AI systems?

Several countries already have data protection laws that cover AI systems processing personal data. Jamaica's Data Protection Act 2020 came fully into force in December 2023, Barbados passed a Data Protection Act in 2019, and Trinidad and Tobago's Data Protection Act 2011 has only been partly proclaimed. Check with each country's information commissioner or ministry for what is enforceable today.

Does the EU AI Act affect Caribbean businesses even though CARICOM has no AI law?

It can. The EU AI Act entered into force in August 2024 and applies to providers who place AI systems on the EU market or whose system's output is used in the EU, wherever the provider is based. A Caribbean firm selling AI services to European clients may therefore have obligations there before it has any at home.

What is the Caribbean Telecommunications Union?

The CTU is an intergovernmental organisation of Caribbean states, headquartered in Port of Spain, that coordinates ICT and telecommunications policy in the region. It convened the Caribbean AI Task Force and hosts the Caribbean AI Forum. Businesses and associations can take part in its consultations, which are the practical way to comment on regional AI policy before it reaches ministers.

How can a member of the public track whether the roadmap is implemented?

Follow three sources: CARICOM Secretariat communiqués after each COTED-ICT meeting, CTU publications, and UNESCO's Caribbean office in Kingston, which leads the roadmap work. Compare what they report with specific commitments such as a funded Data Commons or a date for model legislation. If nothing specific is reported within a year, write to your national ICT ministry and ask.