Caribbean Nations Launch a Unified AI Strategy – Here’s What’s Inside

Caribbean policymakers are no longer treating artificial intelligence as a distant technology trend. Across the region, a coordinated push is underway — one that combines workforce retraining, ethical guardrails, and formal education to build a collective AI readiness. The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has outlined specific readiness priorities, while CARICOM and the UNDP are finalizing a capacity-building course for the bloc’s own Secretariat staff. The message is clear: the Caribbean is moving from scattered pilot projects to a unified strategy.

The latest evidence of this regional alignment comes from three parallel tracks. First, ECLAC’s Caribbean AI readiness material, published recently, explicitly recommends that governments upskill and reskill workers in digital technologies and AI, retain digital/AI talent, and adopt ethical guidelines for AI use in business. These are not abstract suggestions; they are concrete policy levers designed for small island developing states that often struggle to keep professionals from emigrating.

Second, on the institutional side, CARICOM and the UNDP announced that a self-paced AI course for CARICOM Secretariat staff is being finalized and scheduled to launch in the coming weeks, with completion targeted for 31 December 2025. This is a direct capacity-building move: if the regional bureaucracy itself doesn’t understand AI, it can’t write coherent policy or regulate effectively.

Third, local education is already stepping up. The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) offers an online MS in Computer Science in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, with a 2-year full-time and 2.5-year part-time structure, and multiple delivery options including fully online. That means a student in Port-au-Prince or Bridgetown can earn a graduate degree in AI without leaving their home island.

For decades, the Caribbean has been a net exporter of talent — nurses, teachers, engineers — who often never return. AI, ironically, could reverse that trend. When a region can offer high-quality remote AI jobs, the incentive to stay (or come back) rises. The ECLAC emphasis on retaining digital/AI talent is a direct acknowledgment of this brain drain problem.

The CARICOM/UNDP course is also a rarity among regional blocs. Most intergovernmental organizations (think ASEAN, the African Union) have AI strategies at the top level, but few invest in training their own administrators from the ground up. If the course meets its December 2025 deadline, it will be a model for other small-state groupings.

For companies operating in or considering the Caribbean, the signals are promising. The ECLAC call for ethical guidelines for AI use in business suggests that the region is aiming for a rules-based environment — potentially a cleaner regulatory landscape than in larger markets where AI governance is still chaotic.

Moreover, the UCC’s online MS program means there is a growing pool of locally trained AI talent. Companies that invest in internships or co-op programs with that university could lock in early hires who understand both the technology and the local context.

Two milestones will determine whether this coordinated push becomes a lasting success or just another workshop. The first is the CARICOM Secretariat course launch — if it ships on time and is well-received, it will legitimize the capacity-building approach. The second is whether ECLAC’s recommendations get translated into national legislation. A few countries, like Jamaica and Barbados, have already shown appetite for digital policy. If they move on AI ethics laws in the next 12 months, the region will have a framework that others can copy.

For now, the Caribbean is proving that size doesn’t always matter. With a shared vision, concrete training, and a willingness to learn from each other, these islands are carving out a lane in the global AI conversation — one that isn’t about catching up, but about building something smarter from the start.