UNESCO Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Initiative

The rapid technological advances in Artificial Intelligence can have ambiguous implications and create both opportunities and challenges:

Artificial Intelligence, AI, has enormous potential for generating social welfare and for accelerating human progress and sustainable development.

At the same time, the rapid development of AI and related technologies raises ethical concerns, including questions about how to deal with the perpetuation of biases, AI capacity development, training, privacy, data disclosure and access.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

I-bot and Lizzy explain what AI is, how it can be used to improve diverse aspects of our lives - and what challenges it could pose.

UNESCO and AI

UNESCO is the United Nations lead agency concerned with the humane dimensions of the Information society and the ethical implications of AI. Since AI is a cognitive technology, its implications are intricately connected to the central domains of UNESCO: education, sciences, culture, and communication. In this regard, UNESCO has embarked on a process for the elaboration of a Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, that will be an ethical guiding compass and global normative instrument to protect and promote human rights. UNESCO aims to bring a multidisciplinary, universal and holistic approach to the development of AI in the service of humanity, sustainable development, and peace.

AI in the Caribbean

Many Caribbean Small Island Developing States, SIDS, have not yet developed strategies and national policies to manage the impact of AI on their societies.

The Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Initiative is led by the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean and aims to develop a sub-regional strategy on the ethical, inclusive and humane use of AI in the Caribbean SIDS.

The Caribbean AI Initiative raises awareness, informs, engages in open discourse, strengthens capacities, produces and shares knowledge, and gathers expertise from various stakeholders from different sectors in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean SIDS to identify the way forward in developing regional and national AI strategies. Against this background, the Caribbean AI Initiative was launched on the occasion of the Sub-Regional Consultation on the Draft Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, which took place on 5 August 2020.

Caribbean Forum on Artificial Intelligence

Opportunities to Accelerate Human Progress for Sustainable Development in Caribbean SIDS

From February 18-19 2021, the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean together with the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica and the Information for All Programme (IFAP) National Committee of Jamaica organized the "Artificial Intelligence Forum: Opportunities to Accelerate Human Progress for Sustainable Development in Caribbean SIDS" within the UNESCO Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Initiative. The two-day event which took place virtually, addressed multiple dimensions of the potential of AI and related technologies to benefit sustainable development in the areas of education, climate change, cultural and creative industries such as film, arts, music and job creation and enhancing entrepreneurship in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States, SIDS.

Read more on the Forum on Artificial Intelligence

Spotlight on Gender and Artificial Intelligence

Watch the UNESCO Talk that brought together different experts to discuss the importance of gender equality considerations in AI principles, and the relevance for the Caribbean sub-region

Caribbean AI Webinar

Artificial Intelligence in the Caribbean context: What are we talking about?

The Caribbean Forum "Artificial Intelligence in the Caribbean Context: What are we talking about?" took place on 10 December 2020 and was organized in collaboration between UNESCO and the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica to initiate a discussion on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to contribute to the sustainable development of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

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