I wish to begin this week’s article on a slightly somber note: with the deepest of condolences to the immediate family of Coleen Yard. She was my aunt and the mother of Nekome and Nandi. I am close to my cousins and I feel their pain immensely. The death was sudden and unexpected. In so, it is one that was given me cause to pause and reflect for a while. My perception of my purpose has shifted and I promised myself to live a life that I claim. My wish for you readers is that you do so as well, if you haven’t as yet. My condolences also are extended to the family of one of our Bajan legends, Ninja Man. His passing was also rather sudden and unexpected. The character of Bridgetown is now forever changed.
It’s a whirlwind of a Friday afternoon as I type this. The Senate just passed the much-debated “Anti-Crossing” legislation. Unfortunately, I don’t have the interest in using this space to make my disappointment more public. Moreover, President Trump decreed, on Truth Social, that Anthropic, a leading AI company, would no longer be able to do business with the Pentagon and, potentially, the wider US government. Essentially, the US government responded to the company’s very public hesitation about dropping some standard operating safeguards on Claude AI. It was all meant to protect against possible widespread government surveillance of US citizens, and against its use on unmanned tactical platforms such as drones.
That declaration will lead to immense ripple effects through the global economy on its own. I’m just not sure which way the pendulum will swing. What caught my eye even more was the disarray that defined the day’s trading on US stock exchanges; the worst since last March. Inflation statistics were higher than expected, and AI companies are laying off workers even in the face of growing profitability—bringing into question how vulnerable human beings are to this technology. This negativity in the market was further compounded by the melee between the US government and Anthropic. Nvidia also performed below expectations and, as a hardware provider, bears significant weight.
I still sit on the side of learning how to integrate with the technology in all facets. If I were you, I would be on huggingface.co looking at what’s out there and what developers are working on. It’s scary and yet rather exciting. And for those of you who are content with working with large language models, I would suggest a few of the earlier chapters in AI Engineering by Chip Huyen. It did wonders for my prompt-generation skills a while ago.
My point here, however, is that beyond all of the obvious geopolitical tensions, there have been some serious implications that will certainly chart a course that our small, open economies are definitely not ready for. The pace is hot. It is heating up exponentially. Yet all the while, we are worried about preventing a politician from doing what formerly was their democratic right. It boggles my mind how we still haven’t defined what it means to have AI governance in place.
This technology is beyond anything closely resembling cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technologies. Trust has been gained rapidly, and the value propositions of using AI continue to outpace those for the average late-stage user. And it’s with late-stage users of technology that we see whether a technology can be easily contained or not. So it simply isn’t controlled by a government waiting to see what it can do.
However, a proactive approach of the sort taken by the US government against Anthropic—along with the moral suasion (coercion) applied to other larger US players—cannot work for Caribbean regimes. Our governments do not have the expertise, the finances to attain and retain such talent, or the ability to contain loyalties, especially in this period of tense geopolitics.
Let me state emphatically that burying our heads in the sand about all the very real and present threats, dangers, and opportunities pertaining to AI is not the correct action to take. In fact, I believe our government is the perfect test case for the sort of progressive lawmaking in this space that is needed as a buffer. Legislation should be put in place to properly define the ecosystem we wish to have on the island and, at least, within CARICOM and the CSME. If the haste with which this “Anti-Crossing” legislation was conceptualised, rationalised, and actualised through our Parliament was anything to go by, then prioritising AI governance legislation can happen within the same two weeks or so.
I certainly believe that the capacity is there to push through “broken” legislation. Ironically, that is the exact approach needed for the rapidly changing tech environment. Remember: these technologies will lead to massive distortions in the global economy in the very near future. So pushing through legislation that essentially safeguards the economy—but with a very public view to making regular and critical amendments—is the perfect approach.
To me, this would present some semblance of stability in Barbados. I can guarantee that, in short order, adaptability and getting ahead of impending problems will become a tenet of institutional strengthening. Simply put: if the legislation is proclaimed quickly, and adjustments are made as issues arise—especially where AI governance is concerned—then citizens, residents, and foreign investors will come to trust that the government is protecting their interests in Barbados. The allocation of this faith will obviously stem from who actually benefits more.