Cordel Green | AI with a Jamaican accent: Embracing adoption and innovation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to reshape our economy, workforce, and daily lives. As we navigate this seismic shift, prioritising local innovation and investment in AI research and development is crucial – addressing not only our unique challenges but also those of other countries in the global majority.

The recent Intellibus AI Hackathon, which offered $2.3 million in prizes, demonstrated the potential for AI-driven growth in Jamaica. This event showcased the talent and innovation of our local developers, highlighting the potential for AI-driven growth in Jamaica. However, we must recognise that relying solely on foreign companies will not suffice. We also need to ride the technological waves as navigators and masters of our own ships.

This is particularly important, given the changing landscape of the tech industry. Until recently, software developers enjoyed high salaries and endless job options. Now, there’s growing unease about job security and wage stability, fuelled by sweeping tech layoffs that began in 2022 and the capability of generative AI to generate code.

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, predicted that AI will be writing 90 per cent of software codes within three to six months, and essentially all codes within a year. The International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, echoed this sentiment, warning that AI could impact up to 40 per cent of global jobs.

The writing is on the wall: AI will increasingly automate jobs, rendering some obsolete and creating new opportunities only for those positioned to take advantage of them. Therefore, we must think critically about positioning and future-proofing the prospects of those graduating from local universities and returning from abroad.

One way to achieve this is by incentivising research, innovation, and entrepreneurship focused on local use cases and solutions for export in the field of AI and machine learning. This can span various domains, including communications and networking, microelectronics, biotechnology, neurotechnology, healthcare, precision agriculture, weather forecasting, emergency response, national security, digital identity infrastructure, distributed ledger technologies, automated and connected infrastructure, unmanned transportation systems, creative industries, and more. By exploring these areas, we can create innovative solutions that improve our daily lives.

Consider, for example, the concept of self-healing roads, currently being developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists from King’s College London and Swansea University, in collaboration with scientists in Chile. This innovative asphalt, made from biomass waste and designed using AI, can mend its own cracks over time – without requiring any maintenance or human intervention.

However, start-up funding is a key requirement for such initiatives. The precedent has already been set by a $1-billion grant from the government to support the development of the film industry. The Opposition has also promised $1 billion to support digital content creators. Building on this momentum, the National AI Task Force should advocate for a $5-billion fund to incentivise AI research and innovation.

Just as the printing press revolutionised access to information and made scribes irrelevant, AI will democratise innovation. Economic value will be created by the technological progenies that flood the market – at the speed of thought. Will we be workers in the vineyard or vintners?

Cordel Green is an attorney-at-law and executive director of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com