Pioneering Leadership on AI Governance in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Lessons from Trinidad and Tobago

*Image credit: World Bank Blogs (2025)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly establishing itself as the centrepiece of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With the unprecedented pace of AI development and deployment world-wide, the need for dedicated AI-focused government ministries and regulatory bodies has never been more urgent. Earlier this month, Trinidad and Tobago’s UNC government made history when it established the Commonwealth Caribbean’s first dedicated AI-focused government ministry. This strategic move may well position the twin island republic to lead the region in the development of AI-focused policies, governance frameworks, and innovation strategies. Trinidad and Tobago now joins the United Arab Emirates and Canada as the only countries in the world with government ministries explicitly titled with the designation “Artificial Intelligence”.

Trinidad and Tobago’s High Court enters the AI Governance arena  

Before the creation of the “Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence”, Trinidad and Tobago’s High Court had addressed the use by lawyers of generative AI tools when conducting legal research presented before a court. In Nexgen Pathology Services Ltd v Darceuil Duncan (2025) CV2023-0439, the High Court admonished counsel for presenting fictitious, AI-generated case law—known as “hallucinations”—without prior verification. At paragraph 69 of the judgment, the High Court emphasized the imperative of rigorously scrutinizing AI-generated outputs when conducting legal research. In paragraph 70, the High Court warned that citing non-existent cases, even inadvertently, risks misleading the court, prejudicing the opposing party and eroding public confidence in the administration of justice. These timely and instructive judicial sentiments mirror concerns expressed by extrajurisdictional courts which have also reprimanded lawyers for heedlessly relying on AI-generated output during legal proceedings.

Why the Trinidadian approach matters

To date, Trinidad and Tobago remains the only Commonwealth Caribbean country with a dedicated AI-focused government ministry. This inertia is surprising given the increasing deployment of AI systems across the region. Notably, Commonwealth Caribbean countries such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas have expressed their intention to deploy facial recognition technologies (FRTs) as crime fighting tools. FRTs, especially when deployed in law enforcement contexts, are designated as high-risk AI systems. Moreover, FRTs can be misused as instruments of mass surveillance and can undermine the enjoyment of human rights. Indeed, without robust regulatory oversight, their deployment in law enforcement contexts poses unique threats to the fundamental rights of people of color and women who are especially vulnerable to misidentification by FRTs due to algorithmic biases. In the United States of America, at least seven (7) known cases of wrongful arrests have occurred due to misidentifications by FRTs, with most cases involving African American men and women. Against this backdrop, the presence of dedicated AI-focused government ministries as focal points for policy guidance and ethical standard-setting in respect of FRT deployment would be a welcome development across the region. However, such a ministry must not be merely symbolic or otherwise tokenistic. It should be led by professionals with expertise in AI policy, research, technical fluency and, especially, ethics since meaningful engagement with the field of AI ethics will soon become a 21st century imperative. Indeed, AI ethics is the reflexive lens through which we must endeavour to understand, humanize and govern AI as the engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Signalling infrastructural readiness

The establishment of a dedicated AI-focused government ministry by Trinidad and Tobago aligns with the incumbent UNC government’s vision to leverage AI, digital technology and new media to reduce bureaucracy, generate job opportunities, modernize public services, and position Trinidad and Tobago as a central business hub.  It also signals Trinidad and Tobago’s readiness to confront the exigencies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution frontally. As well, it strongly communicates Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to technological transformation and is a reliable portent of its foresight, strategic acumen, and potential for nurturing AI-driven technological innovation. This timely move by the twin island republic will likely inspire greater confidence amongst international tech investors, innovation experts, AI-focused firms and other key stakeholders within the international AI ecosystem. For these reasons, the twin island republic’s pioneering initiative is commendable.

The time for regional action is now

Given the incessant profusion of AI technologies globally, Commonwealth Caribbean governments must treat the matter of AI governance with the priority attention that it deserves. Their failure to do so can lead to missed economic investment, the widening of extant social and technological cleavages as well as, more crucially, unjustifiable encroachments on citizens’ fundamental rights, especially where high risk AI systems are deployed in sensitive contexts. Trinidad and Tobago has begun to illustrate what pioneering leadership on AI governance can look like in the Commonwealth Caribbean. As such, the time for regional action is now.