UN warns AI divide could become development, security and sovereignty gap for the Caribbean

GENEVA--United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that developing countries risk being pushed further behind as artificial intelligence advances, raising concerns that are directly relevant to St. Maarten and the wider Caribbean as governments, schools, businesses and public institutions increasingly turn to AI and other digital technologies.

Speaking at the opening of the first Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance in Geneva on July 6, Guterres warned that the digital divide could harden into an AI divide and eventually create wider gaps in development, security and national decision-making.

“We cannot allow the digital divide to harden into an AI divide; and the AI divide to become a development gap, a security gap, and a sovereignty gap,” the Secretary-General said.

The warning carries particular relevance for small island states and territories in the Caribbean, where governments and institutions often face limited technical capacity, higher technology costs and dependence on external digital systems and service providers.

AI is already being used around the world in education, healthcare, public administration, security, business and communications. Guterres said the technology could help developing countries make faster progress by expanding access to expertise and services that have traditionally been expensive or difficult to reach.

“Used well, and shared widely, AI could compress decades of development into years,” he said. “It could become the great equalizer of the twenty-first century.”

For St. Maarten and the Caribbean, the growing use of AI presents opportunities in areas such as tourism planning, student support, public service delivery, disaster preparedness, medical services and business development.

However, the Secretary-General warned that most countries, particularly developing countries, have had little influence over the decisions being made by the small number of companies and countries that control much of the world's advanced computing power, data and AI talent.

“The computing power, the data and the talent behind the most advanced systems are concentrated in a handful of companies, and in a handful of countries,” Guterres said.

He warned that if technology is built around existing power imbalances, inequality could become embedded in the systems themselves.

The UN is now moving to expand AI capacity in developing countries. More than 20 Member States have already nominated centres for a UN-supported Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building.

The network is expected to share knowledge, promote cooperation and expand access to AI training and capacity, particularly for developing countries.

Guterres said he will also submit recommendations to the UN General Assembly for a Global Fund for AI aimed at building skills, data capacity and access to affordable computing power.

The development could be important for Caribbean countries seeking to build their own AI expertise rather than remaining entirely dependent on systems developed and controlled elsewhere.

Guterres also warned about the effect of AI on truth and public trust, saying machine-generated false information can now be as persuasive as genuine information, while authentic evidence can increasingly be dismissed as fake.

“A society that cannot agree on what is real cannot defend itself,” he said.

The warning is relevant to small Caribbean societies where social media plays a major role in political debate, elections, public information and emergency communication.

The Secretary-General said AI should never be allowed to remove human responsibility from high-stakes decisions.

“In every high-stakes decision, in justice, in healthcare, in policing, machines can inform, but humans must decide, and answer,” Guterres said.

He also called for greater transparency concerning the environmental cost of AI.

According to Guterres, data centres already consume more electricity than most countries and their demand for electricity and water is expected to grow significantly by 2030.

For Caribbean islands where electricity generation, water production and infrastructure capacity remain major national concerns, the environmental and energy demands of digital infrastructure will require careful planning.

The UN Secretary-General called on major AI companies to publicly disclose the carbon, water and land impact of their systems and move toward powering data centres with renewable energy by 2030.

The first Global Dialogue on AI Governance brings countries together to discuss common rules and standards for artificial intelligence.

Guterres said the central challenge is whether governments will actively shape the development of AI or allow the technology to develop without adequate oversight.

“The choice before us is not between faith in AI or fear of it,” he said. “It is between governing by design and drifting by default.”

For St. Maarten and the wider Caribbean, the discussion places increasing attention on whether governments are developing the skills, policies and safeguards needed to use AI while protecting public institutions, national interests and access to reliable information.

The Secretary-General urged governments, companies and scientists to act quickly, warning that the opportunity to establish rules for how humans and AI coexist may not remain open indefinitely.

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