POLICY BRIEF - Safeguarding Caribbean Culture and Sovereignty in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

 POLICY BRIEF

Safeguarding Caribbean Culture and Sovereignty in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

 

Author	Dr. Abiola Inniss, Ph.D., LLM
Institution	The Inniss Institute for Digital Policy and Intellectual Property
Prepared For	CARICOM Heads of Government; Ministers of ICT, Culture, Legal Affairs, and Foreign Affairs
Date	January 2026

 

1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming global economies, but for the Caribbean, it presents a unique and urgent risk: the extraction of cultural data, creative works, and linguistic heritage without consent, compensation, or control.

Current international legal frameworks—especially U.S. “fair use” doctrine—enable AI companies to scrape Caribbean cultural content freely. This dynamic mirrors historical patterns of exploitation and positions the region as a “digital plantation” supplying raw cultural material to foreign AI systems.

CARICOM must act collectively to protect cultural sovereignty, regulate data flows, and ensure that AI development aligns with regional values, rights, and economic interests. The evidence presented in this brief establishes that the cost of inaction is measurable—and growing.

2.  THE SCALE OF WHAT IS AT RISK: THE ECONOMIC EVIDENCE

 

Caribbean Creative Industries: A Sector Worth Protecting

The creative industries are not a peripheral concern—they are a central driver of Caribbean economic identity and GDP. According to UNCTAD’s Creative Economy Outlook 2024, the creative economy contributes between 0.5% and 7.3% of GDP across surveyed developing economies and employs between 0.5% and 12.5% of the workforce. UNESCO estimates that cultural and creative industries account for 6.2% of global employment and contribute 3.1% to world GDP. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) projects the sector could account for 10% of global GDP before 2030.

For the Caribbean, where music (including reggae, soca, calypso, dancehall, and steelpan), visual arts, film, fashion, and literary heritage represent globally recognized exports, the sector’s value is both economic and civilizational. Yet Caribbean states face a documented gap in measuring this contribution:

 

CDB, 2022

The Caribbean Development Bank confirmed that creative industries statistics have 'traditionally not been very well represented in national accounts and GDP numbers, even though we know this activity is an important economic driver.' As of 2022, only Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, and St Lucia were engaged in formal measurement efforts.

 

This measurement gap is itself a governance vulnerability: a region that cannot quantify its creative assets cannot effectively defend or monetize them in AI licensing negotiations.

The AI Training Data Market: What Is Being Extracted

Global AI companies are building multi-billion dollar businesses on training datasets that systematically include content from small developing states without compensation. The scale of this extraction is significant:

 

Indicator	Data Point
Global creative services exports (2022)	US$1.4 trillion (record high; +29% since 2017) — UNCTAD 2024
Global creative goods exports (2022)	US$713 billion (+19% increase) — UNCTAD 2024
Caribbean share of this value captured	Negligible — no regional licensing framework exists
CARICOM states with dedicated AI governance frameworks	Very few — most states lack harmonized legislation — ECLAC 2025

 

3.  THE PROBLEM

 

Unregulated Data Extraction

AI models are trained on massive datasets that include Caribbean music, folklore, literature, and visual art; social media content from Caribbean users; linguistic patterns, dialects, and Creole languages; and news archives and cultural commentary. This extraction occurs without permission, attribution, compensation, or regional oversight.

The Infrastructure Dependency Problem

The extraction problem is compounded by a structural infrastructure dependency that leaves Caribbean data exposed:

 

Infrastructure Data

Many Caribbean nations still rely heavily on foreign-hosted data, increasing vulnerability to surveillance and jurisdictional overreach. A simple exchange of information between two neighboring islands is often routed through Miami or New York, increasing latency, transit costs, and exposure to extraterritorial risks. (Jose Felipe Otero, Data Infrastructure in the Caribbean, 2025)

 

Platform Control

Major cloud services and internet infrastructure are controlled by non-Caribbean companies, primarily U.S.-based entities, subject to U.S. legislation. (CloudCarib, Digital Sovereignty in the Caribbean, 2025)

 

Legal Vulnerability

•       U.S. “fair use” doctrine allows AI companies to scrape content globally with no obligation to compensate source communities.

•       Caribbean states lack harmonized AI or data governance laws.

•       Cultural heritage is treated as data nullius—belonging to no one—and therefore freely extractable.

 

The Execution Gap

Caribbean governments have not been idle. Several states co-sponsored the 2024 UN General Assembly resolutions on AI (78/265 and 78/311). Caribbean states unanimously adopted the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI in 2021. The UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap (2024), developed with input from over 1,000 institutions and individuals across 20 Caribbean countries, identifies culture and creativity as a priority pillar.

Yet declarations have not translated into enforceable frameworks. This is the Execution Gap—the widening space between the region’s policy aspirations and its operational capabilities. The Caribbean is not short on vision or talent. What it currently lacks is the ability to convert regional ambition into coordinated, enforceable, sovereign action.

4.  WHY THIS MATTERS FOR CARICOM

 

Cultural Sovereignty	Caribbean culture is a globally recognized asset—reggae, calypso, soca, carnival, Creole languages—with documented international value. Without protection, it becomes raw material for foreign AI systems that profit from regional creativity while providing no return.
Economic Development	Creative industries are among the fastest-growing sectors in developing economies (IFC). AI threatens to undercut these sectors unless regional licensing frameworks are established. The IFC projects creative industries could account for 10% of global GDP before 2030—the Caribbean must be positioned to capture its share.
Digital Sovereignty	Small states risk becoming permanent standards-takers in the global AI economy. UNDP research shows that adopting finance-related digital public infrastructure could accelerate GDP growth by 20–33% for SIDS—realizing this potential requires sovereign governance.
Geopolitical Positioning	The EU AI Act is now entering full enforcement (August 2026). The African Union has a Continental AI Strategy in active implementation (2025–2030). The 2024 Santiago Declaration set out a Latin American and Caribbean AI governance framework. CARICOM must assert its interests within these processes or face exclusion from the standards-setting table.

 

5.  POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CARICOM

 

A.  Establish a Regional AI Governance Framework

•       Create a CARICOM AI & Data Governance Task Force with a mandate to develop binding regional standards.

•       Develop harmonized legislation on AI transparency, data protection, and cultural rights, drawing on the model provided by the EU AI Act and the AU Continental AI Strategy.

•       Align with the UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap (2024)—which already reflects input from over 1,000 regional stakeholders—as a baseline for legislative drafting.

 

Precedent

The African Union adopted its Continental AI Strategy in July 2024 and began Phase 1 implementation in 2025. CARICOM should benchmark against this timeline to avoid a widening gap with peer developing-region blocs.

 

B.  Protect Caribbean Cultural and Creative Data

•       Classify cultural heritage (digital and traditional) as protected regional assets with defined ownership and licensing requirements.

•       Require consent and licensing for AI training on Caribbean cultural materials—closing the data nullius loophole.

•       Develop a Caribbean Cultural Data Registry, building on existing WIPO copyright measurement frameworks and the CDB’s ongoing creative industries statistical capacity-building initiative.

 

C.  Strengthen Copyright and IP Defenses

•       Update copyright laws across member states to address AI training and generative outputs, with particular attention to the use of dialect, oral traditions, and community knowledge.

•       Advocate internationally—through WIPO, UNESCO, and the WTO—for recognition of small state cultural rights in AI training data governance.

•       Support creators with legal tools and institutional capacity to challenge unauthorized AI use.

 

D.  Build Regional AI Capacity

•       Invest in local AI research at UWI, UG, and regional tech hubs, including the AI4SIDS platform being developed at UWI to address climate resilience through AI.

•       Support Caribbean-led datasets and ethical AI models that reflect regional linguistic and cultural realities.

•       Leverage the UNDP Digital Support Facility for the Caribbean, announced in collaboration with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and CAF Development Bank, to access technical assistance and financial support.

 

E.  Negotiate with Global AI Companies

•       Require transparency on data sources used for AI training—a standard already being implemented under the EU AI Act.

•       Establish regional licensing agreements for Caribbean cultural content, negotiated collectively through CARICOM rather than by individual small states.

•       Demand Caribbean representation in global AI governance forums, including WIPO, UNESCO, and emerging G20 AI governance discussions.

 

6.  IMMEDIATE ACTIONS: FIRST 12 MONTHS

 

1.     Convene a CARICOM High-Level Meeting on AI & Cultural Sovereignty, anchored in the UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap framework.

2.     Commission a regional audit of cultural data already scraped by AI systems, in partnership with WIPO and UNESCO.

3.     Draft a Model AI Governance Bill for member states, benchmarking against the EU AI Act and the AU Continental AI Strategy.

4.     Launch a Caribbean Digital Heritage Protection Initiative, classifying digital cultural assets as protected regional property.

5.     Engage UNESCO, WIPO, and OECS for technical and legal support, specifically on data nullius protections and licensing frameworks.

6.     Develop a regional public awareness campaign on AI rights, cultural data, and the economic value of Caribbean creative heritage.

 

7.  CONCLUSION

 

AI presents both opportunity and danger. Without coordinated action, the Caribbean risks becoming a digital plantation—a source of cultural raw material for foreign AI systems that do not recognize our rights or contributions.

The evidence is clear: the global creative economy is worth over US$1.4 trillion in services exports alone. Caribbean creative industries are among the fastest-growing MSME sectors in the region. Yet CARICOM states overwhelmingly lack the AI governance frameworks and data protection laws needed to defend these assets in the digital age.

The world is not waiting. The EU AI Act is entering full enforcement. The African Union is in active implementation of its Continental AI Strategy. The UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap has already been built. What remains is the political will to close the Execution Gap—to convert the region’s evident aspirations into enforceable, coordinated, sovereign action.

A unified CARICOM strategy is not optional. It is essential for safeguarding the region’s identity, economy, and future.

KEY SOURCES & EVIDENTIARY BASIS

 

•       UNCTAD Creative Economy Outlook 2024 — unctad.org

•       Caribbean Development Bank: Validating the Creative Industries (2022) — caribank.org

•       ECLAC Policy Brief LC/CAR/2025/3: Strengthening Caribbean AI Governance (August 2025) — repositorio.cepal.org

•       UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap (December 2024) — unesco.org

•       UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021) — unesco.org

•       Jose Felipe Otero: Data Infrastructure in the Caribbean (2025) — josefelipeotero.com

•       CloudCarib: The Case for Digital Sovereignty in the Caribbean (2025) — cloudcarib.com

•       International Finance Corporation: Creative Industries — ifc.org

•       UNDP: Digital Public Infrastructure for SIDS (Trinidad and Tobago) — undp.org

•       African Union Continental AI Strategy (2024) — Future of Privacy Forum / White & Case

•       Dr. Abiola Inniss: Data Nullius and the Caribbean’s Search for Digital Sovereignty, Caribbean Life (February 2026)

•       The Inniss Institute for Digital Policy and Intellectual Property — innissinstitute.org