DAY 1 LIVESTREAM - Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Forum (CAIF 2026)

DAY 1 – Thursday, 23 July 2026 09:02 AST Safety Briefing University of the West Indies 09:02 AST Welcome Remarks Nigel Cassimire - Deputy Secretary-General, CTU Prof. Rose-Marie Belle Antoine - Campus Principal, UWI STA Campus 09:10 AST Towards Regional Harmonization: The Caribbean AI Task Force Dr. Craig Ramlal - Executive Director, Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre; Head, Control Systems Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UWI St. Augustine; Chair, CTU Caribbean AI Task Force 09:30 AST Keynote Address: World Digital Governance (WDG) – From Principles to Action Graeme Thomson - Founding Member, World Digital Governance (WDG) 09:45 AST Feature Address Senator the Honourable Dominic Smith - Minister of Public Administration and AI, Trinidad & Tobago; President, CTU 10:05 AST Launch of the Caribbean AI Task Force Final Report Senator the Honourable Dominic Smith Dr. Craig Ramlal Nigel Cassimire 10:10 AST Cultural Interlude and Drone Show Emmanuel Joseph - Pannist 10:40 AST High-Level Panel: Turning the Work of the CAITF into Collective Action Senator the Honourable Dominic Smith H.E. Ren Hongyan - Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Trinidad and Tobago H.E. Guillaume Pierre - Ambassador of the French Republic to Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Craig Ramlal - Chair, CAITF; Director, AIIC MODERATOR Nigel Cassimire - Deputy Secretary-General, CTU 11:20 AST National AI Movements: Trends, Opportunities & Lessons Learnt Chris Reckord - Chair, National AI Task Force, Jamaica (Remote) Atiba Phillips - Board Director, iGoVTT Vincent Roberts - Chairman and Commissioner, NTRC Grenada MODERATOR Kirk Sookram - Deputy CEO, Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) 13:00 AST Human-Centric, Rights-Based & Ethical AI Cordel Green - Executive Director, Broadcast Commission of Jamaica (Remote) Ms. Sandrea Maynard - Pro Vice-Chancellor, UWI Lily Dash - Founder, Future Caribbean Prof. Derrick Cogburn - Professor of Information Technology & Analytics (Kogod School of Business) and Environment, Development & Health (School of International Service); Executive Director, Institute on Disability and Public Policy, American University Kevan Rajaram - Manager of Analytics and Information Management, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Researcher, TTLAB MODERATOR Nia Nanan - Senior Research Analyst, CTU 13:40 AST Data Sovereignty, Cybersecurity & AI Infrastructure Tracy Hackshaw - Chef d'Enterprise, UPU (Remote) Reza Sookdeo - Chief Information Officer, Heritage Petroleum Limited Shernon Osepa - Consultant Strategic Advisor and CAITF Coordinator, CTU Steven Williams - Principal Consultant, Data Privacy Cédric Pradel - Executive Director, ACCYB MODERATOR Kurleigh Prescod - CEO, TATT 15:05 AST Culture, Creatives, Intellectual Property & AI Dr. Justin Koo - Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UWI Jean Marie Altema - Executive Manager, ProfIT Development Consulting (Remote) Keron Rose - Founder, The Digipreneur Company (Remote) Kerron Sealy MODERATOR Gary Kalloo - Business Development Director, CTU 15:45 AST Women in AI Diedre Cousins - CIO, GraceKennedy Dr. Maria Myers-Hamilton - Chair, CTU Network of Women (Remote) Amanda Zilla - Co-Chair, HerSpace in AI, AIIC, UWI Julie Koon Koon - Lead Data Scientist, Republic Bank Limited; Lecturer, BSc Computing, SBCS Global Learning Institute MODERATOR Shanea Lewis - Policy Analyst, CTU 16:50 AST Day 1 Wrap-up Dr. Craig Ramlal - Chair, CAITF ABOUT CAIF 2026 In July 2025, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) launched the Caribbean AI Task Force (CAITF) to guide ethical, inclusive and responsible AI development across the region. The Task Force was established to support harmonised AI policies and regulatory frameworks, build regional AI capacity, promote responsible AI aligned with sustainable development, and strengthen collaboration among governments, academia, the private sector, civil society and youth. The CAITF Interim Report, Toward Harmonised AI Policies and Recommendations for the Caribbean, calls for a coordinated CARICOM-wide response to AI governance and implementation. It highlights the Caribbean’s “connectivity paradox”, where strong digital engagement is constrained by fragile infrastructure, high connectivity costs, fragmented regulation and limited data governance. The report identifies five priority areas for action: regional AI governance, data sovereignty and digital infrastructure, innovation and industry development, human capacity and AI literacy, and sustained multi-stakeholder engagement. More info: https://ctu.int/event/1st-ctu-caribbe...