The Tribune

A Cabinet minister has given The Bahamas’ views on artificial intelligence (AI), disaster resilience and turning technology advances into development gains at two meetings held alongside the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

Sebas Bastian, minister of innovation and national development, participated in a UN Digital Co-operation Day panel discussion on the role technology can play in disaster preparedness and resilience alongside representatives from Google DeepMind, GSMA and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

He called for a practical approach to the role AI and emerging technologies can play in this area, including measuring whether they help protect people, enable faster recovery from disasters and if they facilitate better decision-making by authorities.

Mr Bastian also urged that improvements in weather forecasting, satellite imagery, risk mapping and early warning systems be made available for small states such as The Bahamas to access.

“The question for us is not whether the technology exists; it is whether small states can access it, build the local capacity to apply it to our own realities, and rely on it when our people need it most,” he said. “Small island developing state must be included from the beginning in the design of global AI and resilience initiatives, rather than being brought in after solutions have already been developed.”

Mr Bastian then represented The Bahamas at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) group presidential dialogue on AI, which brought together political and private sector leaders from the Caribbean and Latin America to discuss the evolving technology’s likely impact on digitisation and productivity.

The minister called for a broader approach to development financing in the digital age, arguing that it should not only be directed at technology adoption but at the persons who will use, adapt and build it. He called for funding to be directed to skills and capacity building, especially in small island states such as The Bahamas, so that their citizens can participate as innovators and creators rather than consumers of technology developed elsewhere.

“We have spent significant resources helping countries adopt technology,” Mr Bastian said. “We now have to be equally ambitious about building the people who can shape what comes next. For countries like The Bahamas, success cannot simply mean using the technology. It has to mean developing Bahamians with the skills to adapt it, build with it and create solutions of their own.”

Setting out how he plans to exploit The Bahamas’ presence at the UN General Assembly, Mr Bastian added: “We are building on the work we began at the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance earlier this year. Since then, The Bahamas has strengthened relationships and opened important doors.

“This week is about turning that momentum into tangible opportunities, whether that is technical expertise, investment, knowledge transfer or partnerships that build greater capability at home. We want to accelerate the work already underway in digital government, AI, cyber security and future skills, while developing Bahamians with the capacity to lead and build in these areas.”