FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF INTELLIGENCE
Released: May 28, 2025
Written by: WI of the Future Staff & ChatGpt
As of May 2025, Trinidad and Tobago has established a dedicated Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence, marking a significant advancement in the nation’s digital governance. Senator the Honourable Dominic Smith, representing the United National Congress (UNC), was appointed as the inaugural Minister of this newly formed ministry on May 3, 2025, under Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s administration .
AI INFRASTUCTURE x NATIONAL POLICY
The Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence is tasked with integrating AI technologies into public administration to enhance service delivery, policy formulation, and operational efficiency. While specific strategic plans are forthcoming, the ministry is expected to build upon existing digital transformation initiatives, such as the National Digital Transformation Strategy (NDTS) 2024–2027, which emphasizes the adoption of AI tools for public engagement and governance . (Ministry of Digital Transformation, 2025)
Key Initiatives and Collaborations
Prior to the establishment of the AI ministry, Trinidad and Tobago had already embarked on several AI and digital transformation projects:
—National Digital Transformation Strategy (NDTS): Launched in early 2025, the NDTS introduced platforms like Engage.gov.tt and the AI-powered AskNDTS app to facilitate public understanding and participation in digital initiatives .Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
–Open Source Programme Office (OSPO): In December 2024, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, established the OSPO to promote open-source technologies and support the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s goals .UNDP
—Cybersecurity Collaboration: The Ministry of Digital Transformation partnered with the University of Trinidad and Tobago to advance cybersecurity training and research, laying the groundwork for secure AI integration .Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
—International Partnerships: A Memorandum of Understanding with India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was signed to share successful digital solutions, including those related to AI and digital public infrastructure .PM India
WILL IT CRUMBLE?
The creation of the Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence positions Trinidad and Tobago as a regional leader in AI governance. The ministry is anticipated to focus on: Developing AI Policies and Regulations — Establishing frameworks to guide ethical and effective AI use in public services — Enhancing Public Sector Efficiency — Leveraging AI to streamline government operations and improve citizen engagement –Fostering Innovation and Talent Development: Collaborating with educational institutions and private sector partners to cultivate AI expertise and innovation.
As the ministry’s initiatives unfold, further details on its strategic direction and impact on national development are expected to emerge.
Trinidad and Tobago’s creation of a Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence marks a pioneering move in the Caribbean, signaling a broader regional shift toward leveraging AI for public sector transformation. At its core, this ministry is designed to integrate artificial intelligence into government operations, improving service delivery, streamlining bureaucracy, and enhancing citizen engagement through data-driven decision-making.
For the Caribbean as a whole, this initiative sets a precedent with several potential regional benefits:
Digital Public Services: By adopting AI tools for areas such as healthcare access, education, and disaster response, governments across the Caribbean can improve efficiency and accessibility, even in remote or underserved areas.
Regional Knowledge Sharing: Trinidad and Tobago’s leadership can pave the way for inter-island collaboration, allowing smaller nations to adopt proven AI frameworks without starting from scratch.
Economic Modernization: AI infrastructure can support smart agriculture, tourism, and logistics—sectors vital to many Caribbean economies—helping them compete globally through innovation and efficiency.
Resilience and Sustainability: AI can be used to enhance climate monitoring, urban planning, and energy management, supporting the region’s ongoing efforts to build climate-resilient societies.
Talent and Innovation Ecosystem: As Trinidad and Tobago develops its AI capacity, it may serve as a hub for education, research, and private sector partnerships—training a new generation of Caribbean AI professionals.
Ultimately, this ministry is more than a national upgrade—it represents a regional opportunity to redefine how small island nations engage with 21st-century governance and global technology trends.
Shubham Dhage from unsplash
THE DEATH OF ART
Contempt for AI among artists is rooted in several deeply valid concerns, many of which stem from both ethical and existential dimensions of what it means to create.
1. Loss of Artistic Integrity and Labor Value
Artists often view AI-generated art as a threat to the integrity of the creative process. For many, art is an expression of lived experience, emotion, and cultural context—something that AI, which lacks consciousness or personal narrative, cannot authentically replicate. When AI is used to produce work that mimics human styles, it can feel like a devaluation of the years of practice, experimentation, and personal sacrifice artists invest in their craft.
2. Exploitation of Original Works
Much of the backlash also stems from how AI models are trained. Many were fed on vast datasets of artworks scraped from the internet without consent, compensation, or attribution. Artists see this as digital appropriation, where their unique styles are commodified and recycled without permission—essentially an infringement on intellectual and moral rights.
3. Commercial Displacement
AI-generated art is increasingly used in commercial contexts—advertising, publishing, gaming—displacing jobs traditionally filled by human creatives. For freelance and working artists, this isn’t just philosophical; it’s economic. When corporations choose AI for speed and cost-efficiency, it undercuts human labor, often in sectors already under financial pressure.
4. Erosion of Artistic Community
Art has historically fostered community, critique, mentorship, and collaboration. The mass production of AI art often lacks the same feedback loop. It can feel impersonal, isolating, and disconnected from the cultural conversations that human-made art inspires and sustains.
5. A Broader Cultural Concern
There’s also a symbolic dimension: many artists fear that embracing AI too uncritically reflects a broader cultural trend toward convenience over depth, speed over meaning, and replication over originality. For them, this signals a society drifting away from the human values that art is meant to reflect and protect.
Despite these concerns, some artists have embraced AI as a tool—not a replacement—to enhance their practice, explore new forms, and challenge the boundaries of what art can be. The key tension is not between “AI vs. artists,” but rather between exploitation and ethical use, between automation and augmentation.
Understanding this contempt, then, is not about dismissing it—but recognizing it as a call for accountability, fairness, and deeper cultural reflection on how we define creativity and who gets to be called a creator.
SO – DOES BUSTR USE AI?
Bustr is a media company built and upheld by a small few of very talented and very capable individuals & artists including verse writers, artists and IT and marketing experts. Thus far, none of the company’s releases integrate AI overtly. But a lot of great concepts and projects have been supported from an AI positive mentality that has allowed our personnel to draft, test and improve upon original works and maintain a balance of high output and quality management.
As a media company that manages intellectual property and values original artistry, we approach AI not as a replacement for human creators, but as a tool—used thoughtfully and transparently—to support and elevate the creative process.
We are committed to ethical AI practices, which include respecting copyright, crediting sources appropriately, and never training models on protected works without consent. Our priority is to protect the integrity of artists, uphold the value of human expression, and ensure that technology serves creativity—not the other way around.
As AI continues to evolve, we remain guided by a simple principle: innovation should empower artists, not undermine them.
“We’re in an age where the moment you turn on your phone you’ve already incorporated the fortuitously great benefits of an AI forward world. The clock is moving and time is pushing towards mass integration of the future’s most superior tool, as it always has. Just like the film loader losing work to the digital camera, artists are faced with a generational Darwinian dilemma. While there may be space for film loaders on a Scorsese set, the general climate is ‘evolve with the world or get left behind’; a reasonable challenge considering you’d never scorn the digital camera for bringing forth brilliant works or fostering of new-age filmmakers through it’s cheaper, more time-efficient form even at the death of the film loader. In the same way, we can still appreciate the depth and quality achieved in art’s ‘original form’ some of which could never be replicated purely through automation. But automation is the future. And WI of the Future are smart in our willingness to continue to innovate through the adapting & embracing of change instead of fighting it.” — Quote from Bustr’s founder
