Ruling party to outline AI policy in manifesto

KINGSTOWN (CMC):

The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) will outline its policy on artificial intelligence in its manifesto for the general election widely expected by November 2025, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.

Finance minister, Camillo Gonsalves, speaking on the party’s radio station, Star FM, told listeners that “we have an AI policy in the Unity Labour Party that we are going to roll out in our next term in office to take advantage of the many, many positives of AI and guard against some of the abuses and negatives.

“AI is a reality that we have to grapple with,” he said, adding that when he speaks of AI, he does not mean just ChatGPT, but is referring also to large language models, including Copilot and Gemini.

”They are getting better every day, and they can do incredible things, but that’s only a segment of what AI is. AI is going to make … a lot of government activities more efficient, faster.

“It’s going to make crime-fighting better. It’s going to make customer service improved, but it is also going … to be disruptive in the job market, because there’re going to be a lot of things that AI can do that humans don’t need to do anymore.”

The finance minister, who is the son of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who is seeking an unprecedented sixth consecutive term in office, said that human beings have to be trained to do things that AI can’t do as well as be trained to manipulate AI.

“So that if you have a job and part of your job will be interacting with artificial intelligence, you have to understand how to interact with artificial intelligence,” Gonsalves said.