Barbados to host UN AI panel as global concern over safeguards grows

Barbados will host the second in-person meeting of the United Nations’ Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence in November, placing the Caribbean at the centre of a widening global push to govern a technology whose capabilities are advancing faster than many governments can regulate.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced the meeting in her speech to the 81st United Nations General Assembly late on Thursday, arguing that the rules for AI  must not be set solely by technology companies or a small group of advanced economies. Her intervention comes as the UN panel warns that existing safeguards are struggling to keep pace with increasingly capable AI systems and agents.

“In the growing age of AI, governance cannot be left to voluntary corporate practices or to a small number of technologically advanced states,” she told the General Assembly.