Imagine waking up one morning and every system you rely on—your bank, your government portal, your hospital, your business—is locked, corrupted, or completely offline.
No electricity bill can be paid. No patient records can be accessed. Flights can’t be confirmed. Ports are stalled. Phones go silent.
This isn’t a scene from a science fiction movie. It’s the very real and growing threat of cyber warfare—unfolding silently beneath the surface of our Caribbean blue skies and digital ambitions.
This year’s AI Research Conference comes at a moment of deep urgency, and no panel may be more timely or vital than AI and Cyber Resilience: Fortifying the Caribbean’s Digital Borders. It is a warning shot across the bow—a call to every leader, policymaker, business owner, and citizen: we are already under attack.
And yet, we are dangerously underprepared.
Across the Caribbean, we are digitising with speed but securing with delay. While our nations embrace online banking, e-government services, cloud-based healthcare, and digital tourism platforms, few are investing in the advanced defenses required to protect them. The ocean that has always connected us now leaves us exposed—our undersea cables, port technologies, and maritime logistics are vulnerable to cyber sabotage. Cyber surveillance on our open seas is now as important as coastal radar—not just to track ships, but to detect digital incursions and hostile signals that could cripple critical infrastructure.
This panel, featuring cybersecurity strategist Edward Millington, CaribNOG director Stephen Lee, and UWI computer science lecturer Dr. Sean T. Miller, will address the new frontier of warfare—invisible battles waged not with guns, but with code.
Artificial Intelligence, once thought of as a future luxury, is now a frontline necessity. AI can sweep massive networks in seconds, detect hidden breaches, recognise threat patterns used by adversaries, and respond faster than any human team. But without trained personnel, national strategy, and cross-island collaboration, AI remains an untapped ally.
What’s at risk? Everything.
Healthcare systems that can’t access electronic records. Financial institutions losing millions in seconds. Tourism operators frozen by ransomware. Small businesses shuttered by stolen data. Airports grounded. Utilities hijacked.
Cyberattacks are not just attacks on systems—they are attacks on sovereignty, survival, and public trust. And the adversary doesn’t care if you are big or small. In fact, smaller, less protected islands make easier targets.
As Stephen Lee has warned, “We’re not waiting for a cyber hurricane. We’re already in the storm. The question is—do we have a roof?”
This panel sounds the alarm. It is more than a discussion—it is a mission. It demands that we stop treating cybersecurity like an IT issue and recognise it as the regional emergency that it is.
If the Caribbean is to thrive in the age of AI, we must do more than connect—we must defend.
And the time to act isn’t next year. It’s now.
The 2025 UWI Five Islands Artificial Intelligence Conference will be held June 23-24.
Registration and the full programme details are available at fiveislandsaiconference.com.
