THE Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC) has called for regional collaboration to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence while safeguarding democratic discourse in the already vulnerable Caribbean media ecosystem challenged by limited advertising revenues, small market sizes, and economic vulnerabilities as well as natural disasters.
In its message to commemorate Press Freedom Day on May 3 under the theme The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Press Freedom and the Media, the organisations urged local and regional media institutes to come together to recognise the achievements and challenges of media organisations within the Caribbean.
“While AI tools offer opportunities for automated reporting, data analysis and audience engagement, they also risk deepening existing inequities,” MIC said in a media release on May 2.
“Caribbean newsrooms are already strained by shrinking advertising revenues. It is noteworthy that between 15 and 25 per cent of such revenues are diverted to platforms like Meta and Google ads. There also exist fragile economies to which we now add the need to grapple with AI-driven content saturation.”
MIC also noted the threat of marginalisation that algorithmic curation on social media poses to smaller journalistic enterprises as free, AI-generated content competes with costly, human-produced news.
MIC president Kiran Maharaj said, “AI could democratise information access, but without guardrails, it may erode the financial sustainability of Caribbean media. We must advocate for equitable AI governance that prioritises public interest journalism.”
AI-fuelled misinformation and its effect exacerbating social divisions and undermining trust in institutions was another issue the MIC identified. A 2023 study by the MIC and the Association for Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) recounted how disinformation targeted elections and public health campaigns regionally.
MIC vice president Wesley Gibbings said, “Caribbean media must adopt AI-driven verification tools and invest in digital literacy programmes. Our survival depends on retaining public trust through accuracy and transparency.”
These challenges, MIC said, are further worsened by the region's susceptibility to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and other climate-related disasters which not only disrupt media operations but also strain financial resources.
The devastation brought by hurricanes between 2017 and 2024 underscored the fragility of media infrastructures, MIC said, highlighting the urgent need for disaster preparedness and resilience planning.
MIC suggested the use of blending traditional knowledge with AI-enhanced forecasting and real-time alerts to enhance disaster response but noted AI’s misuse during crises through the release of misinformation could pose new dangers.
In light of this, MIC made a call to action to prioritise the Caribbean
The MIC will host the Caribbean Media Summit in Guyana from May 23 to 24. The summit’s theme will be Enhancing Business Models in a Turbulent Tim
