At the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference held this week at Montego Bay’s St James Convention Centre, a major government digital modernization initiative was unveiled that will require all public sector employees from senior leadership to frontline staff to complete mandatory artificial intelligence training. The program, designed to upgrade Jamaica’s public service and streamline service delivery for citizens both at home and abroad, was announced by Trevor Forrest, senior advisor to Science, Technology and Special Projects Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley in the Office of the Prime Minister, during a plenary session focused on leveraging diaspora expertise to build Jamaica’s digital and AI-enabled future.
Forrest explained that the core goal of the mandatory training scheme is to equip every government worker with a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence, its practical use cases across public administration, and the ethical frameworks that govern responsible AI deployment. A key barrier the initiative aims to address is the widespread apprehension many public sector employees hold toward emerging technologies: a common concern among workers is that AI will displace existing roles, leading to reluctance to adopt new tools that could otherwise improve operational performance.
“Even as cutting-edge technological tools become more accessible to government institutions, their actual ability to drive improvement depends entirely on the people who use them daily,” Forrest noted during his address. “Many workers in the public system remain wary of these innovations, under the assumption that AI will take over their jobs. That misconception holds back progress across all ministries, departments, and agencies.”
By centering training on both the practical benefits of AI and its ethical guidelines, the Jamaican government aims to build buy-in across the public workforce, encouraging smoother adoption of AI tools that cut red tape, reduce processing times, and make public services more accessible. Forrest emphasized that boosting internal government efficiency does not only benefit administrative operations — the gains will ultimately flow through to all Jamaicans, including members of the diaspora who engage with government institutions from overseas.
The mandatory AI training program is just one component of Jamaica’s broader national strategy to prepare its workforce and public institutions for a rapidly evolving digital global economy. Government leaders have framed the initiative as a critical step toward modernizing the public sector, ensuring that AI is deployed responsibly across all government functions, and positioning Jamaica as a forward-looking leader in Caribbean digital transformation.