At the opening ceremony of the annual Dominica Association of Teachers (DAT) Summer Training Institute, held this Monday at Dominica’s Convent High School, a top government education official has called on local educators to reframe their perspective on artificial intelligence, embracing the emerging technology as a supportive tool rather than a disruptive threat to teaching.
Robert Guiste, Permanent Secretary of Dominica’s Ministry of Education, used his keynote address to push for broader adoption of AI in educational settings, telling attendees, “I want us as teachers to focus on AI. AI should be our friend.”
Guiste pointed out that even original writing from iconic literary figures would trigger AI detection flags in today’s testing landscape. He explained, “Teachers, no matter what you do, if you were to call William Shakespeare now and you were to write something off his head, you run it through an AI checker, you are going to get 30 percent AI, at least.” His comments highlight a growing recognition that overreliance on AI detection tools can produce misleading results for genuinely original work, as AI systems are trained on vast corpora of existing text that overlap with even new, human-generated content.
Beyond encouraging responsible AI use among educators and students, Guiste emphasized the value of regional collaborative platforms for upskilling teachers. He noted that the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) maintains a dedicated professional development hub that offers educators across the region access to expanding high-quality learning opportunities, curated digital resources, and cross-institutional collaborative networks. This infrastructure is designed to support continuous career growth for teachers at every stage of their careers, Guiste said, adding, “It reflects our shared commitment within the OECS to building teacher capacity and ensuring that educators have access to continuous, relevant, and flexible professional development.”
Notably, the OECS hub’s built-in AI feature was not developed by outside international consultants. It was created by young tech professionals from across the Eastern Caribbean region, including two expert developers based in Dominica. This homegrown innovation aligns with the regional bloc’s goal of building locally led, context-appropriate educational tools that meet the specific needs of Caribbean educators and students.
Guiste closed his remarks by stressing the importance of digital literacy around AI, urging teachers to master when and how to leverage the technology, and to pass that critical understanding on to their students. By teaching responsible AI use from an early stage, he argued, schools can prepare the next generation for a workforce where AI literacy will be an essential skill.