Carib Scope

分类： technology

  • WhatsApp introduceert gebruikersnamen voor betere privacy: wat verandert er?

    WhatsApp introduceert gebruikersnamen voor betere privacy: wat verandert er?

    One of the world’s most widely used messaging platforms, WhatsApp, which boasts close to 3 billion active users across the globe, is rolling out a transformative privacy-focused update that will redefine how users connect on the service. For years, the platform has relied on phone numbers as the primary identifier for accounts, but that long-standing system is getting a major overhaul later this year: users will soon be able to create and use unique custom usernames to connect with others, eliminating the need to share personal contact information to start a conversation.

    The new functionality is being rolled out in phases, with early access already open to a small test group of users to reserve their preferred handles ahead of a broader launch in the coming months. To secure a username, users are required to update their mobile WhatsApp application to the latest version, then set their unique handle through the app’s settings menu. Notably, the reservation process can only be completed via the native smartphone app, and is not supported on WhatsApp Web or the desktop version of the platform.

    To address ongoing concerns around unwanted contact, spam, and privacy breaches, WhatsApp has built multiple layers of protection into the new system. Unlike many other social and messaging platforms, WhatsApp will not maintain a public searchable directory of usernames, nor will it suggest accounts to users based on existing contacts or usage data. This means that a user can only be found and contacted by a new person if that person already knows their exact username.

    For an extra level of security, users will also have the option to add a unique personal key to their account. With this optional feature enabled, a new contact can only reach out if they know both the user’s username and their personal key, creating an additional barrier that drastically reduces the risk of unsolicited messages from strangers and spam senders.

    The update also includes special provisions for businesses and public figures, who will get the opportunity to reserve their official usernames ahead of the general rollout. WhatsApp will hold control over high-demand and brand-related usernames to prevent impersonation, fraud, and misleading activity on the platform.

    Alice Newton-Rex, Vice President of Product at WhatsApp, emphasized that the entire feature was built from the ground up as a core privacy tool for users. “We recognize that sharing a personal phone number is a big ask for many people,” she explained, noting that users often want to start new conversations without exposing sensitive personal contact information. For years, WhatsApp has only offered reactive tools to address unwanted contact, such as the ability to block individual accounts or mute calls from unknown numbers. This new update marks a shift to proactive privacy protection, giving users control over who can reach them before any contact is made.

    As the rollout progresses, WhatsApp will notify users directly through the app once the feature becomes available in their specific region. The company has advised all users to keep their mobile application updated to ensure they can access the new privacy settings as soon as they launch.

  • WhatsApp to let users go by usernames, not phone numbers

    WhatsApp to let users go by usernames, not phone numbers

    One of the world’s most widely used messaging platforms, WhatsApp, is closing one of its longest-standing privacy vulnerabilities by rolling out a new feature that will allow users to connect with others exclusively through custom usernames, eliminating the mandatory requirement to share personal phone numbers to connect on the app. With over 3 billion active users across the globe, the Meta-owned social platform announced the update on Monday, opening up early reservations for unique usernames ahead of a full global rollout scheduled for later this year.

    WhatsApp product vice president Alice Newton-Rox told reporters that the new functionality has been built as a core privacy-focused feature, designed to put greater control of personal information into users’ hands. Unlike many social platforms that maintain public searchable directories of usernames and offer autocomplete search suggestions, WhatsApp’s system will be intentionally restricted: new contacts will only be able to reach a user if they know their exact username, cutting down on unwanted outreach from strangers who have obtained a user’s phone number through public or unscrupulous means.

    For years, WhatsApp has offered full end-to-end encryption for all communications across its smartphone, tablet and desktop versions, but the platform has carried a key privacy flaw: any user who possesses another person’s phone number can contact them directly on the app, regardless of whether they know the user personally. Up until this announcement, the platform’s only privacy tools to counter unwanted contact have been limited to blocking individual users and muting calls from unknown numbers, which many users have criticized as insufficient for protecting personal privacy.

    While the platform remains far less popular than native SMS texting in the United States, it has become a dominant communication tool across Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and most other regions globally, making this privacy update impactful for a huge swath of the global population. The company has already kicked off early reservations for usernames, a move designed to accommodate the expected rush for catchy, desirable handles that are highly sought after on digital platforms. Newton-Rox explained the decision to open early reservations, noting that high demand for popular usernames was the key driver for opening access ahead of the full feature launch.

    The platform has put rules in place to protect users from impersonation: usernames must fall between 3 and 35 characters, and the service will reserve high-profile handles for public figures, celebrities, government entities and notable organizations to prevent bad actors from impersonating prominent people or groups. No exact full launch date has been announced, with the company only confirming that the full functionality will roll out to all users in the coming months.

  • Strong UWI presence in inaugural Global Digital Infrastructure Fellowship

    Strong UWI presence in inaugural Global Digital Infrastructure Fellowship

    A major milestone for Caribbean digital development has emerged, as nearly three dozen individuals affiliated with the University of the West Indies (UWI) have been selected for the first-ever Resilient Global Digital Infrastructure (GDI) Fellowship. The achievement cements UWI’s growing reputation as a leading hub for digital innovation across the Caribbean region. Per an official press statement from the university, half of all Caribbean participants selected for the inaugural cohort have formal ties to UWI, a standout result drawn from a pool of hundreds of competitive regional applicants.

    Breaking down the successful selections, 16 are currently part of the UWI community: 10 undergraduate students, three postgraduate students, and three faculty and staff members. An additional four UWI graduates also earned coveted spots in this globally recognized professional development program.

    The Resilient GDI Fellowship is a collaborative initiative led by the SubOptic Foundation, in partnership with industry specialists and academic researchers from the University of California, Berkeley’s Global Digital Infrastructure program. Designed to bridge cross-sector knowledge gaps, the program brings together participants from a wide spectrum of academic and professional fields – including engineering, law, public policy, economics, media, and the social sciences. Over the course of the program, fellows will collaborate to explore frameworks for designing, governing, and reinforcing robust global digital infrastructure that meets long-term future needs.

    A core mission of the initiative is to build specialized local expertise in strategically critical regions like the Caribbean, where consistent, resilient digital connectivity has become an increasingly indispensable asset for social and economic progress. Sandrea Maynard, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Affairs at UWI, emphasized the transformative role of digital infrastructure for the Caribbean.

    “Digital infrastructure is foundational to the future of our region. It underpins teaching and learning, research, innovation, governance, resilience, and economic development,” Maynard said. “UWI’s strong representation in this fellowship reflects both the quality of our people and the importance of investing in the systems and skills that will shape the Caribbean’s digital future.”

    Maynard added that the large contingent of UWI participants in the fellowship underscores the institution’s commitment to ensuring Caribbean voices, knowledge, and perspectives shape global conversations around digital infrastructure planning, digital sovereignty, and equitable sustainable development.

    After engaging with prospective fellows across the Caribbean, Iago Bojczuk, a Research Associate at UC Berkeley, praised the high calibre of regional applicants selected for the cohort. “The enthusiasm and knowledge that the Fellows have brought to the programme so far speak to the immense potential that exists across the Caribbean region,” Bojczuk said. “Their diverse backgrounds and commitment to meaningful connectivity demonstrate what is possible when emerging leaders are empowered to shape the future of global digital infrastructure. Their engagement highlights that resilience must be grounded in equity and sustainability—central pillars of our Global Digital Infrastructure Certificate.”

    Moving forward, the SubOptic Foundation and UC Berkeley GDI program team will guide participating fellows through a structured curriculum that combines targeted skills training, cross-regional collaborative projects, and hands-on applied research. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to strengthen the development of resilient, inclusive, future-ready digital infrastructure systems across the Caribbean and other strategically important regions. UWI closed its announcement by extending formal congratulations to all selected fellows and reaffirming its ongoing commitment to partnering with global institutions to advance Caribbean regional leadership in digital infrastructure, innovation, and technology development.

  • China neemt Amerikaanse kroon over voor snelste supercomputer ter wereld

    China neemt Amerikaanse kroon over voor snelste supercomputer ter wereld

    For the first time in nearly a decade, a Chinese supercomputer has seized the number one position on the world’s most influential ranking of high-performance computing systems, ending a multi-year run of U.S. leadership and underscoring Beijing’s expanding capacity to compete with Washington in cutting-edge technological development.

    The new champion, LineShine, is hosted at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen. It recorded a performance of 2.198 exaflops — equivalent to more than two quintillion calculations per second — giving it a 20% performance lead over the previous title holder, the U.S.-built El Capitan supercomputer. El Capitan, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, had held the top spot on the biennial TOP500 ranking since November 2024. Following LineShine and El Capitan in the updated rankings are two other U.S. systems: Frontier at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee takes third place, and Aurora at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois claims fourth. Germany’s Jupiter rounds out the top five, with other top 20 spots distributed across nations including the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

    This milestone marks the first time a Chinese system has topped the TOP500 list since 2017, when China’s Sunway TaihuLight held the leading position. Industry analysts say LineShine’s ascent is particularly notable because it comes despite years of strict U.S. export restrictions targeting advanced semiconductors for high-performance computing. Jack Dongarra, an emeritus professor of computer science at the University of Tennessee and one of the lead organizers of the TOP500 project, noted that LineShine’s performance proves China remains competitive in the supercomputing space even amid trade barriers. “Export restrictions may slow China’s access to certain imported components, but they have also accelerated the development of domestic alternative solutions,” Dongarra explained. He added that China’s return to the top position was not entirely unexpected.

    A unique feature of LineShine that sets it apart from other leading exascale systems is its all-central processing unit (CPU) architecture. Unlike graphics processing units (GPUs), which have become the standard for powering large AI models such as ChatGPT and Claude due to their parallel processing capabilities, CPUs have fewer cores and are generally slower for complex AI workloads. Even with this design choice, the TOP500 confirms LineShine is the first and only CPU-only supercomputer to ever break the 2 exaflop performance threshold.

    First launched in 1993, the TOP500 list is published twice yearly, ranking systems based on their performance on the LINPACK Benchmark, a standard test that measures how quickly a system can solve a large system of linear equations. China previously dominated the global supercomputing landscape, holding nearly half of all TOP500 spots in 2019, but its representation on the list declined in recent years amid worsening U.S.-China geopolitical tensions.

    While the TOP500 has remained an influential industry benchmark for decades, some experts argue its relevance has faded as computing priorities have shifted following the AI boom. Most of the world’s most powerful AI-optimized computing systems are operated by large private tech corporations including Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet, and these private systems rarely participate in the voluntary TOP500 ranking, which is dominated by public sector and academic systems. For context, a 2025 analysis from Cornell University estimated that El Capitan holds only 22% of the total computing power of xAI’s private Colossus supercomputer.

    Dongarra emphasized that the TOP500 only measures performance on one specific benchmark, and should not be treated as a comprehensive measure of overall global technological leadership. “Scientific output, energy efficiency, software maturity, reliability, usability, and support for broad research communities are all equally important metrics,” he said.

    Addison Snell, co-founder of technology research firm Intersect360 Research, noted that while LineShine’s top ranking was not surprising, it is notable that Chinese developers have returned to active participation in the TOP500 ranking after years of reduced involvement. Snell argued that LineShine’s new leading position will have ripple effects for the United States, Europe, and Japan as they compete for global AI dominance. “The U.S. still holds an overall technological lead, but the gap has narrowed dramatically,” Snell said. “With rapid advancements across the sector, the global technology order can shift very quickly. Digital sovereignty has become a core priority in supercomputing and AI, and every major region is now investing heavily to build its own independent capabilities.”

    For a decade, the U.S. and China have been locked in intensifying competition for global leadership in advanced technology sectors including AI, with export controls and sanctions used as key tools in this rivalry. A 2026 research report from Stanford University found that China has effectively closed the performance gap with the U.S. in core AI model capabilities. While the U.S. still produces more leading-edge large AI models, China leads the world in AI-related patents and industrial robot adoption.

    Snell added that even if large private tech firms could outperform the TOP500’s top-ranked systems, the ranking remains critical for scientific supercomputing, a distinct field from consumer-facing AI development. “AI dominance does not automatically translate to scientific computing dominance,” he explained. While consumer AI applications such as image generation, automated translation, and chatbots are important, they are not sufficient to meet global research needs. “Policy should support AI development for scientific progress, not pit AI investment against scientific computing investment. Governments need to invest in both areas to secure long-term technological competitiveness.”

  • IICA-led study maps 2,656 AgTech startups across Latin America and the Caribbean

    IICA-led study maps 2,656 AgTech startups across Latin America and the Caribbean

    Agricultural technology innovation is rapidly taking shape across Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the first-ever comprehensive regional mapping of AgTech startups, which counted 2,656 active ventures across 23 of the region’s 33 countries. The groundbreaking survey, published by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), expands the Brazil-developed AgTech Radar initiative to cover the full LAC region, offering stakeholders an unprecedented baseline for understanding the fast-evolving agri-innovation ecosystem.

    The research was led by Brazil’s leading agricultural research body, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), in partnership with IICA, innovation consulting firm Homo Ludens, and venture capital fund SP Ventures. Additional backing for the project came from the Cooperative Program for the Technological Development of the Agri-Food and Agro-Industrial Sector of the Southern Cone (PROCISUR) and Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. The final report will be officially unveiled June 23 at the World Agri-Tech South America Summit in São Paulo, Brazil, during a panel discussion featuring representatives from all lead partner organizations, and will be available for free access in Portuguese, English, and Spanish following the launch.

    The report’s data reveals a stark but evolving concentration of AgTech activity across the region. Brazil leads by a wide margin, hosting 2,075 of the counted startups — 78% of the region’s total. Argentina ranks second with 158 ventures, followed by Mexico (110), Chile (91), Colombia (79) and Uruguay (74). Ten LAC countries recorded zero identified AgTech startups, which researchers link to factors including small national populations, limited territorial size, and underdeveloped domestic agricultural innovation sectors. The research team also notes that the final count is likely an underrepresentation, as gaps in local data tracking and a lack of partner institutions in some nations limited access to unregistered or emerging ventures.

    Despite this concentration, study co-author and Embrapa analyst Aurélio Favarin emphasized that the region’s AgTech ecosystem is steadily maturing. “The AgTech Radar LAC 2026 data show that Latin America and the Caribbean are undergoing a steady process of maturation of the agricultural innovation ecosystem. Although there is still a strong regional concentration, there is a growing capacity to generate technological solutions adapted to local production realities,” Favarin stated in IICA’s official press announcement. He added that this first mapping effort creates a critical benchmark that will allow for more comprehensive and accurate tracking of ecosystem growth in future annual surveys.

    Federico Bert, manager of IICA’s Digitalization of Agrifood Systems Program, highlighted the unique value of the cross-institutional collaboration that produced the report. By combining Embrapa’s deep technical expertise in agricultural research with IICA’s broad regional network across the LAC zone, the project was able to build a holistic picture of the ecosystem that would not be possible for a single organization to assemble. “Understanding how the ecosystem is integrated and evolves is the starting point for fostering its growth and development in both the public and private sectors,” Bert explained.

    A key methodological update in this first regional edition is the classification of startups based on the specific agricultural production chains they serve. Of the total ventures mapped, 1,480 offer solutions that work across multiple production sectors. For single-sector startups, 751 focus on broad-acre crop production, 136 on cattle production, 88 on horticulture and fruit growing, and 84 on forestry. Favarin noted that this spread of specialization reflects the vast heterogeneity of agricultural production across the LAC region, and demonstrates that local startups are already successfully developing tools tailored to unique local production conditions.

    The survey also breaks down the types of technology being developed by regional startups. Digital innovations lead by a large margin: 1,404 ventures offer tools such as artificial intelligence for farm management, environmental sensors, drone-based monitoring, farm management software, and digital market linkage platforms. Physical-chemical technologies, ranging from improved farming equipment to input delivery systems, are developed by 403 startups, while 374 ventures focus on biological solutions such as improved seed genetics and sustainable biological inputs. The majority of all surveyed startups target in-farm challenges, prioritizing solutions that boost operational efficiency, improve production management, expand on-site monitoring, and support farmer decision-making.

  • From western Jamaica to the world stage

    From western Jamaica to the world stage

    At just 19 years old, Rayon-Jai Pusey, a third-year student at Jamaica’s HEART College of Innovation and Technology (HCIT), is gearing up for the most high-stakes challenge of his burgeoning tech career: competing on the global stage at the 2024 WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai, China this September. Pusey is one of only five Jamaican athletes selected to represent the island nation at the prestigious international skills event, where he will team up with fellow competitor Antonio Rolong in the Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) category, a cutting-edge discipline that merges mechanical engineering, software development, and critical problem-solving to engineer robots that can complete tasks independently without human intervention.

    Pusey’s lifelong fascination with technology traces back to his childhood in the small rural town of Green Island in Hanover, a less prominent region on Jamaica’s western coast. Growing up surrounded by computers thanks to his mother, an information technology teacher at Green Island High School, he developed an early curiosity for how tech works that evolved from tinkering with dated floppy disks as a child to experimenting with Arduino microcontrollers from age 12. That early hands-on experience turned technology into a constant, foundational passion that shaped his academic and career path.

    His unexpected journey to the WorldSkills international stage began when his HCIT instructor tapped him to join the 2023 Jamaican National Skills Competition, while he was working toward completion of his 24-month AMR specialization. Already familiar with the competition robotics kits and well-versed in hands-on experimentation after months of practice, Pusey stepped into the national competition with quiet confidence. His strong performance at the national event earned him a spot on the WorldSkills Jamaica roster, opening the door to the international opportunity he holds today.

    To demystify his field for the public, Pusey explained that autonomous mobile robotics centers on building robots that navigate and operate without any direct human input. Competitors in the AMR category must master a range of interconnected skills: computer vision for environmental detection, navigation and localization mapping, custom mechanical fabrication of robot components, rigorous testing to ensure functional reliability, and end-to-end software coding to power the robot’s autonomous systems.

    In the weeks leading up to the Shanghai competition, Pusey and Rolong have undertaken an intense preparation schedule at a pre-competition invitational training camp hosted by WorldSkills Jamaica and Studica Robotics at Runaway Bay’s Cardiff Hotel & Spa, held June 8 to 12, followed by daily training at HCIT’s Derrick Rochester Campus in St Elizabeth. Their routine starts as early as 5:00 a.m. with morning exercise to build stamina for long training days, followed by hours of hands-on work that often stretches until 2:00 a.m. the next morning. The pair has divided roles to maximize efficiency: Rolong leads primary software development, while Pusey focuses on mechanical assembly and debugging, with both contributing across disciplines to refine their robot. Pusey notes that despite the grueling schedule, the preparation process has been filled with camaraderie and steady, measurable progress.

    For Pusey, representing Jamaica at WorldSkills is more than just a competition—it is a life-changing opportunity that comes from humble beginnings. “Growing up on the more not-so-known side of the country, in the west — Hanover, a little town called Green Island — to being placed on the world stage and given the opportunity to prove my skills, it’s a great privilege,” he shared. As he prepares to compete, he is also advocating for greater investment in technical and vocational education across Jamaica, arguing that growing investment in emerging tech skills like robotics and coding is critical to keep pace with the rapidly evolving global economy. He emphasizes the importance of nurturing young people’s interest in tech from an early age, pointing to his own start at 12 with a simple Arduino kit and a big dream as proof of what early encouragement can build.

    Looking beyond the Shanghai competition, Pusey has clear long-term goals rooted in lifting up Jamaica’s tech ecosystem. He plans to complete a degree in mechanical engineering and eventually return to the HEART College of Innovation and Technology to help improve the institution’s technical training programs, so that more young Jamaicans from rural and underserved communities can get the opportunities he has been given.

  • Experts Pitch Geospatial Tech as Key to Rebuilding Resilient Infrastructure

    Experts Pitch Geospatial Tech as Key to Rebuilding Resilient Infrastructure

    In the wake of catastrophic torrential rain and widespread flooding that left Belize’s transportation network severely damaged, industry experts have highlighted geospatial technology as a transformative tool to address the nation’s long-running infrastructural vulnerabilities and build climate-resilient public assets. The call for adoption came during the recent Infrastructure Intelligence and Geospatial Innovation Forum, hosted by local technology firm Fultec Systems, where cross-sector professionals from surveying, engineering, agriculture, and infrastructure development gathered to explore how integrated digital tools can reorient traditional infrastructure planning and maintenance.

    Just one week before the forum, extreme rainfall and flooding once again exposed how precarious Belize’s roads and bridges remain even after recent upgrades. The Coastal Plain Highway, which underwent a major renovation just three years ago, already suffered noticeable structural damage from the flood waters — a clear example, experts say, of the gaps in current infrastructure assessment and design practices. Proponents argue geospatial technology fills these gaps by delivering granular, real-time data on road conditions, drainage systems, and structural integrity, allowing engineers to pinpoint at-risk weak points before they escalate into catastrophic failure.

    Carlos Sanabria, president of Puerto Rico-based infrastructure firm HLCM Group Inc., explained that the modern geospatial toolkit encompasses a wide range of accessible, high-precision tools: “We are talking drones, we are talking traditional total stations, terrestrial laser scanners, mobile laser scanners, GNSS system or GPS, which is commonly known to collect data for whatever is needed in terms of surveying, construction, and infrastructure development.”

    Compared to traditional manual surveying methods, these modern tools outpace outdated practices on every metric: they capture far larger datasets, complete work in a fraction of the time, and deliver substantially higher accuracy. This depth of data not only enables early damage detection but also informs more robust design for new infrastructure, creating assets better equipped to withstand the increasing frequency of extreme weather driven by climate change.

    Chad Lewis, Latin American Channel Manager for global geospatial solutions provider Trimble, noted that neighboring countries in the region have already integrated these tools into daily infrastructure operations. “Some of the reality capture platforms that we’ve sold into some of the neighboring countries is pavement inspections, if you will, right? Some of the road conditions throughout the territory are not in what we call a great state right now. So we can use some of the technologies to drive these roads, capture the current state, and identify where we need to do the repairs, right? These countries are really embracing the technology and using it day to day. It’s great to see.”

    Trevor Reneau, General Manager of Belize’s Fultec Systems Ltd., emphasized that the technology is already available locally, and his firm’s work focuses on expanding access to training, local support, and ongoing upgrades for sectors across the country. He highlighted the dramatic efficiency gains the technology delivers: “Like for instance, you might look at the 3D modeling, which is the Trimble X9, and back in the days, you used to use maybe an X-ray machine, and it would take maybe an entire week to do it. But now, with the 3D modeling aspect of the X9, you might be doing it within seven minutes. So you see how efficient that technology is in bringing it within your organization.”

    Farid Hode, a sales engineer at Trimble, added that precise data is the core value of these tools, especially as critical infrastructure ages beyond its original design lifespan. “This can work for example, infrastructure like roads and bridges. Those are usually designed for, like, maybe fifty to seventy-five years maximum. But we know that in practice, these assets, these structures are living for longer than that. So we need to make sure that there’s no structural deformation on them and this data’s gonna help us understand that.”

    Reneau noted that Belizean industry professionals are already rolling out training programs to help local organizations master geospatial tools effectively. While neighboring countries including Guyana and Suriname have already advanced in adopting these solutions, the forum made clear that Belize now has a clear pathway to catch up, modernize its infrastructure practices, and build a more resilient transportation network fit for a changing climate. The report was filed by News Five’s Britney Gordon.

    This report is adapted from a transcript of an evening television broadcast original to News Five.

  • T&T cocoa company exploring AI to support Caribbean farmers amid supply disruption

    T&T cocoa company exploring AI to support Caribbean farmers amid supply disruption

    The global cocoa sector is currently grappling with widespread supply instability, triggered by a toxic combination of extreme weather events, rampant crop disease outbreaks, and plummeting harvests in West Africa’s top producing nations, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Against this backdrop of market volatility, a Trinidad and Tobago-based cocoa enterprise is stepping forward with an innovative artificial intelligence solution designed to lift up smallholder cocoa farmers across the Caribbean region.

    Ashley Parasram, founder and director of the Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company Limited (TTFCC), formally presented the ambitious project this Wednesday at the Climate Smart Summit held in Bridgetown, Barbados. Speaking to media outlet Observer Online after the presentation, Parasram confirmed that his company is already collaborating with two separate artificial intelligence developers to build and test the customized platform.

    The core mission of the initiative is to unlock decades of accumulated Trinidad and Tobago-based cocoa research, which covers everything from pest and disease management to high-yield cultivation strategies and improved cultivar selection, and translate that technical knowledge into accessible, user-friendly digital tools. For many small-scale Caribbean cocoa farmers, cutting-edge agricultural research has long remained locked away in academic publications and printed reports out of regular reach. The AI platform aims to bridge this information gap, putting actionable guidance directly into farmers’ hands.

    Beyond delivering cultivation insights, Parasram notes that the AI system will also help farmers formalize their production data to strengthen loan applications, unlocking much-needed access to agricultural financing from banks and impact investors. This dual benefit is designed to drive expanded agricultural activity and boost long-term sector growth across the region.

    Right now, the model is still in early development, with all initial work supported by grant funding. Parasram says that after testing and refinement in Trinidad and Tobago, the framework can be rolled out to other cocoa-producing Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Grenada, St Lucia, and Guyana. Long-term, he also sees potential to expand the tool to cocoa-growing nations across Central and South America.

    Following productive discussions at the Climate Smart Summit, Parasram expressed confidence that the project will attract cross-sector collaboration to bring the platform to full deployment. He emphasized that regional cocoa sector resilience in the face of climate and market shocks depends on improved information access, robust data management, and proactive preparedness—all core pillars of the AI initiative. Jamaica, for context, holds a distinctive position in the global fine cocoa market, counted among just 11 global producers of fine or flavored cocoa, and one of only seven exclusive producers of this high-value product. As global demand for specialty cocoa rises amid supply shortages, the initiative could strengthen the Caribbean’s position as a reliable high-quality cocoa supplier.

  • Canadian, Guyanese geospatial joint venture launched for energy, other industries

    Canadian, Guyanese geospatial joint venture launched for energy, other industries

    On Thursday, a landmark new joint venture that blends Canadian technological expertise with local Guyanese industry insight officially launched, set to transform the drone technology and geospatial intelligence landscape in the South American nation while prioritizing local workforce development. Founded by Canadian tech firm Altomaxx and Guyanese geospatial solutions provider Dragonfly Solutions Group Inc., the new entity is called Altomaxx Offshore | Dragonfly.

    This strategic collaboration merges Dragonfly’s deep-rooted local market knowledge and forward-thinking entrepreneurial vision with Altomaxx’s decades of global experience delivering drone-enabled inspections, precision surveying, high-resolution mapping and data-driven solutions to key sectors including energy, infrastructure, marine services and environmental management. Beyond delivering cutting-edge commercial geospatial services aligned with international standards to support Guyana’s fast-growing economy, the joint venture has core non-commercial goals: expanding local content participation in emerging tech sectors, facilitating cross-border skills transfer and building a competitive local tech workforce.

    At the launch ceremony held at Georgetown’s Herdmanston Lodge, which drew senior government officials, diplomatic representatives, private industry leaders and private sector stakeholders, Brian Smith, Founder and Operations Lead of Dragonfly Solutions Group, traced the company’s extraordinary growth trajectory. “What began with a borrowed drone in 2020 has evolved into an international joint venture focused on innovation, collaboration and creating opportunities for Guyanese talent,” Smith said. “This partnership is about more than business growth. It is about building local capacity, strengthening workforce readiness and ensuring that Guyanese professionals can compete and succeed at an international standard.”

    Steve Priestly, representative of Altomaxx, emphasized that the partnership is rooted in shared core values rather than purely commercial goals. “Altomaxx chose to partner with Dragonfly for more than just business. We believe we are aligned in our commitment to supporting the region through job creation, education and STEM awareness, as these are fundamental pillars of our own business model in Canada,” Priestly explained.

    Keoma Griffith, Guyana’s Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, delivered opening remarks highlighting the critical role of public-private international collaboration in advancing people-centered economic growth. “Partnerships such as this one between Dragonfly and Altomaxx demonstrate the important role collaboration plays in preparing our people for the future of work, one increasingly shaped by technology, innovation and data-driven solutions,” Griffith noted. “Local content is not simply about participation; it is about preparedness. By creating opportunities for skills development, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship, initiatives like this help ensure Guyanese are equipped to compete and succeed at an international standard.”

    Kathy Smith, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), echoed this praise, noting that the partnership itself is a product of the chamber’s work to connect local entrepreneurs with international investors. The connection between the two firms was first forged during a GCCI-supported inbound investor mission, a testament to the organization’s work to drive Guyana’s economic transformation. “As we continue to advocate for opportunities for businesses in Guyana, we steadily emphasise the role that joint ventures can play in building capacity, strengthening capabilities and facilitating skills transfer,” Smith said. “Dragonfly’s journey is evidence of the determination, innovation and resilience of Guyanese entrepreneurs. This partnership demonstrates what is possible when local expertise is combined with international collaboration.”

    Altomaxx brings to the joint venture decades of global experience deploying advanced drone technologies including LiDAR, photogrammetry, thermal imaging and remote inspections across project sites in North America, Europe and beyond. Together, the two partners will deliver services to key growth sectors in Guyana including energy, infrastructure, environmental management and industrial operations, while prioritizing the training of local workers to fill high-skill tech roles. Dragonfly will also continue its long-standing commitment to youth outreach, running its popular annual Drone Girls | Drone Kids programme that introduces young Guyanese to careers in tech and innovation.

    The new joint venture formalizes a shared commitment to fostering local entrepreneurship, accelerating inclusive knowledge transfer, and building long-term sustainable opportunities for Guyanese workers and business owners in fast-growing emerging tech sectors.

  • A dashboard in minutes — no analyst, no software, no wait

    A dashboard in minutes — no analyst, no software, no wait

    For countless small business teams, the weekly Monday management meeting follows a frustratingly familiar pattern. Key performance metrics are buried deep inside a multi-tab spreadsheet that only one staff member knows how to navigate. What follows is a messy scramble: one participant pastes cropped screenshots of key cells into a group chat, another reads off totals from a printed sheet, and the entire first 20 minutes of the meeting are wasted just confirming what the numbers actually are — rather than discussing why those numbers changed.

    What these misaligned meetings need is a centralized, interactive dashboard: a single view that displays headline metrics at a glance, complete with revenue trend charts, top-performing product breakdowns, geographic sales splits, and customizable filters. When a stakeholder asks, “How did sales look last May at the Montego Bay location?”, the answer is just one click away, not a days-late follow-up email.

    Until very recently, building a custom dashboard demanded weeks of work from data analysts using expensive specialized software, plus ongoing license fees to keep the tool functional. For most small and medium-sized businesses, these barriers made custom dashboards out of reach. Today, however, artificial intelligence has condensed this entire complex project into a single, plain-language prompt.

    ### The one-prompt process that works with AI tools you already own
    The full workflow is surprisingly simple. First, export your sales data into a single clean spreadsheet with four clear columns: transaction date, product name, sales location, and transaction amount. Then upload this sheet to your preferred AI assistant with a straightforward prompt like the following:

    “You are a world-leading HTML dashboard designer. Build me an interactive HTML dashboard from this sales data. I want summary cards for total revenue, growth versus last month, and average sale value; a monthly revenue trend; my top ten products; and a breakdown by location. Let me filter everything by month and by location. Deliver the finished dashboard as a downloadable HTML file.”

    Within just a few minutes, you will have a fully functional, interactive dashboard — complete with formatted charts, pre-calculated totals, and working filters — delivered as a standalone HTML file that you can download, open in any web browser, and share with your entire team. This is not a rough mockup or a description of what a dashboard could look like: it is a finished, clickable product ready for immediate use.

    Most remarkably, this capability is not locked behind a single niche AI product. All three of the most widely used AI tools that Jamaican business professionals already subscribe to are capable of completing this task:
    – Anthropic’s Claude generates polished interactive pages with fully functional charts, summary cards, and filters that open directly in the chat window and can be shared seamlessly with teams. For users who prioritize clean, professional presentation, Claude outperforms the other two options.
    – Microsoft Copilot is built directly into Excel and the broader Microsoft 365 ecosystem. For companies that already store all their data in Excel and run their operations on Microsoft tools, pointing Copilot to your existing sales table and asking for analysis and visualization is the fastest, most streamlined path to a finished dashboard.
    – OpenAI’s ChatGPT accepts uploaded spreadsheets directly in chat and builds fully formed interactive charts and views. Users can enable the Canvas feature to preview the finished dashboard live before downloading it, making it a convenient option for teams that already pay for a ChatGPT subscription and do not need to adopt new tools.

    Across all three platforms, the quality of the final dashboard depends far more on the clarity of your prompt than the specific tool you choose. Clearly state what metrics you want to display, what you want users to be able to filter by, and who the dashboard is for. This simple communication skill translates seamlessly across all major AI assistants.

    ### How this changes business meetings in practice
    To see the real-world impact, consider a small Jamaican retail chain with three locations: Kingston, Mandeville, and Montego Bay. On a Friday afternoon, the business owner exports the month’s sales data from their point-of-sale system, uploads the cleaned file to their preferred AI assistant with the standard prompt, and spends just 10 minutes cross-checking the AI-generated totals against the original source data. When the Monday management meeting starts, the dashboard is already pulled up on the conference room screen.

    No one wastes time asking “what are the numbers?” Instead, the first question the team addresses is, “Why did sales drop 8% in Mandeville this month?” That is the kind of strategic conversation business meetings are supposed to be for — and it was previously out of reach for most small teams because of administrative busywork. As the author notes: “The first twenty minutes of the meeting used to go to what the numbers are. A dashboard spends them on why.”

    ### Critical security and quality notes to reduce risk
    Before uploading any sensitive business data to an AI tool, experts emphasize that it is non-negotiable to check where your data is being stored and processed. All three major AI tools host uploaded files on their own servers, but each offers business-tier subscription plans (Claude for Work, Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT Business and Enterprise) that explicitly prohibit using customer uploads to train the platform’s underlying models. For users on free or personal plans, always double-check privacy settings and disable model training on your uploads before sharing sensitive data.

    Regardless of your subscription plan, sales dashboards do not require personal customer information such as names, account numbers, or staff details to deliver actionable insights. Always strip out any personally identifiable information before exporting your data, as aggregated sales data by product and location is enough to tell the full business story without exposing sensitive personal data.

    It is also important to understand the limits of this AI-powered workflow. A dashboard is only as accurate as the underlying source data. If your export contains duplicated rows, typos in location or product names, or other errors, the AI will faithfully generate a visualizations of that bad data. Always cross-check a handful of key metrics — including total revenue, a random product total, and a random location total — against the original source data before sharing the dashboard with your team.

    Finally, remember that a dashboard only displays business performance — it cannot make strategic decisions for you. When the dashboard flags an 8% sales drop in Mandeville, the critical judgement about what actions to take to reverse that decline still remains with your leadership team.

    ### Four easy steps to try before your next meeting
    The author outlines a simple four-step workflow to test this AI tool in your business this week:
    1. Export 12 months of historical sales data into a single clean spreadsheet with four columns: date, product, location, amount — and remove all customer personal identifiable information first.
    2. Upload the file to Claude, Copilot, or ChatGPT with one clear prompt: request summary cards, a monthly revenue trend, top 10 product breakdown, geographic sales split, and filters for month and location.
    3. Before sharing the dashboard with your team, cross-check three key metrics against your source spreadsheet to confirm accuracy: total revenue, one product total, and one location total.
    4. Pull up the finished dashboard at the start of your next management meeting, and note which metric your team chooses to investigate first. That investigation becomes your next strategic priority.

    The article closes with a core reminder: Always verify AI-generated figures against your original source data before making any business decisions based on the dashboard.

    This piece was written by Peta-Gaye Hardy, founder of PGH Consulting, LLC, a firm that helps finance and operations teams adopt practical, low-risk AI tools for business. Hardy authors the weekly *AI in Finance & Business* column and splits her time between Jamaica and the United States. More information is available at www.pghconsultinggroup.com, and the firm can be followed on Instagram @pghconsultinggroup.

    **Disclaimer:** This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. AI tools are prone to generating errors, so all outputs must always be verified against source data. Some features described require paid subscriptions. The author holds no commercial relationship with Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, or any other product mentioned in this piece and received no compensation for this article. Readers are advised to consult a qualified professional before making any business decisions based on this approach.