Prime Minister Gaston Browne has made his voice heard on the debate, urging Antigua and Barbuda’s creative community to embrace artificial intelligence as a tool rather than fear it.

Speaking at the launch of the Commonwealth People’s Forum Creative Arts Initiative, the Prime Minister centred his thoughts on his own persona, ‘Gassy Dread’ which uses artificial intelligence to synthesise music on the theme of climate justice.

Saying each person will eventually need an AI persona as the technology continues to reshape how content is created and consumed, the Prime Minister noted that there was a distinction between using AI and abusing it, telling creatives that local content and local storytelling must remain at the heart of whatever they produce.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools has reshaped the global landscape in the world of work, with no other industry seeing a greater visible transformation from the usage of AI than the creative industries from the generation of lifelike images and videos to the development of AI music and art.

He said the technology should serve as an extension of authentic creative expression rather than a replacement for it.

“I wouldn’t call [Gassy Dread] an alter ego. I see more of the creative description of Gaston Brown, the Prime Minister… each of us, based on where AI is going now, will be required to have an AI persona,” he said.

When asked about the Prime Minister’s remarks in the context of the People’s Forum focus on creative arts this year, Commonwealth Foundation Director General Razmi Farook acknowledged AI as an issue the Foundation is actively working through, including within its Commonwealth Short Story Prize, where distinguishing AI-generated submissions from genuine human work has become an emerging challenge.

“The creativity comes from that soul, that energy, the authenticity of what you’re trying to express,” Farook said, adding that the Foundation is looking for the spark and talent that will not emerge from an AI-generated process alone.

Commonwealth Foundation Director General Razmi Farook (photo by Robert Andre Emmanuel)

Commonwealth Foundation Programme Officer Madiha Hussein-Jetha reinforced the organisation’s argument, noting creativity’s power lies precisely in its ability to communicate what conventional channels cannot.

She said creativity gives voice to issues around freedom of expression and climate change and allows people to express what they are thinking and feeling but cannot always say directly.

Commonwealth Foundation Programme Officer Madiha Hussein-Jetha (photo by Robert Andre Emmanuel)

The Prime Minister’s comments comes amid his broader address to the creative industry to remain unapologetically Antiguan in how they develop and present their work, to defend local dialect, cuisine and musical forms as the country’s cultural identity.