Jamaica ranks 13th in regional AI index, UN body reports

Jamaica ranks 13th out of 19 countries in the latest edition of the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index (ILIA), underscoring the challenges facing the island’s digital adoption.

Jamaica’s position reflects limited engineering depth and medium levels of technology infrastructure, according to the ILIA 2025 released in March. The report was published by the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA), which is a regional United Nations body. The report noted that while policies support adoption, investment remains weak. “Public policies do not explicitly address sustainability in digital infrastructure,” it stated.

The island ranked higher than Cuba but lower than the Dominican Republic. Overall, Chile topped the ranking, followed by Brazil, while Venezuela and Bolivia were at the bottom. Countries near the bottom, including Jamaica, “share emerging infrastructure, with very few commercial data centres and generally lacking international certifications”, the report added.

The index tracks enabling factors, adoption, and governance. “In this third edition, the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index emphasises adoption and human capital, both enabling and advanced as reliable indicators of the relative progress of economies and of AI’s role as a differentiating driver of development in the region,” said Álvaro Soto, ILIA’s executive director.

There is strong interest and enthusiasm for AI in the region, reflected in the development of national AI policies, Soto said. However, it is “concerning that this enthusiasm has not yet been matched” by decisive actions or investments, the report warned. Despite clear evidence of AI’s positive impact on productivity, employment, quality of life, and the creation of new businesses, “no major shifts in trends are yet visible”, he added.

The region accounts for 6.6 per cent of global GDP and 8.8 per cent of the world’s population but receives only 1.12 per cent of global AI investment. Talent gaps are widening, with the report cautioning that “the gap in relative AI talent compared to the global average has widened since 2022, accelerating talent loss.”

Yet AI’s cultural footprint on the island is expanding. Since 2026, ChatGPT has become the most visited website in Jamaica, overtaking traditional social and news platforms, based on checks on tracking sites Ahrefs and Semrush. Dr Natalie Rose, head of department at the University College of the Caribbean and director of the Internet Society Jamaica Chapter, previously described the site’s heavy usage as the democratisation of knowledge. She told the Gleaner that it represented a reverse brain drain by allowing the prompting of specialised knowledge.

ChatGPT is owned by OpenAI, the San Francisco-based research company led by chief executive Sam Altman since 2019. Microsoft holds a significant stake in OpenAI. The company plans an initial public offering in 2026, with early valuations at US$1 trillion.

business@gleanerjm.com