How prepared are countries to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) whilst mitigating risks and promoting responsible development and implementation? The Government AI Readiness Index 2023 gives some insight into how 16 Caribbean countries performed on this recent assessment.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more deeply integrated into our lives, countries are beginning to grapple with a broad range of difficult questions that have been emerging, as the technology continues to challenge how we think and even how we approach basic and complex activities. As a result, matters related to AI ethics, AI governance, responsible AI, and the implications of AI on education, learning and business, are among the issues that are currently being debated, which were also discussed on a recent podcast episode.
However, in a world where ‘what gets measured gets done’, it is not a surprise that countries are being assessed on their readiness for AI. Research organisation, Oxford Insights, has been producing global AI readiness reports since 2019, and in December 2023, it published its Government AI Readiness Index 2023. The 2023 exercise included 193 countries worldwide, including 16 Caribbean/Caribbean Community (CARICOM), as presented in Exhibit 1.
In this our first examination of the Government AI Readiness Index, we outline the methodology and the indicators evaluated for the 2023 exercise and highlight how the included Caribbean countries performed.
Methodology and metrics
Government AI Readiness Index is assessing countries worldwide on the readiness of governments to adopt and implement AI technologies in their public services and governance. The index produced is underpinned by the three pillars, which in turn comprise 39 indicators across 10 dimensions, as outlined in Exhibit 2.
For each of the indicators scores were assigned, which were normalised to be between 0 and 100. The total score was determined by taking the arithmetic mean of each dimension, and the arithmetic mean of the three pillars. All of the indicators, dimensions, and pillars were weighted equally.
Data to inform each indicator is collated from third-party sources that regularly survey countries and in some instances, produce their own index. Some of the sources are the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Government Pillar
The Government Pillar, which examines how well-prepared the governments are to develop and govern AI responsibly, Caribbean countries did not perform well, as reflected in Exhibit 3. The highest-scoring country was the Dominican Republic, whilst the lowest-scoring was Haiti.
At the time of publishing the Dominican Republic was the only country that had an AI vision or strategy, and correspondingly was more advanced in matters related to governance and ethics, digital capacity, and adaptability.
Technology Sector Pillar
The results under the Technology Sector Pillar were more even across the region that was reported for the Government Pillar dimension. However, all countries scored between 25 and 35 out of a maximum score of 100, with Haiti scoring the lowest (approximately 23 points) and Barbados, the highest (around 33 points).
However, on closer review of the indicators under this pillar, and although the indicators should be informing the question, “Does the country have a technology sector capable of supplying governments with AI technologies?”, the assessment included, among other indicators, the number of AI Unicorns, number of non-AI Unicorns, VC availability and GitHub users per thousand population. As has been discussed in various fora, including ICT Pulse, the region’s tech innovation system is still underdeveloped, hence it should not be surprising that countries could have scored poorly for this pillar.
Data and Infrastructure Pillar
Regarding whether countries have the data resources and infrastructure needed to support the development and use of AI, countries performed much better than for the Technology Sector Pillar (see Exhibit 5). This time, and as shown in Exhibit 5, the scores ranged from 34 out of 100 points in Haiti to 61 out of 100 points in The Bahamas.
Interestingly, the countries’ Infrastructure scores were relatively low – all under 50 points, as that dimension examined the number of supercomputers, the deployment of 5G infrastructure and the adoption of emerging technologies. However, countries scored better on the Data Availability and the Data Representativeness dimensions.
Initial takeaways
The Government AI Readiness Index was first published in 2019 and has been evolving, with new indicators being added and the methodology being refined over the years. Caribbean/CARICOM countries were included in that first exercise, but cognisant of the visibility AI has gained over the past two years, it would not have been a prominent consideration in many developing countries, which would be reflected in their scores.
Having said this, and with almost any global assessment, the playing field is almost inherently uneven, as there are often metrics that can realistically be achieved by richer and more populous countries. Notwithstanding, these exercises offer on structure against which we can ensure that we are covering our bases and incentivise us to improve in the relevant areas.
One of the biggest hurdles the 2023 Index highlighted is the absence of an AI policy or strategy in most Caribbean/CARICOM countries. As previously stated Dominica Republic has an AI strategy and so scored 100 points. Jamaica scored 50 points, which suggests that a framework is being prepared but has not been adopted or implemented. The remaining countries scored zero!
Developing an AI policy and/or strategy does require effort and commitment from countries, but it is also foundational. However, it also emphasises the importance of strengthening our data protection and privacy legislation as well as cybersecurity, which are issues that are being widely discussed across the region, but for which we have not been making the requisite progress.
Further, noting that the assessment focuses on governments’ readiness for AI, the state of their digital transformation is also being examined. Hence the development of e-government, and the availability of online services across government and between businesses and consumers, are important considerations, which are reflected in the scores received.
Image credit: Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)
