00:00TV6 users spoke with Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence Minister Dominic Smith
00:05about the government's efforts to deal with the issue of cyber security in Trinidad and Tobago
00:10during the Caribbean debut of the Fujitsu Activator Now event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.
00:17The committees you spoke about, especially the one on the issues of cyber security
00:21involving the Homeland Security Ministry, the police service and so on,
00:26has it met recently? Any update on the work of that committee?
00:30Yeah, so we have met informally, but there will be a formalized process.
00:34The committee will be formalized, and I expect together with the other task force
00:38that we're spearheading as a government, we have the Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Task Force,
00:45which is in the remit of the CTU, which has also been established.
00:50So there are a number of committees. There will be cross-sectional collaboration,
00:54and we have met, and we will continue to meet in a more formalized process.
00:58Within the last two years, there were data breaches at the majority state-owned TSTT,
01:04two privately owned companies, and the Ministry of the Attorney General.
01:08During the panel discussion at the Fujitsu event, Minister Smith said Trinidad and Tobago
01:13holds the presidency of the CTU, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, until 2027,
01:20as he spoke about the inter-ministerial committee,
01:22which includes the Trinidad and Tobago Cybersecurity Incident Response Team.
01:27We've looked at Office of the Prime Minister, we've looked at members, representatives of Homeland Security,
01:33which deals specifically with cybersecurity, because cyber is gazetted under that particular ministry as of now.
01:41And we've also had discourse and conversation with specific agencies within the TTPS as well,
01:50including the FIU, including the SEC.
01:53The goal, according to the minister, is arriving at the required analysis,
01:57inclusive of what he identified as the risks involving artificial intelligence, or AI.
02:03The insights will be, how do we protect the citizens in general, how do we make John Public more aware of the risks,
02:12and then, you know, what are the available resources to citizens to then, you know, mitigate those risks as much as possible.
02:18I think it's not a perfect science, I think it's something that will continue to evolve as the technology evolves,
02:24but the important thing is that we try to anticipate and we take the necessary steps with urgency
02:31so that we avoid any sort of disruption, both in the way in which we run the government
02:36as well as how the public interacts with government-based services and private sector services.
02:40Fujitsu Caribbean Chief Executive Officer Mervyn Ayer gave a private sector perspective in the context of artificial intelligence.
02:49I think AI governance is going to have to take the same path as governance around security, for example.
02:56You know, when we opened up networks for information to be shared, we then created a problem around security.
03:03Security then becomes a mission critical activity, responsibility of boards, leadership, right?
03:11I kind of see where AI is at the moment as the beginning of the internet,
03:15where there's a whole new set of issues except we have lessons learned.
03:19Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturing Association Director Rudy Rampisad spoke about the issue
03:24in the context of the theme of the Fujitsu event,
03:27Powering Regional Progress, Technology, Trust and Transformation.
03:32So I think a big part of it here, right, with trust, trust comes about, you know,
03:38first we have to be able to trust that what we enter, you know, uploading that data is safe and secure
03:43if we want people to utilize and use that technology.
03:46So I think the first part around that AI trust has to be how do we create an ecosystem
03:51that one, we as Caribbean people, believe and trust in, right?
03:55The panel acknowledged challenges such as data leakage,
03:59which they said are not unique to Trinidad and Tobago or the Caribbean in general.
04:05Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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