Jamaica, Silicon Island of the Caribbean, is the New Tech Hub to Watch
Jamaica’s ascendency to a relative technological gold mine has earned it the moniker “Silicon Island”, which it shares with its namesakes Taiwan and Ireland.
Last month, Jamaica became the first English-speaking nation in the region to host 02LAC, the major outsourcing summit aimed at unlocking the potential of developing tech nations. Besides outsourcing, it’s also a nearshoring hotspot for U.S. tech companies, for roles in software development, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI.
The government of Jamaica is contributing to and supporting this growth with efforts like the Amber Heart Coding Academy, which it launched in 2021 and has already trained thousands of Jamaicans in software development. Another government project in a similar vein, the Global Services Project, is a five-year plan to provide training and access to better jobs, including those in information technology.
Actors Worry AI Could Eventually Replace Them
Image via HNGN
Advances in Artificial Intelligence are making it exceedingly easier to produce digital doubles for use in creative projects. Some actors are fearful of a future where studios will pressure them to sign away their likeness in order to produce AI-generated content. Last year for example, Bruce Willis sold the rights to his digital likeness to Deepcake, a company specializing in AI that will create Willis’ digital double. This double will appear in films after Willis’ retirement due to a cognitive disorder, which affects his ability to communicate.
The actors’ (those not willing to sell their likeness) concerns regarding AI have, in part, resulted in the current trike of the SAG-AFTRA (the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). “Performers need the protection of our images and performances to prevent replacement of human performances by artificial intelligence technology,” the union said recently.
Oppenheimer Movie Highlights Tremendous Tech Leap That Led to Nuclear Weapons
Oppenheimer, with Albert Einstein. Image via forces.net
Oppenheimer was the #2 top-grossing movie last weekend, after the Barbie movie. The movie highlights the life and struggle for achievement of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist in charge of the Manhattan Project, which produces the world’s first nuclear weapons.
After the weapons’ use on Japan, he was able to become more outspoken regarding the dangers of a nuclear arms race. Unfortunately, his advice was not entirely heeded; no further nuclear weapons were used in combat, but the nuclear arms race did heat up, resulting in a massive proliferation of these dangerous devices.
Let’s hope the warnings regarding the dangers of AI are more completely heeded. A step in the right direction in this regard was recently achieved when executives from Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI committed to an “AI Pact” at the White House to take a responsible approach in developing AI for ethical purposes.
