By: Staff Writer
July 8, 2025
Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley told the 49th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting being held in Montego Bay, Jamaica that there needs to be a verification “blue tick,” to prove authenticity of Caribbean messaging due to the alarming rise in fake news being driven through AI.
Mottley, who is the outgoing CARICOM chairman, said: “We have come before our region to speak specifically of other things that are threatening our existence as a region. We live in a world now where fake news, regrettably, is a key part of all that we have and where the improper use of AI can sometimes stoke great fear and panic among our citizens.
“It is about time, therefore, that we as a region come up with a CARICOM validation mechanism in the absence of the providers of those platforms not taking the action to validate truth any further. And if we fail to do so we put seriously at risk the stability of our democracies.
“In the last two weeks alone, my government in Barbados has had to put out as clear fake news, one that sought to ban President Trump from our country; one that sought to impose on Barbados travel advisories that didn’t exist, and it is almost as if this is a daily exercise now for our countries, because those who have nothing to do as we’ve learned as children- the devil finds work for idle hands- we need our own CARICOM blue tick to validate truth in this community.”
Fake images generated by AI have proliferated so quickly that they’re now nearly as common as those manipulated by text or traditional editing tools like Photoshop, according to researchers at Google and several fact-checking organizations. Now, the proliferation of AI generated video and audio content is becoming a clear and present issue for authorities around the world.
The findings the researchers have come up with offer an indication of just how quickly the technology has been embraced by people seeking to spread false information. But researchers warned that AI is still just one way in which pictures are used to mislead the public — the most common continues to be real images taken out of context.
AI-based misinformation, however, is quickly growing harder to detect as technology advances. Traditional hallmarks of an AI-generated image or video, including abnormalities such as misshapen hands, garbled text or a dog with five legs for example, have diminished tremendously since these tools first became widespread. Videos in particular are smoother and blend with themselves more clearly now.
AI is not the only issue Mottley addressed as she hands the reigns over to Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness. She also spoke about the completed work on the CARICOM external tariff and the rules of origin. “I want to thank all at coated and Community Council for teeing it up. We did think that you were taking a little long, but it is finally here. The political judgment that has to be made by heads now is what other items that will not compromise regional production that can have the bound rates continue to be reduced, so that we can see more progress on the reduction of cost of living, particularly of food and sanitary items,” Mottley further noted.
She also spoke about the urgent need for CARICOM members to be able to feed themselves and also the possibility of the acquisition of two cargo planes by separate member states to assist with the transport of goods throughout the region.