By Prince Moore
The government has sought to assure Jamaicans that artificial intelligence will not wipe out jobs in the country’s global services sector, but will instead change the type of work being done.
Delano Seiveright, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, says Jamaica’s global digital services and BPO (business process outsourcing) sector employs more than 50,000 Jamaicans primarily in Kingston, Portmore, Mandeville and Montego Bay.
Mr. Seiveright says, while artificial intelligence is increasingly being integrated into global business operations, the technology is expected to automate routine transactions while increasing demand for higher-level skills.
“It will also elevate the importance of human judgment, complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, escalation handling and trust-building, especially in high-stakes environments. So this is why the real competitive edge is not simply adopting AI. It is adopting AI well, integrating it into workflows, governance, training and performance
management. That’s absolutely important,” he stressed.
Mr. Seiveright said Jamaica remains confident about the future of the industry, even as technology reshapes how global services are delivered.
“AI adoption is accelerating, but full integration, workflow redesign and governance capabilities are not evenly mature across organisations. That gap creates opportunities for countries and firms that can combine AI-enabled operations, strong people capability and disciplined governance. So Jamaica can be one of those places if we position correctly, and I think we are positioning correctly, albeit a little slow, but it’s coming along,” he admitted.
Mr. Seiveright was speaking Wednesday at the launch of the Portmore Incubator and Linkages Forum at the Portmore Informatics Park in St. Catherine.