Greater attention needs to be paid to developments in AI -Senator Small-Ferguson

Cybercrimes are a growing problem in Jamaica. 

Earlier this week, CIBC pointed to the rise in cyber fraud with criminals seeking to obtain customers’ details. Many financial entities are seeing an uptick in this area.

Cybercrimes are not limited to banks and investment houses, it has becomes pervasive in  all areas of life. Hence, the importance of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Bill 2026, which needs to be expeditiously passed as technology is constantly evolving.

The delays here did not escape Senator Ramon Small-Ferguson’s attention 

Speaking in the Senate, Ramon Small-Ferguson, who is the CEO of Barita, noted: “The Minister mentioned that the Joint Select Committee began its work in or around 2021, concluded its report in 2023, and we are now in 2026 considering these amendments. That timeframe, while unfortunately, is not unusual in legislative terms here in Jamaica, presents a very particular challenge in the context of legislation of this nature.

“The fact is, Mr President, that this legislation is directly tied to technology, an area that evolves rapidly, continuously, and often unpredictably. And what that means, Mr President, is that delay in this space has a real and practical consequence. It creates a widening gap between the law and the reality it is intended to regulate. It means that by the time amendments are brought before the Senate, elements of the framework may already be less relevant than they could be, given the pace at which technology and indeed cybercrime itself has evolved.”

Small-Ferguson, a first-time senator, has astutely observed a structural challenge in Jamaica’s legislative process.

The Barita boss is calling for the need for greater urgency in bringing forward amendments to legislation that operates in fast-moving domains – such as technology and the need to consider whether, for legislation of this nature, whether more frequent and structured review mechanism should be embedded, not reviews that are episodic and infrequent. In other words, reviews should be continuous, rolling and responsive to change.

The Senator drew attention to the fact that the Bill pays scant attention to developments in artificial intelligence. Here he said: “ I understand that the Minister has characterised the Act as being technologically agnostic, Mr President, but I contend that given the far-reaching and transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence, no cybercrimes law can be sufficiently agnostic in this regard.

“Mr President, the treatment of artificial intelligence is largely indirect, and that is where the gap lies. Because artificial intelligence is not simply another tool. It fundamentally changes how cyber harm is created, scaled and deployed.

“We are now in an environment where:

• Images can be fabricated convincingly without having existed
• Voices can be cloned to mimic individuals in real time
• Identities can be constructed and deployed digitally and
• Highly personalised deception can be generated at scale 

“Much of this harm occurs before anything is ever published. It occurs at the point of creation. It occurs when that content is used to threaten, to coerce, to extort, or to impersonate. So the question for us is whether the law is addressing the full lifecycle of this harm or whether it is primarily addressing the endpoint.”