AI and the Future of the American Mediterranean

Since the fifteenth century, the islands of the American Mediterranean have been deeply integrated into the global economy. The concept of economic globalisation is often viewed as a phenomenon of the late twentieth century.

However, it has been a central aspect of life, work, and production in the region for more than five hundred years. The Caribbean economy, which has been globalised since two caravels and a galleon stumbled into its waters in 1492, is now more internationally vulnerable than ever before.

These vulnerabilities and insecurities include hurricanes, climate change, earthquakes, undersea volcanoes, digital trade and e-commerce strategies developed elsewhere, cultural métissage and penetration, and the actions of terrorists, criminals, human traffickers, fentanyl supply chains, money launderers, and the prejudices and prejudgements of the Enlightenment that underpin the ideological and cultural foundation of the Industrial Revolution, that are now hurriedly shaping, the decoupling of agency, and the delegation of authority, to digital artefacts.

Once, the principal shift in the political economy of the Caribbean stemmed from the retreat of the world’s major powers in their assurance to safeguard Caribbean economies, to some degree, from the headwinds of international markets. But an impatient future is ahead, and there is a bend in the river.

It is helpful to unpack the broad contours of President Trump’s second-term trade policies, which are outlined in his “America First” Trade Policy 2.0. His strategy has five pillars: investigate trade deficits, establish an external revenue service, identify unfair trade practices, review and assess the impact of the USMCA in preparation for the July 2026 review, and evaluate the currency policies of major U.S. trading partners . This plan is interlaced with his AI Action plan.

The White House’s AI Action Plan portrays AI brinkmanship as a global race for technological supremacy, market share, and the ability to shape the rules and standards that will govern AI globally, as well as the future itself.  A defining feature of the AI Plan is consideration of the full AI technology stack as opposed to a narrow focus on chips.

By viewing the American Mediterranean as a social nexus, we can influence our collective future. The speed of information movement has eroded many foundations and charters. President Donald Trump, at the 2025 UNGA, asked the world, “What is the purpose of the United Nations?” His references to the malfunctioning escalator and teleprompter at the UN were thick metaphors.

In the age of information coherence, communication tools like TikTok and Meta are the DNA that initiate the processes that bring together billions of humans into organic networks. Sometimes information can represent reality, and sometimes it does not. But information always connects. The key to information coherence lies in recognising that externalities influence decision-making.

The individual nodes do not need to communicate directly because their response to externalities is part of their cultivation. When a colony of bacteria is grown under laboratory conditions, provided with food and shelter, it is known as a culture. Unlike bacteria, humans are cultivated by gastronomy, shelter, dance, literature, worship, poetry, love, fine art, theatre, Holi, Hosay, and J’ouvert.

The principle of information coherence is something we share with all living networks. Within our culture, we operate independently and in cohesion. We coordinate through devolved autonomy. The broader culture of the American Mediterranean has emerged over thousands of years, and displays far more nuance than any digital artefact.

Mathew Boulton was a member of the Lunar Society, founded in 1765.  A similar society can nurture information coherence in the Age of AI in the American Mediterranean. This is especially so since islands are different. The sea is both a corridor and a wall. The Lunar Society debated politics, religion, economics, and science. But at the heart of their debates was a desire to implement their ideas.

Unfortunately, that period is called the Industrial Revolution. A label that does not fully capture the extent of the changes introduced by the Luna Society. Networks of information sparked new ideas. These ideas spurred mechanical innovations in Britain and triggered a social revolution in Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti) between 1791 and 1804.

The ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, fuelled the enslaved population’s desire for freedom. Toussaint Louverture interpreted and applied these principles in ways that exceeded the original intent of the European revolution.  These ideas originated from our ability to share our thoughts in networks. The Industrial Revolution was a consequence, not a cause. It was a consequence of the information cohesion and the invention of the printing press. The Infosphere Revolution is a new consequence in the American Mediterranean. It is a consequence that is crucial to the development of Small Island States in the American Mediterranean.