Suriname and the AI Revolution: A Choice Between Dependency and Development

O P I N I O N

Around the world, a new technological era is taking shape. 

Artificial intelligence is transforming economies, public services, education, health systems and even how societies understand themselves. 

Governments and corporations are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars each year into AI. 

It is becoming the next global infrastructure layer — as fundamental as energy, water, and telecommunications.

But what does this mean for Suriname?

Suriname stands at a strategic crossroads. It can either become an importer of AI, consuming technology built elsewhere —
or it can use AI as a lever for national development, strengthening institutions and expanding opportunities.

The risks of inaction are real.

If Suriname simply buys AI, it becomes dependent:

• on American cloud companies,
• on Chinese digital systems,
• and on algorithms designed with different cultures, goals, and priorities in mind.

This would create a new form of dependency — not colonialism enforced by armies, but rather digital colonialism, where data, knowledge, and decision-making power are held outside the country.

But Suriname has a different path available.

The nation holds strategic advantages:

• A small population, which makes digital transformation faster and more achievable.
• A rich cultural and linguistic diversity, valuable for training AI that reflects our reality.
• A globally unique position as steward of the largest rainforest per capita in the world, with enormous leverage in climate and carbon markets.
• Clear opportunities to apply AI where it matters most: education, healthcare, agriculture, governance transparency, and environmental stewardship.

To seize this future, Suriname needs a bold strategy.

A strategy where data is governed locally, not exported.
Where young people become developers and innovators, not only consumers.
Where AI strengthens sovereignty, rather than eroding it.

The question is not whether AI will shape Suriname’s future.
The question is whether Suriname will shape AI for its future.

The future does not arrive ready-made.
It is built — by those who choose to build.

Now is the moment to choose.

Anton JieSamFoek