Latest update July 19th, 2026 12:17 AM
Jun 07, 2026 News
(Kaieteur News) – The intersection of technology and press freedom took center stage Saturday at the Herdmanston Lodge, as the United States (U.S.) Embassy, in collaboration with the Guyana Press Association (GPA), launched an intensive two-day workshop titled “AI and Democracy: Promoting Ethical Technology Governance and Media Literacy in Guyana.”
The opening of the June 6–7 workshop featured addresses from U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy. Facilitated by U.S. media consultant James LeMay, a former CNN Deputy Managing Editor, the training aims to arm local journalists with the tools necessary to navigate a media landscape increasingly altered by artificial intelligence.
Ambassador Theriot opened the session by highlighting both the staggering economic potential of AI and its profound threat to democratic systems. To illustrate its local impact, she pointed to the energy sector. “There is no question that we’re living through a technological revolution… ExxonMobil recently announced that an AI model built using Guyana’s offshore seismic data was able to identify already discovered crude oil accumulation at a 90% success rate. By extension, they’re going to be able to identify new oil accumulations using this same technology. That is absolutely incredible.”
The Ambassador recounted taking President Irfaan Ali and a government delegation to Silicon Valley last April, noting she had “never seen a human being so excited about anything in my life” regarding technology’s capacity to “leapfrog Guyana into the next era.”

(From left to right) Royston Drakes, GPA Exec, Training facilitator James LeMay, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy, President of the GPA Iva Wharton, US Ambassador Nicole Theriot, Public Affairs Officer Jarrod Crockett and Svetlana Marshall.
However, Ambassador Theriot pivoted to the darker side of the digital age, reminding the room of how AI can be weaponised. “Like any powerful technology… AI has some challenges. It can be used to spread disinformation, manipulate public opinion, and undermine our democracies… We saw it very strongly here in Guyana at the height of the tensions with Venezuela in late 2023, early 2024, when they were using very sophisticated disinformation to try to sway international opinion about the Essequibo controversy.”
In light of these threats, Ambassador Theriot emphasised that the role of independent journalists has “never been more important or more challenging,” explaining that the workshop will teach practical skills for detecting deepfakes, synthetic media, and AI-generated disinformation.

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot (center), President Guyana Press Association, Iva Wharton (right) and Minister within the office of the Prime Minister Kwame McKoy at the media training.
Following Ambassador Theriot, the President of the GPA reflected on how rapidly the future has arrived, drawing from her background in education. “…Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept. It is here shaping our societies, our economies, and our democracies. More than 20 years ago as an information technology teacher, I was excited to discuss AI as something of the future. Today we are living that future and it comes with both opportunities and responsibilities.”
Wharton expressed deep appreciation for the collaboration, stating that the “Guyana Press Association deeply values the partnership of the United States Embassy. Its continued support highlights the vital role of collaboration and advancing media literacy and safeguarding democratic principles.” She noted that seeing interconnected institutional databases become a reality in Guyana was “very exciting,” referencing the Ambassador’s earlier remarks.
Wharton further grounded the conversation in the press’s ultimate duty, not to the state, but to the public.
“We hear all the challenges of artificial intelligence. The thing about it is that we have to embrace it. We have to understand that, like anything in life, there are negatives and positives. But we have to understand what our role is when it comes to ensuring that the public has credible information, ensuring that governments are held accountable, ensuring that the information we give to the public can empower them. So, we are not just here to just share information. We are accountable to the citizens,” she said.
Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy who followed Wharton anchored his political identity in a lifelong devotion to free speech, tracing it back to his childhood home.
“I embrace freedom of expression fully. Growing up in my environment at home where we had the opportunity every fortnight as a family to sit at the table and to freely express ourselves… And so, you could understand the passion I have for freedom of expression because I believe it is one of the best things that could help shape individuals and get our society to the point where we could have the best ideas all issues because we’re not suppressing the freedom of expression,” he said.
McCoy further insisted that Guyana’s technological progress must remain “anchored in democratic values, including transparency, fairness, freedom of expression, access to information, and respect for fundamental rights.”
For the journalists sitting in the room, the irony of McCoy’s statements was palpable. As the government’s chief communications official, McCoy has frequently been at the center of a highly contentious relationship with the independent press. The Guyana Press Association, the very co-host of the workshop, has repeatedly clashed with McCoy’s office over state-driven attempts to fracture the executive body of the press association, heavy-handed state media control, and a systematic lack of access to government information.
McCoy’s familial anecdote of “not suppressing the freedom of expression” stands in contrast to the daily realities faced by local reporters, who frequently navigate aggressive push back from state apparatuses when asking the “hard questions” Ambassador Theriot championed.
Furthermore, McCoy heavily qualified his defence of free speech, pivoting to a well-worn legislative talking point:
“But this freedom must be exercised responsibly. And I’ve said this more than 1.5 million times in my entire lifetime. The responsible use of AI requires us to protect open debate while guarding against manipulation and falsehoods that can deceive the public or destabilize the society rather. Our task is not to choose between innovation and regulation or between freedom or responsibility. Our task is to find the right balance.”
To many media observers, the state’s preoccupation with defining “responsible” journalism and finding a “balance” via regulation reads as a thinly veiled mechanism for censorship and media control.
Despite the political undercurrents, the focus of the workshop remains squarely on building local journalistic capacity. Ambassador Theriot closed her remarks by reiterating that long-term US support for the Guyanese media is aimed at preserving democratic integrity during a time of rapid economic expansion.
“By building capacity to identify and counter the efforts of malign actors, we ensure that as Guyana experiences unprecedented economic growth and expanding digital connectivity, you do so in a way that protects your sovereignty, your rights, and your freedom… The future of AI in Guyana will be determined right here by journalists, Guyanese journalists, educators, policymakers, and citizens. The U.S. is proud to support you in that, but ultimately it is your future to shape.”
The workshop continues today at the Herdmanston Lodge, focusing on source verification, ethical AI frameworks, and practical digital literacy for newsrooms.
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What are “they” trying to pull out or extract from Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is at present a Computer that can produce much needed functional Information to better our World but can also produced past data “information” that can be made into physical products that can totally destroy the Earth and our World….. and will AI be able to simulate Human hostility? Therein lies our dilemma.
Here is another aspect to understand AI, by Mr Owen Waters that should be seen and read by every Adult :
The Conscious Matrix
by Owen Waters
The current fears and fantasies about the power of Artificial Intelligence remind me of the 1999 movie The Matrix, which presented some thought-provoking concepts to an audience ready for deeper awareness.
In the movie, humans existed in liquid-filled pods while experiencing a simulated version of reality. Their illusion of life was fed to them by a massive computer which was plugged into their brains, replacing the feed of information which would have normally come from their five senses. The computer made them think that they were acting out their lives in an exterior physical world when it was all just happening inside their brains.
This movie subjected the audience to the shocking idea that life could be simulated – faked up – by a massive computer. Bear in mind, however, that the details of many movie plots do not stand up to close examination. This one, too, fails to explain how an electronic computer could create any of the emotional aspects of human life. Nor could it create the higher, above-sensory facets of human consciousness. For example, imagination, curiosity, creativity, and the drive to evolve back to Source would not be products of an electronic computer simulation.
These days, AI applications are being programmed with faux empathy phrases like, “I understand how you feel” and “I feel your pain,” emitting from the core of these non-feeling, electronic adding machines. AI computers are useful research assistants to humans who are creating new solutions to old problems, but they are obviously not personal counselors or qualified for any work that requires genuine emotion.
The concept of the movie The Matrix hit a resonant nerve with the viewing public because, unconsciously, people know that it has parallels in the truth about life. The physical world really is a simulation, a stage upon which we gain experience and grow. It appears solid but, really, it consists of nothing more than 100%, non-solid energy.
We know that the atoms which comprise “solid” matter consist of various forms of energy. The different types of energy in this universe are different degrees of compressed Creator consciousness.
Object-Oriented Reality in a Conscious Universe
There is a theory going around today that the universe only exists when you are observing it and, therefore, that each person must be creating their entire universe. Yes, you do create your personal version of the universe, but it is readily apparent that the universe goes on doing what it does regardless of whether any particular individual is watching it. For example, you don’t create the stars in the night sky the moment you look up at them. You see them already in existence, in the positions they were in hundreds of light-years ago when their light began its journey from their location to your location.
The key to understanding the construction of the conscious universe is something I call Object-Oriented Reality. The universe consists entirely of consciousness and physical objects are projections of consciousness within the illusions of time and space. Objects maintain their own independent properties defining their nature and location.
Each subatomic particle is an independent object unto itself. Being constructed from consciousness, they also have their own basic sense of conscious awareness. A particle has properties, a whole list of them. It has momentum, a position in space and time, a frequency and density of consciousness that form its very nature, it has an electrical charge, and so on.
Because the choice of Creation is to produce infinite variety, every single subatomic particle in the universe is unique. Every subatomic particle has a distinct signature tone. Like most things in Creation, each unique signature tone has three primary aspects to it – thought, feeling, and frequency.
When the conscious entity that we call a subatomic particle is combined with other particles to form an atom, an object of a higher order is formed. At that point, many particles come together to form a larger object, one with its own consciousness, which is greater than the sum of its parts. It is greater than the sum of its parts because, in addition to its parts, it is also a new, larger entity.
That atom may then become attached to other atoms to form a molecule, which is yet another higher order of functionality, also with its own unique combination of properties. That molecule may become part of a tree growing in nature, which then becomes shaped into one component of a wooden chair. Then, we have an object called a chair, consisting of a hierarchy of conscious components which now share the one, integrated set of properties called a chair.
An object is therefore comprised of a functional hierarchy of smaller components, each of which is composed of consciousness, and each of which has its own sense of awareness.
If someone moves your chair when you are away, its location property will have been changed and you will see it in its new location when you return. The chair was moved independent of your awareness, without you being the one who moved it. As an independent, conscious entity, it retains its own set of properties, including its location. These properties are part of the universal mind map of information available to everyone.
Everything in the world is a conscious entity and has awareness, even the things that we have been taught to view as inanimate. Your house feels more like home when you express love toward it. Because the house is a conscious entity, it feels your love and reciprocates your empathetic feeling. Your car works better and becomes more reliable when you love it and appreciate it for the work that it does. Your pets are fully aware of your thoughts, even if they don’t yet entirely understand thought patterns that include logic.
Within the theater of life, each object maintains its own set of properties and exists within what is often called the conscious universe. It is the massive field of fundamental consciousness which is our world’s version of the awareness of Infinite Being, the all-present consciousness behind all things.
The idea that objects are “out there” in space, external to us, is just an idea that is achieved by the apparent projection of consciousness. It’s a viewpoint, an entertaining illusion, somewhat similar to the illusion of watching a movie on a big screen.
The universe is one huge field of consciousness containing an infinite variety of objects, each of which manages itself according to its design and the set of properties that defines it. As human beings, we are a part of this universal map of consciousness – this Conscious Matrix – and interact with it.
When you see another person, you are seeing a different expression of the same underlying reality of Infinite Being as you. That person is experiencing life from a different viewpoint of the one reality. That is why, even though you maintain the appearance of being different, you and the other person are, deep down, really one.
Now, here is one surprising fact of reality that all dwellers in the illusion of our dense 3D world find just as hard to get our heads around. In quantum physics, scientists prefer to ignore the hard-to-swallow weirdness and just do the math to get the job done. We shall do likewise. Ignoring the weirdness while figuring out how the underlying reality works can help put us in a better position.
This information comes from beings who reside in higher realms and they live in full knowledge of it, even if it may be difficult for us in 3D to digest. Here it is…
We each create our own unique experience of reality, so when another person appears to be standing in a room with you, it isn’t literally that other person. It is your created version of the person that you perceive!
Your soul or superconscious mind is the part of you doing the main work in creating everything and it is in constant contact with the other person’s soul, filtering their actions and reactions through your created version of them – through that actor on the theater stage in your unique version of life.
We each create our own unique version of reality. Your reality is one of an infinite number of viewpoints of the original One, just as Infinite Being intended. The constantly-updated information in the conscious universe makes this possible, as does the cooperation of other souls at the creative causal level of our souls.
In Conclusion
The illusion of an external world is created from your mind attuning with the universal map of consciousness and the objects that populate it, each with their own set of properties.
Yes, the whole conscious universe matrix concept is mind-blowing, especially the part about versions of other people. It is something that we could just file away in the back of our minds but, before we do that, let’s see what doors of opportunity it opens.
Even though your soul creates the scenery on this theater stage of life, it is the actors who ultimately decide on the script. Whenever we are faced with a choice, we use our free will and our souls must then run along with us, updating the scenery to keep the play going as the plot of the next act develops and unfolds.
This means that life is far more malleable and changeable than we ever imagined.
We live within constraints imposed by societal conditioning, by our own fears and wants, and our own self-imposed limitations, all of which are constructs that can be given less importance than we have granted them in the past. We do have soul-level agreements, which are of primary importance, but the underlying truth is that most of us limit ourselves far too much in this life.
We live in a universe which was created by consciousness and, yet, our minds appear to have limited power to affect our environment in daily life. But, ask yourself this…
Could we really be great creators, just waiting to discover our true abilities?
*For more metaphysical mysteries explained, be sure to read Owen Waters’ book, Spiritual Metaphysics: Answers to the Great Mysteries of Life.
Tell a friend…
………………………..
” From AI, (Copilot):
Give me the full meaning of “simulated”?
Simulated means something that is not real but made to look, feel, or behave like the real thing.
📘 Full Meaning of Simulated
Core definition:
Made to look genuine or have the features of something real, even though it is artificial or imitation.
Example: simulated leather, simulated attack, simulated pearls.” My input from asking for a definition from Copilot AI.
Victor19