AI and the Pacific
Beyond the hype Meet Joe, Vodafone Fiji’s champion customer service officer. Joe is a chatbot, powered by Artificial Intelligence, a 24/7 assistant that was first launched by the company in 2019. Joe has
digital
AI: A multiverse of opportunities for the Pacific
Semi Tukana is the founder of two tech companies, the Software Factory which he started in 2000, and more recently Sole, a FinTech platform created to “empower people to develop sustainable capital generation.” The
PINA Statement to commemorate World Press Freedom Day 2022
On 03 May every year, media workers here in the Pacific and across the globecome together to reflect on issues of press freedom and professional ethics.This year, UNESCO set “Journalism Under Siege” as the theme of
Tuvalu’s Future Now
Tuvalu’s Minister for Justice, Communications and Foreign Affairs has laid out a vision for Tuvalu in the event the country is “fully submerged or people are forced to relocate”. “Following the outcomes from
World Press Freedom Day: Press freedom under digital seige
Journalists the world over face increasing digital surveillance used to hamper press freedom, promote misinformation or discredit their work. Press freedom, already in decline for 85% of the world’s population, is
Palau digital residency programme off to a slow start
The response to Palau’s digital residency programme has been much slower than expected. So far, 800 people have signed up since the programme went online in January. Although well below the target, that number is
We need art now more than ever
The cultural and creative sectors are among the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For many artists in Fiji, this means many are relying on one meal a day and doing what they can to plant and grow food for
“We are lagging behind quite poorly”
By Samantha Magick In 2020 as shops and markets all over the world were forced to close due to the coronavirus, people shopped from home, with e-commerce seeing exponential growth in many markets. And the trend will
How two unis are responding to COVID
When Islands Business met with leaders from the University of the South Pacific recently, they were just hours away from making the decision to cancel the year’s graduation ceremonies in Fiji. It was the start of the
Tuvalu’s digital ambitions
Tuvalu has become the first country in the world to choose Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) blockchain to help it migrate to a fully digital economy, a move that may see it also adopt Bitcoin SV, the cryptocurrency
Surviving the tsunami: COVID-19 and Pacific economies
Papua New Guinea’s Treasurer, Ian Ling-Stuckey says his country has not had “an economic crisis of such complexity or magnitude since World War 2.” Samoa’s finance minister Sili Epa Tuioti calls it a “social
