Bossano says AI must be ‘part of almost everything we do’ 

The Minister for Economic Development and Inward Investment, Sir Joe Bossano, said Gibraltar will use artificial intelligence to build a more productive, resilient and sustainable economy, with technology playing an increasing role across economic activity. 

Speaking at a meeting of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, Sir Joe highlighted Gibraltar’s lack of natural resources and limited resident workforce, saying its economic future depended increasingly on using technology to improve productivity. 

“For Gibraltar, the digital economy is not a separate part of the economy,” he said. 

“It has to become a part of almost everything we do.” 

He said output per worker was already increasing faster than in the UK, a measure he reported to Parliament during annual budget sessions. 

Gibraltar had repeatedly reinvented its economy, developing internationally focused sectors including financial services, online gaming and digital businesses, he said. 

Those activities depended on confidence in data security, digital identity, regulation and the ability of systems to continue operating during attacks or disruption. 

“That is why cybersecurity and resilient digital infrastructure are economic issues, not simply technical ones,” Sir Joe told delegates. 

He said Gibraltar intended to participate actively in the exchange of knowledge and technological advances across the Commonwealth, embracing innovation while protecting that trust. 

His comments came as he warned that countries would be unable to avoid the economic transformation brought by AI. 

While some in Europe and the US questioned whether its development should be slowed or how far it should be allowed to change economies, Sir Joe said the choice would ultimately be between having an AI economy and having no economy at all. 

He compared the transformation to the Industrial Revolution, arguing that countries could no more turn away from it than Britain’s Victorians could have rejected industrialisation. 

“But this is many, many, times bigger, the biggest change in the history of mankind,” he said. 

He urged Commonwealth countries to share their experience, solutions and advances, saying that digital technology enabled them to exchange knowledge and capabilities despite substantial differences in their size and economic development. 

“The more we learn from each other the more successful we are and the better we can adapt for the benefit of all our people in all parts of the Commonwealth,” Sir Joe said. 

He called on the organisation, which is celebrating 125 years of history, to play a part in what he described as “a new Industrial Revolution”.