Jamaica Artificial Intelligence Association
Privacy Notice
Effective date: October 1, 2026
CaribVoices is a project of the Jamaica Artificial Intelligence Association (JAIA) (“JAIA”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). This notice explains how JAIA collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you contribute to CaribVoices, in accordance with Jamaica's Data Protection Act, 2020.
We are building an open dataset of Caribbean speech so that artificial intelligence and voice technologies understand and respect Caribbean languages, dialects, and accents. Your participation is voluntary.
Information We Collect
When you take part in CaribVoices through WhatsApp, we collect:
- Voice recordings: audio files of the voice submissions you share via WhatsApp.
- Metadata: optional information you choose to provide, including your geographic region within Jamaica or diaspora location, and your age range (not your exact age).
- WhatsApp contact information: your WhatsApp phone number, used to manage your session and communicate with you through the platform.
Lawful Basis for Processing
We process your personal data on the following lawful bases:
- Explicit consent: you give your explicit consent before submitting any voice recording.
- Performance of a contract: processing needed to carry out your participation in CaribVoices.
How We Use Your Data
- Open dataset creation
- AI model training
- Linguistic research
- Platform operations
- Quality assurance
Data Sharing and Disclosure
Public open datasets. Voice recordings and associated metadata (such as region and age range) will be published as open datasets available to the public. These datasets will not include any data that could reasonably identify you.
Service providers. We share data with trusted service providers who help us run the platform:
- Meta (WhatsApp Business Platform): WhatsApp messaging
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): hosting and secure storage (Amazon S3)
- Label Studio: data labelling and transcription review
These providers are bound by confidentiality agreements and may only process your data on our behalf for the purposes stated here.
Research partners. We may collaborate with academic institutions, research organisations, and non-profit entities. Any data shared with research partners will be de-identified and subject to data use agreements.
Legal authorities. We may disclose your personal data when required by law.
International transfers. Some of our service providers are located outside Jamaica. When personal data is transferred internationally, we make sure adequate safeguards are in place.
We do not:
- Sell your personal data to third parties
- Share your phone number publicly or with data users
- Use your data for commercial advertising or marketing
Data Security
We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data. Details are set out in the JAIA Privacy Policy.
Data Retention
We retain your personal data for up to 5 years to fulfil our contract with you and meet our legal obligations.
Please note that once voice recordings are published in the open dataset in de-identified form, they cannot be withdrawn from copies already released.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access, rectify, or delete your data.
- Withdraw your consent at any time.
- Object to marketing communications.
For concerns relating to this notice, or to exercise your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer at admin@jaia.org.
More Information
You can read the full JAIA Privacy Policy here.
Acknowledgement and Consent
Before you submit a voice recording, you will be asked to confirm that:
- You have read and understood this Privacy Notice; and
- You give your explicit consent for JAIA to collect and process your voice recording and metadata for the purposes described above.
You will not be able to submit a recording until you have given this confirmation. A record of your consent is kept so it can be provided to the Office of the Information Commissioner on request.
Thank you for helping build AI that understands and celebrates Caribbean languages and cultures.