Nearly two decades after Digicel entered Guyana and transformed the competitive landscape of the local telecommunications industry, the company is preparing for another potentially significant shift—this time through artificial intelligence.
Digicel is expanding Ruby, its AI-powered customer-service assistant, beyond its initial Jamaican deployment into additional Caribbean markets. While the company has not confirmed that Ruby will be introduced in Guyana, the planned regional expansion raises important questions about what AI could mean for Guyanese customers, customer-service workers and the handling of personal data.
Digicel operates in 25 markets and serves more than nine million customers. It plans to expand Ruby into additional markets during the financial year ending March 2027.
The technology has already been tested at significant scale in Jamaica.
According to Digicel’s 2026 Sustainability Report, Ruby has handled more than 535,000 customer conversations in Jamaica, successfully resolving 55 per cent without human-agent involvement.
“Since its launch in Jamaica, Ruby has supported more than 535,000 conversations, with the smart assistant successfully handling 55 per cent of interactions without the need for human agent support,” Digicel stated.
Ruby can handle routine transactions such as checking balances, activating plans, paying bills and addressing common technical problems. It operates through WhatsApp, voice, the web and the MyDigicel app.
Digicel says the system is intended to complement its human customer-service teams by taking care of routine matters and allowing employees to focus on more complicated cases.
But the Jamaican experience also highlights questions that Guyana would have to confront if Ruby is introduced locally.
AI and the customer-service workforce
The expansion comes as Jamaica’s business-process outsourcing industry is already experiencing significant disruption.
Employment in Jamaica’s outsourcing sector fell from about 60,000 workers in 2024 to approximately 40,000, according to the Global Services Association of Jamaica. Sector earnings also declined by an estimated 10 per cent to around US$900 million.
The Jamaican Government has attributed the contraction to several factors, including the return of some work to North America, higher operating costs, productivity challenges, hurricane damage and the emerging impact of AI-driven automation.
Digicel has not said Ruby’s expansion will result in job losses, and the company maintains that the technology is designed to support rather than replace human agents.
Nevertheless, the Jamaican experience offers a warning that the Caribbean’s traditional customer-service and outsourcing industries could face significant pressure as AI becomes more capable of handling routine interactions.
For Guyana, where digital services and customer-support operations are increasingly part of the economy, the question will be whether AI creates opportunities for workers to move into higher-skilled positions or gradually reduces demand for traditional customer-service jobs.
Privacy concerns
Privacy is another issue that could become important if Ruby reaches Guyana.
Digicel’s privacy notice says Ruby can collect a broad range of personal information during customer interactions. The company also says customer data may be shared with approximately 30 third-party processors, including Ada Support, the company behind the chatbot, as well as AI providers Anthropic and OpenAI.
The notice indicates that data may be processed on servers located primarily in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Digicel says customers retain the right to speak with a human representative.
“We’re committed to protecting your personal data and being transparent about how it’s used, so you can interact with us with confidence,” the company stated.
Those assurances nevertheless leave important questions for any future Guyanese rollout: What information would Ruby collect from local customers? Where would that information be stored? Who would have access to it? How would it be protected when transferred outside Guyana? And what safeguards would apply under Guyana’s data-protection framework?
Nearly 20 years after changing Guyana’s telecom market
Digicel has been a major player in Guyana since it launched its mobile service in 2007, following its acquisition of Cel*Star Guyana.
Its arrival introduced a powerful competitor into a market then dominated by GT&T and helped intensify competition in mobile services, pricing and customer offerings.
Ruby represents a very different kind of disruption.
Developed using technology from Canadian AI company Ada, the system has evolved from a knowledge-based support tool into what Digicel describes as an AI-powered digital assistant.
Its success in Jamaica suggests that the technology is already moving beyond experimentation.
For Guyana, however, the potential arrival of Ruby should prompt more than excitement about faster customer service. It should also trigger a serious conversation about jobs, privacy, accountability, human oversight and the future of customer care.
There is no confirmation that Ruby is coming to Guyana.
But Digicel’s regional strategy makes one thing clear: the AI revolution in Caribbean customer service has already begun—and Guyana may soon have to decide how it wants to participate in it.
