Dr Letetia Addison of The UWI St. Augustine Campus took centre stage at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, seizing the Grand Prize at the 2024 AI Innovation Grand Challenge for her groundbreaking AI4SIDS platform. Created to empower Small Island Developing States (SIDS) against climate threats, AI4SIDS harnesses GPT-4 and Whisper to gather real-time insights from IoT devices, social media, and weather updates. The platform delivers disaster alerts and educational tools in local languages across multiple channels, streamlining emergency responses with minimal need for human input. Fresh from her Guardian Premium Teaching Award win, Dr Addison captivated audiences at COP29’s AI Session, underscoring how AI can be a lifeline for vulnerable communities. The UWI’s presence at COP29 was strong, with experts tackling issues from mental health to climate finance. Yet, even as developed nations pledged to raise climate funding to US$300 billion by 2035, UWI’s Global Institute for Climate-Smart and Resilient Development warned this still falls short for SIDS. As climate challenges intensify, the call for urgent and greater financial support for the Caribbean grows ever more pressing.