Elon Musk briefly passed US$1 trillion this year, and AI made 45 new billionaires in twelve months. None of them is Caribbean. What it would take to change that.
Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire in June 2026, when SpaceX began trading on the stock market, according to Forbes, before slipping back below the mark weeks later. AI is now the source of many of the world's newest fortunes: Forbes counts 86 billionaires whose wealth comes largely from AI, 45 of them new this year. The richest Caribbean-born person, Haitian-born biotech founder Herriot Tabuteau, is worth about US$2.1 billion. This article looks at the numbers, the people and what a Caribbean founder would need to build the region's first AI fortune.
Part 1 of 4Elon Musk was the first trillionaire for a few weeks in June
Forbes reported that Musk passed US$1 trillion on 12 June 2026, the day SpaceX shares began trading on the stock market, according to a Wikipedia summary of Forbes and Reuters reporting. SpaceX had bought his AI company, xAI, in February, which pushed his fortune to about US$800 billion. In the week after the share sale, Forbes put him at about US$1.4 trillion.
The milestone did not last. SpaceX shares fell, and by early July Forbes said he was no longer a trillionaire. In August it valued him at about US$880 billion, and a tally of Forbes and Bloomberg figures puts him at about US$850 billion as of 7 November.
Why it matters
A trillion-dollar fortune has moved from thought experiment to fact. It came from owning large stakes in rockets, electric cars and AI at the same time, and it moved by hundreds of billions of dollars in weeks, because it is tied to share prices.
Our reading: wealth of this size comes from owning a big share of a company that sells to the whole world. No business that serves one island's market, however well run, can grow that large.
Part 2 of 4AI made 45 new billionaires in a single year
Forbes' 2026 list counted a record 3,428 billionaires, worth US$20.1 trillion between them. At least 86 owe their fortunes largely to AI, and 45 of those crossed US$1 billion in the previous twelve months. The richest newcomer was Edwin Chen, founder of the AI data company Surge, at about US$18 billion.
The new money is young. Of a record 35 billionaires under the age of 30, nine made their money in AI, and Forbes lists all nine as self-made. The youngest self-made billionaire in the world is Surya Midha, 22, a co-founder of Mercor.
| Name | Age | Company | What it does | Net worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surya Midha | 22 | Mercor | Supplies experts who help train AI | US$2.2B |
| Brendan Foody | 22 | Mercor | Supplies experts who help train AI | US$2.2B |
| Adarsh Hiremath | 22 | Mercor | Supplies experts who help train AI | US$2.2B |
| Michael Truell | 25 | Cursor | AI tool for writing code | US$1.3B |
| Aman Sanger | 25 | Cursor | AI tool for writing code | US$1.3B |
| Fabian Hedin | 26 | Lovable | Builds apps from plain-language requests | US$1.6B |
| Alexandr Wang | 29 | Scale AI | Data used to train AI | US$3.2B |
Why it matters
These fortunes took a few years, not generations. Cursor's founders are 25 and 26. Their companies sell what other businesses need to build and use AI, the modern version of selling picks and shovels in a gold rush.
None of them inherited the money. That matters for the Caribbean, where most large fortunes were built over decades in banking, retail, manufacturing and tourism.
Part 3 of 4The Caribbean's richest people made their money before AI
The region's billionaires are few. According to Times Caribbean, which compiled Forbes estimates, three Caribbean-born people are confirmed billionaires, and none made their money from AI.
| Name | Born in | Net worth | Main source of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herriot Tabuteau | Haiti | about US$2.1B | Axsome Therapeutics, a US biotech company |
| Michael Lee-Chin | Jamaica | about US$1.1B | Financial services, including NCB and AIC |
| Rihanna | Barbados | about US$1B | Fenty Beauty, fashion and music |
None of the three fortunes was built mainly inside the Caribbean either. Axsome is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, Lee-Chin built his first fortune in Canada, and Fenty Beauty was launched with the French luxury group LVMH.
Why it matters
The gap is the story. Getting from US$2.1 billion to US$1 trillion means growing about 476 times. On the chart, each gridline is ten times bigger than the last, and the Caribbean's richest people are still near the first one.
Our reading: the region's first AI billionaire is more likely to be a founder with Caribbean roots building in New York, Toronto or London, unless the region makes it easier to start, fund and sell a global company from home.
Part 4 of 4What it would take to build the first Caribbean AI fortune
The young AI billionaires made money in two main ways. Some sell what AI companies need: Mercor and Scale AI supply the human experts and data used to train AI models. Others sell tools built with AI: Cursor helps programmers write code, and Lovable lets people build apps by describing them in plain language.
Our analysis: the Caribbean has openings in both. The region speaks languages AI handles poorly, from Jamaican Patois to Haitian Creole, and holds data AI companies cannot easily find, from reef surveys to hurricane damage records. It has doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers who could train AI as experts. And it has many small businesses, hotels and public agencies that need AI tools built for island conditions.
Why it matters
What the region lacks is the rest of the chain: early investors willing to back ambitious founders, legal and banking systems that make it easy to sell to the world, and founders who have done it before and can show others the way.
Our view: a trillion-dollar company is decades away for anyone. A billion-dollar AI company built by a Caribbean founder is realistic within this decade, if the region sets it as a goal and backs it.
Seven moves toward the first Caribbean AI fortune
- Founders: sell to the world from day one. Price in US dollars and design for customers in North America, Europe and Latin America, not only the home island.
- Own data others cannot get. Creole language recordings, local climate and reef data, or industry records gathered with consent are worth more than a clever app.
- Use AI to stay small for longer. AI coding and app-building tools let a small team build software that once needed many engineers, so less early funding is needed.
- Students: become the expert AI needs. Companies such as Mercor pay specialists to help train AI. Medical, legal and engineering students can treat this as paid work and a skill.
- Investors: back founders earlier. Caribbean banks, pension funds and family offices can set aside a small share for early-stage technology, where AI fortunes begin.
- Governments: make it easy to sell a company. Clear rules on share options, foreign investment and intellectual property let founders build at home instead of moving abroad to raise money.
- Diaspora: bring the network home. Founders and investors with Caribbean roots abroad can hire, invest and test products in the region.
The trillionaire lesson for the Caribbean
Questions readers ask about AI fortunes
The 6 sources behind this article
- Wikipedia, "Wealth of Elon Musk," compiling Forbes, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal estimates
- Wikipedia, "List of centibillionaires," as of 7 November 2026
- Forbes, "Inside Forbes' 2026 Billionaires List: More Than 3,400 Worth $20 Trillion," 10 March 2026
- Forbes, "The World's Youngest Billionaires 2026: 35 Under 30," 10 March 2026
- Times Caribbean, "Caribbean billionaires: the native-born fortunes putting the region on the global wealth map"
- Wikipedia, "Mercor"