SA risks falling behind in Al revolution if we don’t act now

Lack of policy framework chief among hindrances

- Ido Lekota

South Africa’s public sector artificial intelligence (AI) competency gaps present a significant challenge to the country leveraging its G20 presidency to advance AI integration. Despite its ambition to lead global AI policy discussions, fragmented domestic policies, limited governance readiness and slow technological adoption threaten our ability to capitalize on this opportunity.

Some of the factors that may impede SA leveraging its G20 presidency include fragmented polices, leading to disconnection between the draft National AI Policy Framework and cloud/ data policies which creates implementation uncertainty.

There is also the question of governance readiness - whereby research reveals that only 16% of public sector organizations have strong AI governance frameworks, jeopardizing the ethical deployment of AI.

Another risk factor is the slow adoption of ICT in government (particularly HR systems) hindering AI operationalization. There is also lack of reskilling, leading to workforce anxiety over perceived Al-driven job losses in the public sector, which could stall the adoption of AI.