South Africa on Friday unveiled a draft national artificial intelligence policy seeking public comment on sweeping regulatory and development proposals framework.
Published by Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, policy aims to position South Africa as continental AI leader addressing ethical socioeconomic challenges.
It also marks a significant step in South Africa’s ongoing digital transformation journey across public and private sectors.
Public comments on the draft policy are invited by June 10.
The draft outlines plans to establish new institutions including a National AI Commission, an AI Ethics Board and an AI Regulatory Authority.
The bodies would coordinate policy enforce ethical standards monitor compliance and provide mechanisms for redress and compensation in cases of AI-related harm.
The government intends to create incentives including tax breaks grants and subsidies to encourage private-sector collaboration particularly for local startups and small businesses.
One of the key pillars of the policy is investment in strong and cost-effective supercomputing infrastructure to support AI research and development.
It also calls for strategic investments in digital infrastructure including partnerships with international cloud providers and regional supercomputing hubs.
However it notes concerns that reliance on foreign infrastructure could compromise the security of sensitive South African data systems security.
It calls for plans to reduce South Africa’s current hardware dependence on the U.S. and China amid their ongoing geopolitical rivalry.