South Africa Withdraws Draft AI Policy Over Fictitious Citations

South Africa retracted its draft AI policy after discovering AI-generated fictitious sources in the references. The incident raises concerns over AI oversight. The government planned to establish AI oversight bodies but now faces a setback. There will be accountability for the oversight, though no new timeline is set.

South Africa has retracted its initial draft national AI policy after uncovering that it contained fictitious sources, reportedly generated by AI. Officials revealed lapses in verification led to the inclusion of non-existent citations. Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, described the incident as a significant error.

Minister Malatsi emphasized that the credibility of the policy was undermined by these failures, disclosing this development on a post on social media platform X. This policy was initially designed to position South Africa as a frontrunner in artificial intelligence on the continent while addressing various ethical and socio-economic challenges.

The draft outlined ambitious plans for new AI-focused institutions and incentives for private-sector collaboration. Despite this setback, Malatsi assured that those responsible for the error would face consequences, although a timeline for a revised policy was not provided.