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AI DISCUSSION DOCUMENT KICKS OFF ‘PRE-POLICY’ PROCESS
- 16 April 2024
- Communications & Digital Technologies
- SA Legal Academy
Please note: A belated media statement on Cabinet’s ‘special’ 10 April 2024 meeting includes a section on the AI planning summit, when the document was apparently the focus of discussions. Issued nearly two weeks after the Cabinet meeting took place, among other things the statement refers to the summit as ‘the first step in charting a clear way forward towards leveraging the power of AI to address some of South Africa’s economic and social challenges’.
A discussion document on artificial intelligence (AI) planning has been unceremoniously posted on the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies website, where a page has been dedicated to a national AI government summit held on 5 April 2024. This page refers to the summit as having been ‘a dialogue on the proposed AI plan’, which appears to have been held in the context of an ongoing ‘pre-policy’ stakeholder consultation process. A draft plan reflecting input received during the summit will be submitted to Cabinet for approval – at which point it will be released for public comment.
At this stage in the process, therefore, it seems that no input is sought from ordinary South Africans. This may explain why the document was never formally published with an accompanying media statement.
Whatever the case, among other things the discussion document explores:
- global concerns about AI
- the components of AI (including machine learning, neural networks and deep learning)
- the impact of applied and generative AI, and
- ethical considerations.
Please click the links below for more information:
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
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