Communications minister Solly Malatsi should be commended for apologising and then withdrawing a national policy paper on artificial intelligence (AI) that has embarrassed the government and the country.
While most of his colleagues in the cabinet would have taken days to acknowledge the problem, not to mention owning up to it, Malatsi showed leadership when he immediately accepted that his department had erred.
The issue concerned the publication of a draft national AI policy that was soon exposed as containing fabricated sources in its reference list.
The fabrications suggested that the document had either been generated or augmented using AI, which is prone to “hallucinations” — producing information that is not true, not supported by data, or entirely fictional — without any fact checking being done.
The most embarrassing part of the error is that the draft policy document is supposed to give guidance on the responsible use of AI, among other things.
Malatsi has asked the department of communications’ director-general to investigate the matter and has apologised to South Africans for the embarrassment.
We believe that the incident should be a teachable lesson for all of us, not just the government.
AI usage is becoming ubiquitous as it has many uses and advantages for the population.
But it comes with its own risks, which include the possibility of blurring the line between reality and fiction.
In the world of academia, for instance, many institutions of higher learning are grappling with how much AI assistance students may rely on before their work falls into the realm of plagiarism and letting the machine do the work for them.
To cope with this technological development, we need to develop strong policies about AI usage.
Such a policy formulating process is too important to leave in the hands of government officials alone.
If there is any positive to be taken from the draft AI policy document debacle, it is that most South Africans now know that a process is under way to develop such a policy.
Hopefully, as many of us as possible will engage seriously with the process because its outcomes will affect all of us.
