Loading the world…
Signals to be verified, not evidence: press coverage varies between countries.
/Country
South Africa
63/100
attention index
attention index
Attention higher than 96% of countries
#7 of 157 countries · methodology v0.6 · 11 Nov 2026
The country in the five views
- Attention63
- Adoption · single source24
- Regulation70
- Problems and attacks51
- Opportunities35
/Why this colour
how it is computedReported incidents73
11 incidents in the last 24 months · percentile among countries
AI exposure68
percentile among countries
Generative AI use in the population: 23.9% (2026-Q2) · Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
Missing safeguards46
100 minus the safeguards percentile among countries: higher means fewer safeguards
Regulatory quality: -0.07 (2025) · World Bank
Rule of law: +0.04 (2025) · World Bank
Voice and accountability: +0.68 (2025) · World Bank
The state and AI
how it is computedNot part of the attention index
Openness to AI
61
Exposure to threats
29
as a target 31 · as a cause 27
Open, little exposedMedia coverage: high (1,047 AI articles citing the country in the last 32 days)
Why this value
Exposure to threats = 50% × 30.6 (as a target) + 50% × 26.5 (as a cause) = 28.6
Reported cyber attacks against institutions and foreign disinformation
Social media monitoring, government disinformation, AI surveillance, spyware, internet shutdowns
What protects
Government access to personal data (V-Dem, expert scale)72
Rule of law (0-100 score)59
2025 · World Bank
Data protection law100
2026-11 · UNCTAD — Global Cyberlaw Tracker
Rules on AI used by the state (GIRAI)26
Shown alongside, not subtracted from the exposure
What we cannot see
We count reported cyber attacks, not all those that happened; there is no worldwide measure of threats made with AI; for surveillance and spyware the sources stop at 2022-2024.
Examples
Examples, not a count
Incidents where the state uses AI
- South African Home Affairs Revised White Paper Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI-Generated (in the incident list of this card)Apr 2026
- South Africa Draft National AI Policy Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI Hallucinations (in the incident list of this card)Apr 2026
- White House appears to use AI to calculate tariff rates (in the incident list of this card)2025
/What we cannot see
Incidents never reported by the press · reports of serious incidents sent to the authorities and not published · systems registered in the non-public part of the EU database.
/Incidents by period
in the country0
last 6 months
6
6-12 months ago
2
12-24 months ago
+ 3 with only the year
/Reported incidents
11 in 24 monthsApr 2026
South African Home Affairs Revised White Paper Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI-Generated (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
country inferred from the textaccording to AI Incident Databaseorigin: South Africa (government-of-south-africa, south-african-department-of-home-affairs) · from the deployer
Also reported by· 3 articles from 3 outlets
- Home Affairs suspends two officials over AI use linked to revised White Paper on Citizenship and Immigration (opens in a new tab) · gov.za · 30 Apr 2026
- Officials suspended over fake AI sources in government policy (opens in a new tab) · businesstech.co.za · 30 Apr 2026
- Two Home Affairs officials suspended after AI ‘hallucinations’ found in policy paper (opens in a new tab) · citizen.co.za · 1 May 2026
Apr 2026
South Africa Draft National AI Policy Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI Hallucinations (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
country inferred from the textaccording to AI Incident Databaseorigin: South Africa (department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-(south-africa), government-of-south-africa) · from the deployer
Also reported by· 4 articles from 4 outlets
- Govt’s draft AI policy cites fictitious references experts believe are AI hallucinations (opens in a new tab) · news24.com · 25 Apr 2026
- South Africa withdraws AI policy due to fake AI-generated sources (opens in a new tab) · reuters.com · 27 Apr 2026
- Officials suspended over fake AI sources in government policy (opens in a new tab) · businesstech.co.za · 30 Apr 2026
Mar 2026
SASSA Facial-Verification Failures Reportedly Contributed to Social Grant Access Disruptions in South Africa (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textBiometrics and surveillance
country inferred from the textaccording to AI Incident Databaseorigin: South Africa (south-african-social-security-agency-(sassa)) · from the deployer
Also reported by· 3 articles from 2 outlets
- SASSA on self-service system restored following earlier challenges (opens in a new tab) · gov.za · 10 Apr 2026
- Sassa eLife Certification portal: Beneficiaries report ongoing glitches despite agency denials (opens in a new tab) · iol.co.za · 23 Apr 2026
- SASSA’s biometric rollout leaves thousands without grants amid fraud crackdown (opens in a new tab) · iol.co.za · 24 May 2026
Jan 2026
South African Court Found Self-Represented Litigant Relied on an AI-Hallucinated Judgment (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
Also reported by· 2 articles from 2 outlets
- Roux v Greunen and Others (2025/81170) [2026] ZAGPJHC 55 (29 January 2026) (opens in a new tab) · saflii.org · 29 Jan 2026
- Misuse of AI in legal proceedings: A word of caution from the Courts (opens in a new tab) · ensafrica.com · 7 Jun 2026
Jan 2026
Purportedly AI-Generated Memorial Posters Reportedly Presented Fabricated Child Portraits as Victims of South African School Transport Crash (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
Also reported by· 1 article from 1 outlet
- AI-generated memorial posters circulate after fatal South African school bus accident (opens in a new tab) · factcheck.afp.com · 30 Jan 2026
Jan 2026
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Prompted Emergency Investigation of False Fire at South Africa's Orlando West High School (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
Also reported by· 2 articles from 2 outlets
- Fake AI image sparks false school fire alarm in Orlando (opens in a new tab) · citizen.co.za · 6 Jan 2026
- AI-generated photo of Orlando West High School burning, causes outrage (opens in a new tab) · ewn.co.za · 6 Jan 2026
Oct 2025
Old Mutual warns of purported deepfake videos impersonating its board chairman in investment scams (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
country inferred from the textaccording to AI Incident Database
Also reported by· 1 article from 1 outlet
- Old Mutual warns about ‘Trevor Manuel’ deepfake investment pitches (opens in a new tab) · moonstone.co.za · 6 Oct 2025
Jun 2025
South African Legal Team for Northbound Processing Reportedly Admits Legal Genius AI Produced Purportedly Non-Existent Case Law in Urgent Court Filing (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the text
country inferred from the textaccording to AI Incident Database
Also reported by· 4 articles from 4 outlets
- Lawyers face probe for using ‘hallucinating’ GenAI in court (opens in a new tab) · itweb.co.za · 2 Jul 2025
- When using Artificial Intelligence goes wrong: Judge slams lawyers for legal bungle (opens in a new tab) · msn.com · 2 Jul 2025
- Another episode of fabricated citations, real repercussions: South African courts show no tolerance for AI-hallucinated cases (opens in a new tab) · cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com · 4 Jul 2025
2025
White House appears to use AI to calculate tariff rates (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
the source gives only the yearaccording to AIAAIC Repositoryorigin: United States (Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, xAI)AI labs pages: Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, xAI
Also reported by· 7 articles from 7 outlets
2025
Grok posts unsolicited "white genocide" responses to X users (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
the source gives only the yearaccording to AIAAIC Repositoryorigin: United States (xAI)AI labs pages: xAI
Also reported by· 5 articles from 5 outlets
- edition.cnn.com (opens in a new tab) · 14 May 2025
- reuters.com (opens in a new tab) · 17 May 2025
- gizmodo.com (opens in a new tab)
2024
Georgia-based group uses deepfake celebrity ads to push fake cryptocurrency schemes (opens in a new tab)severity: moderate · partly estimated from the textGenerative AI
the source gives only the yearaccording to AIAAIC Repository
Also reported by· 5 articles from 4 outlets
/Laws and safeguards
Regulatory quality-0.07
2025 · World Bank
Rule of law+0.04
2025 · World Bank
Voice and accountability+0.68
2025 · World Bank
AI-specific laws and authorities: coming with new sources.
/In the news
how it worksAI news mentioning the country · 7 Nov – 13 Nov
- Australia holds AI developers more accountable (opens in a new tab)shz.de · Germany · 12 Nov 2026 · and 91 other outlets
- Xinhua Headlines: 7th World Media Summit opens in Beijing, highlighting media transformation in AI age (opens in a new tab)heraldglobe.com · United States · 9 Nov 2026 · and 26 other outlets
- Inauguran VII Cumbre Mundial de Medios de Comunicación en Beijing y destaca la transformación de medios en era de IA (opens in a new tab)xinhuanet.com · China · 9 Nov 2026 · and 5 other outlets
- Erste AI Music Awards in Los Angeles: Wer steckt hinter den KI-Stars? (opens in a new tab)gmx.at · Austria · 13 Nov 2026 · and 4 other outlets
- 93% of SA tech bosses trust their AI agents, but should they? (opens in a new tab)timeslive.co.za · South Africa · 12 Nov 2026 · and 1 other outlet
- This booming SA sector needs forward-thinking AI strategy, says industry body (opens in a new tab)businessday.co.za · South Africa · 11 Nov 2026 · and 1 other outlet
- Vodacom plans AI data centre builds in SA and Kenya (opens in a new tab)timeslive.co.za · South Africa · 11 Nov 2026 · and 1 other outlet
- Le 7e Sommet mondial des médias s'ouvre à Beijing, mettant en lumière la transformation des médias à l'ère de l'IA - Xinhua (opens in a new tab)xinhuanet.com · China · 9 Nov 2026 · and 1 other outlet
- 2nd LD-Writethru-Xinhua Headlines: 7th World Media Summit opens in Beijing, highlighting media transformation in AI age (opens in a new tab)bignewsnetwork.com · United States · 7 Nov 2026 · and 1 other outlet
- AWS commits USD 100 million in AI and cloud technology to help organizations expand health services worldwide (opens in a new tab)commonperu.com · Peru · 13 Nov 2026
AI articles mentioning the country in the last 30 days: 934 in total, at most 88 in one day (16 Oct 2026).
934 AI articles mentioning the country in 30 days
/Index trend
— country ··· worldIndex trend: 18 Oct 2026: country 64, world 36 · 19 Oct 2026: country 64, world 36 · 26 Oct 2026: country 64, world 36 · 2 Nov 2026: country 63, world 36 · 11 Nov 2026: country 63, world 36.
Previous years, reconstructed with today's data: 2023 39 · 2024 42 · 2025 46 why
/AI models released
12 months · outside the indexNo releases recorded by Epoch AI for organisations in this country.