No strategy, but AI is already here

South Africa does not appear among the countries with a national AI strategy in a new flagship World Bank report, according to TechCentral. The absence is significant because a national AI strategy sets out how a government plans to govern, invest in, and regulate artificial intelligence across the economy and public services. Without one, South Africa lacks a formal framework to guide how the technology is adopted here or to protect citizens from its risks.

Writing in Business Day, Lars Gumede argues that AI-powered mineral exploration tools developed by companies such as Earth AI and KoBold Metals – which use machine learning (software that finds patterns in large datasets) to analyse geological data – are cutting the time it takes to locate viable mineral deposits and improving the rate at which exploration efforts succeed. The piece makes the case that South Africa's mining sector, a pillar of the national economy, stands to benefit from adopting these technologies to revive flagging exploration activity. The argument is opinion rather than confirmed industry adoption, and the piece does not provide specific figures for South African uptake.

Nedbank says its artificial intelligence strategy has generated R375 million in value, according to ITWeb. The claim is significant for South Africa's financial sector, where major banks adopting AI at scale can affect customers, staff, and competitors across the country. The source text does not detail how the figure was calculated or which AI applications drove it, so the number should be read as the bank's own reported figure.

Ride-hailing service Bolt has launched a plugin that lets South African users request rides directly inside ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot made by OpenAI, according to Hypertext. Users install the plugin from ChatGPT's plugin store and can then get fare estimates, compare routes, and check driver arrival times before the booking transfers to the Bolt app to complete. Payments still go through the Bolt app for now, though the company says it plans to add in-chat payment in a future update.

ITWeb reports that IT leaders are calling for stronger governance over what is being called 'shadow AI' – the use of AI tools by employees or departments without formal organisational approval or oversight. The concern, as framed by the publication, is that this unsanctioned use is spreading to individual devices and endpoints, creating security and compliance risks that existing policies have not yet caught up with. For South African organisations still developing internal AI frameworks, the story points to a governance gap that is already widening in practice.

Untapped AI, a Johannesburg-based company, has launched a platform that allows businesses to deploy automated AI agents (software that handles tasks such as answering calls, responding on WhatsApp, and updating customer records) without writing any code, running the system on locally owned computing hardware in South African data centres. According to ITWeb, the company says this keeps customer data within South African borders and reduces the delays that come with routing calls and data through overseas servers. The launch is relevant to South African businesses weighing data sovereignty and compliance considerations when adopting AI tools, though the claims made are the company's own and have not been independently verified.