South Africa’s ICT policy advancement might often be characterised as moving at a snail’s pace, but the policy crafting processes always make room for collaboration and external stakeholder engagement.
This is according to Charmaine Houvet, senior director of government strategy and policy at Cisco Africa, speaking to ITWeb TV.
During the interview, Houvet unpacked the role of government policy in artificial intelligence (AI) development, SA’s competitiveness in the age of digital maturity and policies that SA needs to sharpen.
With over 35 years’ experience, the Cisco Africa executive has served in various leadership roles in the country’s leading ICT firms. She also chaired the policy and regulation workstream on the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which provides recommendations for how SA approaches digital development and emerging technologies.
As the ministry responsible for policy development for the ICT sector, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has several policy interventions in the pipeline.
Most notable among these is the gazetting of the National Data and Cloud Policy, as well as the National AI Policy Framework.
While the department often undergoes leadership changes, the constant is always at the director-general, director and councillor level when it comes to ICASA, for example, explained Houvet.
She noted that she always aims to pursue and encourage collaboration and consultation. “I don’t believe that it’s up to one entity or stakeholder to lead and drive any sort of policy change, review or regulation. Something that I’ve always respected of South African policymakers…is that they’ve always been conscious and intentional about consultation.
“I believe when it comes to important factors of benchmarking, technology policy review and consultation with an ecosystem of stakeholders − ranging from operators, OEMs, thought-leaders, community, civil society and academia – this is where the real competitive advantage is for SA and the continent at large.”
Houvet added that SA often excels by engaging the International Telecommunication Union, leaning into best practice and tapping into what other countries across the globe are doing.
“In terms of ensuring there is large-scale consultation − inviting all of us to the table to give our input − I think we could do so much better at that. While there is consultation, it takes a very long time for the policymaker or regulator to take into account all of this input.
“When a consultative forum is called and we all give input, we need to move much quicker from policy to execution because often we get stuck on policy.
“I can argue that we have some of the best leading minds when it comes to policy formation in SA. Once that process is done and we have these phenomenal policies, we need to get to a stage of execution, review and constant revisiting to see if they are still effective.”
AI in the zone
With the uptick of generative AI, there have been conversations around policy and regulation, spurred by the ethical challenges that have arisen because of AI’s rapid advancement.
Market analyst firm Gartner predicts that by 2026, 50% of governments worldwide will enforce use of responsible AI through regulations, policies and the need for data privacy.
In August, the DCDT issued its AI policy framework, while the European Union’s AI Act has already been legislated.
At its core, regulation aims to ensure AI is created responsibly and ethically from the start, to ensure citizens, businesses and governments are protected from some of the potential risks.
Houvet highlighted that instead of over-regulation, Cisco believes the process needs to start with a guiding framework and principles of transparency, ethics and security.
The European Union AI Act presents a “brilliant opportunity to take out the best practice from what we believe we may want to lean into”.
“We have a brilliant relationship with the EU council and various other committees, and the good thing is that we can have an open and engaging conversation.
“We have an opportunity to have conscious and meaningful conversations on all the aspects that plague us as a continent.
“We need to tap into people that have done this before and ensure we are intentional about the evolution of technology, and then go back to experts to develop policy that will consider the entire value-chain of citizens that will be impacted by AI.”
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