The majority of South Africans do not feel it’s imperative to appoint a minister dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI).
This emerged from a survey ITWeb conducted on social media platform LinkedIn on 6 May. The LinkedIn poll asked the respondents: “Does South Africa need a Minister of AI?” Over three days, 388 people participated, with 32% supporting the idea and 68% opposing it.
The poll followed comments by businessman Andile Ngcaba, who called on government to appoint a minster of AI in the next administration.
Ngcaba made these comments at the 30 years of ICT in a democratic South Africa celebration hosted by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies recently.
As AI continues to grow in importance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the first country to appoint an AI minister in 2017. Omar Sultan Al Olama is the UAE’s minister of state for AI, digital economy and remote work application, as part of leading that nation’s AI strategy.
Last year, in Romania, the country’s prime minister reportedly unveiled an honorary government adviser joining his team – run entirely on AI.
In addition, last year saw unprecedented AI advancements, with a wide range of tools, solutions and industries adopting the technology. The launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022 brought to public attention the power of generative AI. Since then, Google’s Gemini Pro, Microsoft’s Bing AI and Elon Musk's xAI have been launched, showcasing generative AI’s evolution.
For the poll, the respondents voiced diverse opinions, with one suggesting “Focus on the basics first. I would be behind a minister of data as this would allow us to focus on how we manage data in this country. Get the data right and AI will follow.”
“As long as it won’t be a political appointment…I certainly think a ministry of technology is certainly required someone with a proven background and a pioneer in bringing smart solutions in the corporate space and they must also be able to implement digital solutions across all government departments,” said another respondent.
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