Could AI create a new form of inequality in South Africa?

By Rennie Naidoo, Professor of Information Systems, University of the Witwatersrand

Generative artificial intelligence (AI), and especially large language models deployed as chatbots and digital assistants, are now part of everyday digital life.

These models are being framed as a helpful assistant, a patient tutor, a customer service agent and even a source of emotional support. But what happens when even more human encounters are mediated by machines?

This question matters especially in South Africa, where apartheid not only…

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