South Africa has withdrawn its draft national Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy after discovering AI-generated sources in its reference list.

The AI national policy framework was proposed earlier in April as a roadmap to regulate the use of AI in the country.

In a social post on X, the country’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solomon Malatsi, acknowledged that the draft policy, published and circulated to gather public views, contained multiple fabricated sources.

The minister acknowledged that the discovery and subsequent failure of the policy undermined its integrity and credibility.

“Following revelations that the draft national artificial intelligence policy published for public comment contains various fictitious sources in its reference list, we initiated internal questions which have now confirmed that this was the case,” Mr Malatsi said.

“This failure is not a mere technical issue but has compromised the integrity and credibility of the draft policy. As such, I am withdrawing the draft national artificial intelligence policy,” he said.

The minister said South Africans deserved better than what the country’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies had delivered under his leadership.

“South Africans deserve better. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies did not deliver on the standard that is acceptable for an institution entrusted with the role to lead South Africa’s digital policy environment,” the minister stated.

“The most plausible explanation is that AI-generated citations were included without proper verification. This should not have happened,” he added.

The minister noted that the unacceptable error proved the essence of “vigilant human oversight over the use of artificial intelligence”. 

“It’s a lesson we take with humility. I want to reassure the country that we are treating this matter with the gravity it deserves. There will be consequence management for those responsible for drafting and quality assurance,” he noted.

Earlier, on Friday, April 10, South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies published its proposed national AI policy framework to gather stakeholders’ views and recommendations that would guide the country’s use of AI.

At the time, the department said the framework was aimed at promoting an ethical, inclusive, and human-centred governance of AI that would not conflict with the country’s constitution and national development priorities.