Innovation

One unfortunate hallmark of the 21st century has been life imitating parody. Everything from a reality TV star in the White House, to dog-themed crypto, to the richest men on Earth challenging each other to cage fights have made this a deeply silly quarter century. That said, few examples match South Africa's draft national AI policy for sheer clownish incompetence. 

The executive summary is ludicrous enough, particularly the plan to create seven new regulatory bodies, replete with cushy appointments, but the purest farce is contained in the document's substance. Of the 67 academic citations in the report, at least six were entirely made up. In some cases, the journal cited did not even exist. The problem is much deeper and more serious than some stray citations. Did the authors of this document use AI just for the citations? Or did they use it for the bulk of the content? The former proposition strains credulity beyond endurance, whereas the latter matches the behaviour of most users of generative AI.