South Africa's Uneven Journey Into the AI Age
Artificial Intelligence may dominate global headlines, but in South Africa, most people remain only dimly aware of what it is, how it works, or what it might mean for them. A recent research paper, Beyond the Hype: South African Attitudes to AI and the Future (Global Center on AI Governance, September 2025), offers one of the first nationally representative looks into public understanding and perceptions of AI. What it reveals is a story of low awareness, uneven access, cautious optimism, and deep-seated concerns about jobs and control.
Uneven Familiarity With AI
The survey shows that 73% of South Africans had either never heard of AI or knew very little about it. Only 21% felt confident enough to explain it to a friend. Familiarity is highly unequal. Younger, wealthier, and more educated respondents report higher knowledge, while older, poorer, and unemployed groups are far less aware. Among the over-65s, more than half had never heard the term at all.
The picture is clear: AI awareness is stratified along the same lines as South Africa's broader inequalities.
How South Africans Learn About AI
When asked where they learn about AI, respondents pointed mostly to informal channels. Social media (40%) topped the list, followed by television/radio (37%), other online sources (33%), and conversations with friends/family (32%). Only 7% cited schools or formal education.
This means public understanding of AI is shaped less by structured, reliable instruction and more by unregulated digital spaces, opening the door to hype, myths, and misinformation.
Early Impressions and Mixed Feelings
When asked about AI's effect on their lives, nearly half of respondents were neutral, unsure, or said they hadn't noticed an impact. Among those with opinions, 47% described the impact as positive or very positive, with benefits such as easier access to services, help with homework, or time saved at work.
But anxieties were just as evident. Job displacement was the leading concern (69%), far outweighing other risks. Respondents also worried about over-reliance on machines (43%), AI "turning against humans" (36%), and privacy threats (33%).
Responsible AI and Trust
Trust in AI is uneven. Respondents placed the most confidence in government use of AI in education and healthcare — areas where people feel public services could genuinely improve. At the same time, there was strong skepticism about AI in high-stakes areas like justice, military use, or financial services.
The underlying theme is clear: people want human oversight, accountability, and transparency, especially in sensitive domains.
Looking Ahead: Ten-Year Expectations
When asked about AI's potential benefits over the next decade, respondents highlighted health and wellbeing (43%) and having AI "do some of our work for us" (41%). Negative expectations were dominated by jobs: nearly seven in ten feared displacement.
Taken together, these responses show South Africans neither idealise nor demonise AI. Instead, they approach it with pragmatic hope, bounded by real-world anxieties.
Our Commentary: How to Make AI Inclusive
1. Build literacy where people already are
Instead of assuming learning must come from universities or technical training, we should embed AI basics into the spaces where people already gather and learn. Peer-to-peer learning is powerful; community "AI ambassadors" could multiply awareness far faster than top-down campaigns.
2. Show the value through everyday use cases
Skepticism fades when people see AI solving their real problems. That means starting with practical deployments: AI voice systems that reduce waiting times at clinics, chatbots that make government forms less painful, or assistants that save SMEs time on reporting and admin.
3. Put people in the loop
Fear of job loss and loss of control is real. Every automation rollout should come with a human oversight mechanism and a transition plan: who reviews outputs, how roles will change, what reskilling is available.
Conclusion: Seizing the Ambivalent Moment
The report shows most South Africans are still forming their views on AI. Ambivalence, in this case, is a gift. It means there is still space to shape perceptions before misinformation hardens into distrust.
With inclusive literacy, practical deployments, safeguards, and participatory governance, AI can help close gaps in education, healthcare, and opportunity. But if awareness remains limited to elites, AI will deepen inequality rather than ease it.
The choice is urgent: make AI everyone's business, or risk it becoming nobody's.