South Africa withdraws AI policy due to fake AI-generated sources

South Africa has withdrawn its ​first draft national ​AI policy after revelations that it ​contained fictitious sources in its reference list which appeared to have been AI-generated.

“The most plausible explanation is that ‌AI-generated citations ⁠were ⁠included without proper verification. This should not have happened,” Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi said.

“This ​failure is not a mere technical issue but has compromised the integrity and credibility of ​the draft policy,” he wrote ⁠in a ‌post on X on Sunday.