AI Insights

UCT and the Global Centre on AI Governance (GCG) recently launched the African Hub on AI Safety, Peace, and Security, first-of-its-kind platform designed to ensure that African perspectives are at the centre of global AI safety debates.

Republished: AI risks deepening global inequality without action. Africa holds <1% of data centers but needs 5 key policy changes: computing power, data governance, local languages, skills, and ethics.

Republished: A new survey of over 3,000 South Africans from all walks of life reveals that most South Africans can’t relate to AI in meaningful ways – despite the global hype about its pros and cons.

Republished: New research maps Africa's AI risks & proposes a 5-pillar action plan: human rights-grounded governance, an African AI Safety Institute, public literacy, early warning systems & AU forum.

Opportunity Alert: A 3-month research fellowship developing core topics in cooperative AI, with world-class mentorship.

Republished: Ubuntu's AI ethics turn engages African philosophy—"person through others"—emphasizing interdependence over individualism yet often lacks depth in reshaping ethical frameworks.

Republished: AI is here to stay - and lecturers and students ate UCT are thinking about its role together.

Opportunity Alert: Join UCT's Africa Microscopy Initiative as an Image Analyst! Work with researchers across Africa developing AI/ML analysis pipelines for critical biomedical research.

Exploring AI, Ethics, and African Futures Through Humanistic Inquiry

The AI Initiative partnered with Tokyo's Matsuo-Iwasawa Lab for an intensive weekend program, bringing world-class data science education to 50 UCT Commerce students through hands-on lessons and expert-led sessions.

UCT has made a decisive move in the global education debate on artificial intelligence (AI) by officially adopting a university-wide framework that sets out how AI technologies should be integrated into teaching, learning and assessment.

AI safety is a theme rapidly gaining traction. A recent webinar held by the EthicsLab sought to ask a more situated question: What does it mean to talk about safety in Africa, and for whom is safety at stake?

Republished: A/Prof Jonathan Shock visited CISPA Helmholtz Center in Germany from 12-13 June 2025 for strategic collaboration exploring cybersecurity research, education and tech transfer as part of CISPA's Africa Strategy.

When generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools first surged into the mainstream, higher education institutions faced an urgent question: how do we regulate or contain them within existing academic structures?

The winners of the UCT-Harvard surgical hackathon are looking to champion children’s bodily autonomy on a global stage. Here’s how.

UCT bags two new SARChI research chairs in Ocean and Atmospheric Modelling and Symbolic Artificial Intelligence, strengthening the university's research leadership in climate science and explainable artificial intelligence.

For Artificial Intelligence (AI) to become more reliable and adaptable, it must develop a form of “understanding” of the world that allows it to make sound decisions.

Can a self-driving car truly be ‘autonomous’? What does it mean for an AI to ‘govern itself or for a so-called ‘autonomous weapon’ to make life-or-death decisions?

Rachel Adams' "The New Empire of AI: The Future of Global Inequality" reveals how AI extends colonial power structures, exploiting resources while promising progress. It creates algorithmic governance systems that deepen global inequities.

As educators, we need to be keeping up to ensure that our teaching and learning is providing students with the skills and knowledge they need to navigate the world of AI.

We invite applicants to submit a proposal that outlines a use case for a teaching enhancement or innovation that leverages AI.