The Politics of AI and Data: Media and Elections in South Africa

This Topical Guide serves as an introduction to the relationship between developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and electoral integrity, in a South African and an African context. By expanding consideration of both the actions and actors involved in the electoral process, the Guide provides a foundation for key debates within both data governance generally, and AI more specifically, with electoral integrity as the central normative objective. Though issues of mis- and disinformation are of direct relevance to exploring the potential influence of AI (and big data) on elections, understanding the social and political phenomenon that underscore technologies is of more relevance for designing effective policy interventions. In South Africa, global conversations on AI and elections are relevant, but so too are the peculiarities of our political environment that is still strongly impacted by political party hegemonies. And understanding AI and data in South Africa as largely a process of extraction, helps to frame our understanding for intervention in elections as one which expands individual control across the full spectrum of the process with law and regulation standing as important instruments for expanding effective accountability in an opaque environment.