As the AI revolution sweeps the world, we are told that the future belongs to those who own the chips, the frontier AI models and the massive computing infrastructure. We are expected to believe that the countries of the Global South have only one choice: to depend on technologies designed elsewhere, governed elsewhere and controlled elsewhere.
That is a dangerous illusion.
I fought for South Africa’s political freedom not to watch a new generation inherit technological dependence only a few decades later. Political liberation was never meant to end with the lowering of one flag and the raising of another. It was about ensuring that our destiny would never again be determined by forces beyond our control.
A new report “The Essential Convergence: Global Compact on Extreme AI Risks” authored by Strategic Foresight Group in India argues that the countries that consume these technologies can lead efforts to create a just and fair world. It was launched in Geneva recently by a group of international global change leaders.
South Africa and other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have markets, critical minerals, labour, and data on which the large AI companies depend for their business. The Global South has a collective market of over two billion. The tech giants need us as much as the we need them. It is not a zero-sum game.
Power of the demand side
We must realise the power of the demand side. Instead of competing to become yet another supplier in a market already dominated by a few global players, countries can use the strength of their combined markets and strategic resources to negotiate fairer rules and greater participation in shaping the future of AI. South Africa has about 80% of the world’s platinum group metals, major manganese reserves, chromium and vanadium. PGMs (platinum, palladium, and rhodium) are essential for advanced data encoding and semiconductor fabrication. Manganese is a core input for battery metals and next-generation memory capacity. Chromium is a key transition metal for hardware reliability and specialized nanoscale devices. Vanadium acts as a catalyst and an important property-modifier in advanced electronics and specialized memory.
If we join forces with Brazil, they have substantial reserves of niobium and graphite. Niobium is used in combination with graphene to build ultra-fast charging, high-durability battery backups specifically designed for AI server racks.
Ubuntu of AI
I have known Sundeep Waslekar, principal author of this revolutionary report and the President of Strategic Foresight Group, for several years. His message is clear: “If South Africa wants to be a significant player on the global stage, it should influence AI ethics and governance.” But he is not advocating confrontation with the suppliers of AI models and infrastructure. He argues that the global AI governance should be shaped by the South African philosophy of Ubuntu, “I am because we are.” It offers a powerful counterpoint to techno-dystopias. If AI threatens the stability or very survival of humanity, it threatens all of us. And if everyone is devastated, so am I.
The report goes beyond recommending collaboration between Global South countries to demand fair terms. It also reveals that despite growing geopolitical rivalry, countries with very different political systems increasingly recognise that certain risks are simply too dangerous to ignore. The big powers like the United States and China have the same concern about technology being misused to build chemical and biological weapons or to undermine the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and nuclear command and control. They are also concerned about the technology going out of human control if it moves on the path of writing its own algorithms, replicating its models, deceiving its creators and enabling communication between AI agents without human supervision. As these countries are exploring similar frameworks and laws within their countries, it is possible to build an international convergence on minimum safeguards for the most lethal risks. Such an approach of essential convergence can save humanity from dangers of extreme nature without stifling innovation. Thomas Greminger, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said: “We need a rather light form of regulation that can create global mechanisms capable of managing extreme risks collectively. That sounds like common sense to me. And highly urgent.”
South African leadership
Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross, says: “Humanitarian values and the principles of neutrality, impartiality, independence, and above all humanity must be at the centre when the world decides how to manage technologies that could reshape human safety.”
South Africa brings a rare credibility to lead this journey. We are one of the few nations in history to have voluntarily dismantled its nuclear weapons. Our people remember what it took to overcome apartheid. That history fuels our determination to convert the question of AI from that of technology to one of values. We should not merely raise slogans against discrimination or plead for access to technology and investments. We should actively mobilise the nations of the African continent in particular, and the Global South in general to use our minerals, labour and markets strategically to demand not only fair terms for our countries, but also to prevent the evolution of artificial intelligence into a monstrous weapon that endangers humanity.
The Global South therefore faces a historic choice. It is not a choice between innovation and regulation. It is a choice between technological colonisation and shared human responsibility. We can shape an international AI order that reflects not only technological excellence but also human dignity. That is the promise of Ubuntu. That is the opportunity before South Africa.
- Dr Mathews Phosa is a former ANC treasurer-general and a businessman.
- As the AI revolution sweeps the world, we are told that the future belongs to those who own the chips, the frontier AI models and the massive computing infrastructure.
- We are expected to believe that the countries of the Global South have only one choice: to depend on technologies designed elsewhere, governed elsewhere and controlled elsewhere.
- That is a dangerous illusion.
- I fought for South Africa’s political freedom not to watch a new generation inherit technological dependence only a few decades later.
- Political liberation was never meant to end with the lowering of one flag and the raising of another.
