Tag: ArtificialIntelligence

For a long time, the digital playbook for businesses was relatively straightforward. Invest in SEO, rank on Google, drive traffic to your website and convert that traffic into customers. That model still holds value, but it is no longer the full picture.

There is a narrative building around artificial intelligence (AI) that deeply concerns me. It is a narrative rooted in fear. People fear being replaced. They fear being left behind. They fear not understanding the technology. They also fear experimenting and getting it wrong. Yet, from where I sit, AI is not something we can afford to fear from the sidelines. Instead, we need to engage with it. We need to learn from it, play with it, challenge it, shape it and adopt it.

In biology, a virus does not always destroy a cell from the outside. Instead, it injects genetic instructions into the host. It then hijacks the cell’s internal machinery. This process produces more viruses. In the digital world, prompt injection follows a similar logic. It operates with stealth and precision.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving from experimentation to execution within South African organisations. Organisations increasingly embed AI agents across business functions, including finance, customer service, IT and operations. However, a significant governance concern is emerging.

In a low-growth economy, organisations struggle to expand revenue. They therefore face increasing pressure to unlock efficiencies and do more with less. Consider a major South African bank. It recently celebrated a successful AI-powered fraud detection pilot. The results looked impressive. The system delivered faster detection, fewer false positives and measurable savings. Leadership felt energised.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of the most revolutionary ideas in human history emerged - the corporation. Today, the concept seems entirely ordinary. Companies own assets, enter into contracts, raise capital, employ people, and continue operating long after their founders have passed away.

The future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption lies in disciplined execution, governance and responsible implementation rather than unchecked experimentation. As enterprises accelerate the adoption of AI and agentic systems, conversations around data protection are becoming more urgent. However, organisations should avoid treating AI as an entirely new governance problem.

The World Economic Forum predicts that nearly 40% of on-the-job skills will change by 2030. The capabilities gaining ground are not just technical. Creative thinking, resilience and analytical thinking are also rising alongside Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data. In addition, the tasks least likely to be automated require human judgment, the ability to sit with complexity and the capacity to understand people well enough to solve the right problem.

At the start of 2024, a finance worker in Hong Kong at a multinational firm joined what appeared to be a routine video call with senior leadership. The call included people who looked and sounded like the company’s UK-based CFO and other executives. However, AI-generated deepfakes had created these individuals. As a result, the employee authorised several transfers to different bank accounts worth around $25 million.

We have released our March Job Market Trends Report. The report includes an analysis of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills are evolving locally. It draws on data from the company’s recruitment platforms. The findings show that AI exposure among professionals has shifted from niche to mainstream. This shift signals the rise of the growing AI skills economy.