Image Source: TimesLive
Local – According to Temoho Kgosipula, Media Coordinator at #PayTheGrants, the introduction of AI systems into South Africa’s social grant application process risks perpetuating existing inequality.
Kgosipula argued that artificial intelligence cannot be separated from the data it is built on, and that this data already reflects a deeply unequal society. He said the dependence on flawed historical data means automated decision-making is unlikely to produce fairer outcomes for grant applicants.
“AI doesn’t generate new information and doesn’t make its own advances. It rather relies on data that is fed into it, so I think for that very aspect it makes it inherently biased,” Kgosipula said.
Economic Conditions Undermine Grant System
Kgosipula linked the grant system’s shortcomings to wider economic conditions, saying government initiatives meant to uplift people are undermined by an economy that remains fundamentally unequal. He pointed to persistently high unemployment, including among graduates, as evidence that the current system is failing ordinary South Africans.
“It’s an economy that doesn’t care about its people, and there are things to show for it, like unemployment. Unemployment is a prime example, because it’s not only about people not looking for jobs, we have graduates who are unemployed,” Kgosipula said.
Not Opposed to Technology
Kgosipula said #PayTheGrants is not against digitisation itself. His concern is with how AI has been rolled out, and whether it includes the communities most affected by it.
He said the organisation supports continued digitisation, provided it is introduced in a way that includes marginalised communities rather than excluding them, and argued that people need to be consulted and given time to adapt rather than having changes imposed from the top down.
“We should realise that technology also changes us as much as we change it, and we should adapt in a way that is equal, and we shouldn’t bring inherently unequal systems with us,” Kgosipula said.
Kgosipula called for the reinstatement of in-person application and appeal options for SRD grants, arguing that online-only processes exclude applicants without stable internet access. He also renewed calls for a basic income above the poverty line, saying this would allow people to participate in a changing, increasingly digitised economy on more equal terms.
