Artificial intelligence is powerful and useful, but it challenges our humanity. Photo: File
South Africa stands at the cusp of an era defined not only by economic or political challenges, but by profound questions about the very essence of being human. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already reshaping our industries, our education systems and even the way we consume information.
Yet what lies beyond AI, synthetic intelligence, demands sober reflection. This is not merely another technological breakthrough. It is a direct challenge to our humanity, our spirituality and our collective future.
Artificial Intelligence: Powerful, but just a tool
Artificial intelligence has brought undeniable benefits. In South African healthcare, AI is being tested to assist doctors in diagnosing diseases like tuberculosis through faster analysis of X-rays. In education, platforms are emerging that adapt lessons to learners’ abilities, potentially helping to close gaps in under-resourced schools. In business, banks use AI to detect fraud and enhance customer services.
These developments are welcome, but they must not blind us to an important truth — AI is still a tool. It mimics human reasoning but does not think. It processes data but does not possess consciousness.
Synthetic intelligence: A dangerous frontier
Synthetic intelligence is fundamentally different. It is the pursuit of creating autonomous cognition — systems capable not only of responding to commands but of generating their own reasoning and potentially pursuing independent goals. It moves us from machines that assist us to machines that might one day coexist with us as digital beings.
There is growing discussion globally about merging the human body with AI-driven technologies to create so-called enhanced beings. Some describe this as the birth of a new digital species. South Africa should resist and discourage such attempts. The merger of flesh, spirit and machine is not just a technical experiment, it is a profound tampering with human identity and dignity. It risks stripping us of what makes us uniquely human: our spiritual depth, our sense of meaning and our ability to transcend the material world.
Spiritual dimension: Humanity Is more than computation
Our African heritage has always emphasised the spiritual dimension of life. Concepts like ubuntu remind us that our humanity is not located in algorithms or mechanical efficiency but in our relationships, our compassion and our interconnectedness.
If we reduce humanity to circuitry and code, we risk undermining the very essence of what spirituality teaches us. Life is sacred, consciousness is more than computation and our existence is bound by moral responsibility. A society that begins to believe digital beings can replace, or even rival, human beings is a society that has lost sight of its soul.
Risks for South Africa
South Africa cannot afford to sleepwalk into this future. The risks are clear:
- Erosion of human responsibility: Imagine courts relying heavily on algorithmic judgments in parole hearings or sentencing. Who would be accountable if the system replicated bias against vulnerable communities?
- Deepening inequality: In a country already scarred by unemployment, the aggressive rollout of AI in banking, mining and retail could replace thousands of jobs. For instance, fully automated mines might boost profits but could devastate communities dependent on mining jobs.
- Loss of cultural and spiritual identity: Our traditions, values and spiritual practices could be marginalised if machines are elevated as equivalent to human beings. Already, younger generations are more influenced by online digital personas than by community elders.
- Existential confusion: Introducing digital beings into human society risks destabilising our moral and social foundations. If people start interacting with synthetic beings as equals, what happens to the spiritual essence that binds South Africans together through ubuntu?
We must be pragmatic, not paranoid. Here is how we can move forward responsibly:
- Use AI as a tool, not a crutch: Let AI assist in education, healthcare and service delivery, but never surrender decision-making authority that requires human judgment, empathy and accountability. For example, AI can help doctors in rural clinics with diagnosis, but final decisions must remain with trained medical professionals who understand cultural and personal contexts.
- Reject the merging of humans and machines: Enhancing our bodies or minds with synthetic intelligence might sound enticingly futuristic but it undermines both our spirituality and our humanity. South Africans must resist narratives that suggest we should evolve into digital beings.
- Strengthen our moral and spiritual foundations: Families, schools and faith communities must teach that being human is about compassion, meaning and dignity, values no machine can replicate. South Africa’s diverse spiritual traditions, from Christianity and Islam to African traditional beliefs, must serve as anchors in this debate.
- Invest in human-centred skills: Education must prioritise creativity, ethical reasoning and emotional intelligence. Imagine a South Africa where learners in township schools are taught to solve problems with empathy and innovation rather than to compete with machines.
- Demand transparency and accountability: Citizens must insist that governments and corporations explain how AI systems work, how they are used and how people’s rights are protected. Without such vigilance, AI could be misused in ways that undermine democracy, just as social media manipulation has already disrupted politics globally.
Role of government: Firm stewardship
South Africa’s government cannot remain passive. Leadership is required.
The state should create clear laws against the merging of humans and machines. The dignity of the human person must be protected by law. Independent oversight bodies must ensure AI is used ethically and in line with the Constitution.
Protecting jobs and livelihoods should be prioritised through active reskilling and policies that place people, not machines, at the heart of development. South Africa must also engage globally in shaping agreements that prevent the weaponisation or unethical use of synthetic intelligence.
Importantly, the government must ensure that AI does not deepen inequality. If AI technologies remain the preserve of wealthy corporations, South Africa risks widening the divide between the privileged few and the struggling majority. A just future demands that technological benefits be shared broadly, whether through subsidised access to AI-driven education platforms in rural schools or AI-powered health diagnostics in public clinics.
The danger is not that machines will suddenly rebel against us. The danger is that we will willingly hand over our humanity in the name of progress. Once surrendered, it cannot be reclaimed.
We must remember that no machine can pray, no algorithm can love and no digital being can seek meaning beyond survival. These are uniquely human capacities. To abandon them is to abandon ourselves.
South Africa must lead with wisdom. Let us harness AI for human flourishing but draw a firm line against synthetic intelligence that aspires to create digital beings or merge with humanity. The cost is too great.
The true test of our intelligence lies not in how advanced our machines become, but in how faithfully we guard what makes us human.
If South Africa is to secure its future, we must not measure progress by how closely machines resemble us, but by how steadfastly we protect what makes us human. The pursuit of synthetic intelligence might dazzle, but it also tempts us to surrender our souls.
Our responsibility is clear — to embrace technology as a servant of humanity, never as its master. In the end, the greatest test of our intelligence will not be how advanced our machines become, but whether we have the wisdom and courage to say, “Humanity is enough.”
Dinko Herman Boikanyo is an associate professor of business management at the University of Johannesburg. He writes in his personal capacity.