Brighton, UK — A massive expansion of AI-enabled surveillance of public spaces across Africa is violating citizens’ freedoms and the fundamental human right to privacy, warns a new report by the Institute of Development Studies. African governments are paying billions of dollars to Chinese companies for so-called ‘smart city’ products for public space surveillance –…
The SASSAM platform provides soil analysis, field event logging, pest and disease identification, weather forecasting, and AI-driven forecasting. The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) has unveiled an initiative to drive modernisation in the agriculture sector in the Eastern Cape. Named the South African System of Systems for Agricultural Modernisation (SASSAM), the initiative looks…
In this episode of ITWeb TV on The Road, Capitec CEO Graham Lee and Home Affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber speak to ITWeb about the smart ID self-service centre launch in Orange Farm, as well as how technology is being deployed to combat fraud and reduce queues at the department. #HomeAffairs #SmartID South Africa’s banks…
The department of home affairs and Capitec on Monday launched South Africa’s first self-service terminals that will allow citizens to apply for ID documents at Capitec branches without the need to engage with a customer service consultant. “This partnership with Capitec marks a historic step in transforming how South Africans access their identity documents. By…
Spotify is expanding its suite of “DJ-style” features with a new update designed to eliminate jarring shifts between songs. Following the successful launch of custom transitions last year, the streaming giant is now rolling out Smart Reorder, a tool that automatically rearranges playlists based on musical theory and tempo. Read: The new Samsung Galaxy S26…
For many years, electricity in mining was treated purely as a cost to be managed and was not considered a strategic lever. But this thinking has changed significantly, with mining companies investing in large-scale renewable energy projects. The onslaught of Eskom’s aggressive tariff hikes, grid constraints and rising global decarbonisation pressures now means that renewable…
OpenAI is making a major pivot from software to physical consumer electronics. According to The Information, the AI pioneer has assembled a massive internal team of over 200 employees to develop a suite of AI-integrated devices. The project, which currently includes a smart speaker, smart glasses, and a smart lamp, represents the first tangible fruit…
Standard Bank has confirmed the phased roll-out of smart ID application and renewal services at select branches, with no convenience or logistics fees during the launch period. The service will initially be available at the bank’s Rosebank, Maponya Mall and Westgate branches before scaling further. During the launch phase, clients will pay only the standard…
LPWAN works at scale. Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to innovation labs or pilot projects. Across utilities, logistics, manufacturing and the public sector, AI-driven systems are increasingly being used to predict failures, optimise resource usage and automate operational decision-making. Yet as many organisations are discovering, AI initiatives rarely fail because of algorithms or processing…
The Department of Transport seeks a turnkey solution for personalisation of smart driving licence cards. (Image source: 123RF) The ICT industry is favoured with a broad range of requests on National Treasury’s eTenders Portal this week. Nevertheless, all eyes will be on a tender from the Department of Transport’s Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) for…
