Silicon Valley's global AI model is unsuited for many countries

South Africa withdrew its draft national artificial-intelligence policy after it was found to cite fabricated academic references and had been partially drafted using AI.

• Main action: The draft national AI policy of South Africa was withdrawn after discovery of fabricated academic references (AI ‘hallucinations’), and the document was partially drafted using AI; the author identifies this as evidence of a mismatch between global AI policy templates and local constraints.
• Background and details: The piece highlights resource constraints — water scarcity and historical scheduled blackouts (load shedding) in South Africa — and cites the IEA projection that global data-center electricity consumption will reach 945 terawatt-hours between 2024 and 2030; it also notes governments in India, Saudi Arabia and the European Union are investing in domestic compute and foundation models. The author (Pelonomi Moiloa) is co-founder and CEO of Lelapa AI, disclosed under competing interests.