Fortnightly AI insights for South African business leaders
November 2025
Welcome aboard! This issue explores South Africa's accelerating AI landscape with impressive new infrastructure, rising skills demand, and transformational AI adoption in workplaces. Quick win to try: Explore free AI sales tools by OpenAI and Salesforce enabling smarter customer management right from familiar platforms like ChatGPT and Slack.
- South Africa's AI usage is deepening, with 68% of businesses regularly using AI to boost productivity and streamline operations, indicating a shift toward leaner, more tech-augmented workflows by 2030.
- The launch of South Africa's first operational AI Factory by Altron brings world-class AI infrastructure powered by NVIDIA for companies to develop AI solutions while ensuring data sovereignty and compliance.
- AI skills demand shows a 77% surge year-on-year, highlighting an urgent need for coordinated national strategies to grow AI talent and support local job markets.
- Over 90% of South African employers anticipate AI will transform their businesses by 2030, already realizing time savings and operational improvements.
- The partnership between OpenAI and Salesforce has introduced integrated AI sales tools tailored for South African companies, enabling enhanced sales analytics and customer engagement.
- The AI Expo Africa 2025, the continent's biggest AI event, demonstrated vibrant local innovation with over 100 AI companies showcasing breakthroughs and attracting thousands to Johannesburg.
- Despite enthusiasm, around 30% of generative AI projects in South Africa reportedly fail after pilot phases, often due to implementation challenges such as lack of clear strategy, skills gaps, or integration hurdles.
- South Africa's G20 opportunity in the age of AI — exploring national digital sovereignty and AI leadership.
- Altron launches South Africa's operational AI Factory — enterprise-grade AI infrastructure and services.
- How OpenAI and Salesforce AI tools empower SA sales teams — hands-on overview of AI-powered CRM integration.
- African tech leaders Cassava and STANLIB are expanding AI-ready data centers in South Africa to meet growing cloud and AI demand, boosting local capacity and connectivity.
- The South African AI Expo Africa 2025 introduced new discussions on Agentic AI, Responsible AI, and national AI strategies, spotlighting rapidly evolving AI ecosystems.
- Dr. Bongani Andy Mabaso, CTO of Altron Group, spearheading the AI Factory initiative to enable secure, locally governed AI development in South Africa.
- The South African AI Association continues to drive collaboration and growth in the continent's AI talent and innovation ecosystem.
Data Sovereignty: Simply put, data sovereignty means keeping data governed by the laws of the country where it originates — a hot topic in South Africa's AI infrastructure to ensure privacy, security, and compliance with local regulations.
Next issue will dive into AI adoption case studies in South African manufacturing, deep learning model accessibility for startups, and emerging AI ethics frameworks shaping AI use across industries nationally.