AI positioning Africa for competitive, inclusive economic growthArtificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly shifted from a distant technological aspiration to a concrete driver of economic transformation, and its relevance for Africa – particularly South Africa – has grown significantly over the past year. South Africa encounters similar dynamics in sugarcane and horticulture, where world-class primary production coexists with relatively limited upstream and midstream value addition. For South African business leaders, the emerging AI landscape provides both a warning and an opportunity. South Africa’s position as a technologically advanced economy within SADC gives it a strategic role in shaping these frameworks. South Africa has an opportunity to design inclusive AI strategies that recognise these disparities and deliberately bridge them.