South Africa’s redrafted national AI policy will not prescribe rules to industry. Instead, individual sectors will be left to write their own AI strategies off a set of national guidelines. We just want to provide national policy guidelines that they can use,” Morwane said. Strengthen the institutions we currently have and be very specific on their mandatesOne of the most contentious features of the withdrawn draft – its proposal to create seven new institutions, including a National AI Commission, an AI Ethics Board, an AI Insurance Superfund and a National AI Safety Institute – is also being reconsidered. Malatsi, who was scheduled to open the symposium with a keynote on South Africa’s evolving AI governance landscape, tendered apologies and did not attend.