South Africa has withdrawn its draft national artificial intelligence policy after it emerged that several academic citations in the document were fabricated by AI. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi confirmed that at least six of the 67 cited sources were hallucinations – references that sound plausible but do not exist.
“The most plausible explanation is that AI-generated citations were included without proper verification. This should not have happened,” Malatsi said. He added that “this failure is not a mere technical issue but has compromised the integrity and credibility of the draft policy.” The minister stated there would be consequences for those responsible for drafting the document.
The draft policy, which was opened for public consultation, aimed to position South Africa as a leader in AI innovation while addressing ethical, social and economic challenges. It proposed establishing a national AI commission, an ethics board, and a regulatory authority, along with tax breaks, grants and subsidies to encourage private-sector investment in AI infrastructure.
The issue was uncovered by South Africa’s News24, which found that at least six citations referenced journals that exist but published articles that do not. Editors of journals including the South African Journal of Philosophy, AI & Society, and the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy confirmed the articles were fake.
Malatsi said the incident highlights the need for vigilant human oversight of AI. “This unacceptable lapse proves why vigilant human oversight over the use of artificial intelligence is critical. It's a lesson we take with humility,” he wrote on X.
The incident reflects a broader trend: a study in the journal Nature found that over 2.5 per cent of academic papers published in 2025 contained at least one potentially hallucinated citation, up from 0.3 per cent in 2024 – more than 110,000 papers. Large language models such as ChatGPT and Gemini generate plausible-sounding but false references when they lack data in a domain, underscoring the need for careful human review.
