SOME BRUTAL FACTS ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence is entering eSwatini quietly, politely, and without resistance. That should worry us.

We are being told that AI means efficiency, development, and modernisation. We were told the same about social media. Today, we are still struggling to contain the damage—disinformation, fraud, social division, and organized crime operating faster than our laws. AI is far more powerful, and we are even less prepared.

Let us start with facts. AI does not think. It does not reason. It does not understand our society. It processes data. And in a country where digital access is unequal and local data is limited, AI systems will inevitably reflect foreign assumptions, not Swazi realities. Decisions affecting our people risk being shaped by systems we did not build, do not regulate, and barely understand.

Yes, AI could support healthcare, education, and public administration. But potential without governance is meaningless. Unregulated AI replaces human judgment with algorithms and accountability with technical excuses. When systems fail, who do citizens hold responsible—the machine?

We must also confront the employment question honestly. Introducing AI into an economy already burdened by youth unemployment without a serious reskilling strategy is not innovation. It is policy recklessness.

Technology does not automatically equal progress. History has already taught us this lesson. AI will either deepen inequality and instability, or serve national development—but only if guided by law, ethics, and public oversight.

The real danger is not AI itself. The danger is our silence, our delay, and our refusal to act. Progress without guardrails is not progress. It is surrender.