AI Report on Southern Africa http://misa.org Readiness Assessment Methodologies in implementing the UNESCO Recommendation. SARFAI 2022 co-hosts Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe accepted the Windhoek Statement on Artificial Intelligence in Southern Africa, which calls for the development of a Southern African coordination framework for the implementation of the UNESCO recommendations for AI Ethics5. These Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, including Mauritius, agreed to forward the Declaration for discussion and acceptance at the 2023 Joint Meeting of SADC Ministers in Charge of Education and Training and Science, Technology, and Innovation. The most recent UNESCO AI Needs Assessment Survey does not include any reports or statistics about Mauritius. The table below is a compilation of data extracted from the Oxford Insights AI Government Readiness Index. The table shows the respective regional countries’ scoring and rankings out of 181 countries. South Africa Botswana Namibia Zambia Zimbabwe Lesotho Mozambique Malawi Government 37.82 34.82 32.02 32.32 24.08 25.41 21.90 22.00 Technology 40.22 29.20 28.30 20.33 23.41 20.46 17.82 20.49 Data infrastructure 63.79 52.50 45.80 44.42 44.63 32.75 37.15 32.11 Average rating 47.28 38.84 35.37 32.36 30.71 26.21 25.62 24.87 Ranking 77 110 125 143 151 171 172 174 South Africa South Africa scored 8/12 on the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) ‘s Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values index for 2022. There is presently no national artificial intelligence (AI) framework in South Africa. Instead, AI, considered “the bedrock of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)”, is addressed within the framework of an integrated Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) strategy that is currently being developed. In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa formed the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In January 2020, the 4IR Commission published a diagnostic report that “sets out a vision for charting the way forward for South Africa in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The 4IR Commission’s role is thus to clearly identify the role of the State, as well as all institutional players and individuals, as equal protagonists in our future story.” The 4IR Commission undertook a comparative review of several national policies that address “the nature and implications of the 4IR for their societies.” Many of these tactics are focused on artificial intelligence. On this premise, the 4IR Commission established “8 Dimensions of Strategy”: “Preparation 5 https://sarfai2022.org/assets/documents/Windhoek_Statement_on_Artficial_Intelligence%20in%20Southern%20Africa_English.pdf 13