AI Report on Southern Africa http://misa.org knowledge required to sustain or offer quality services in Southern Africa (UNCTAD, 2021; ITU Hub, 2021). Use Case: FinTech adoption Case: FinTech adoption is increasing across the region, with banking regulators employing various AI technologies to serve their main tasks while also increasing financial inclusion. Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia’s central banks use the AI chatbot application Proto AICX to provide multilingual customer assistance and better financial intelligence monitoring. As previously stated in the report, chatbots are utilised by numerous banks, insurance firms, and financial service providers. Use Case: FinTech use is advancing across the region, with financial regulators using various AI technologies to support their core functions and increase financial inclusion. Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia’s central banks use the AI chatbot application Proto AICX to provide multilingual customer assistance and better financial intelligence monitoring. Use of facial recognition and mass surveillance According to media and civil society reports, CloudWalk Technology, a Guangzhou-based startup, signed a contract with the government of Zimbabwe to provide a mass facial recognition programme. The agreement between CloudWalk and the government of Zimbabwe will not be limited to CCTV cameras. According to a report in the Chinese state newspaper Science and Technology Daily, the project will include intelligent financial systems, airports, railways, bus station security, and a national facial database. In a recent report titled: Running in Circles by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which investigates digital espionage against civil society – Zimbabwe was listed as one of the countries using Pegasus spyware. Zimbabwe has a history of clamping down on dissenting voices. The ruling Zanu PF has been accused of using government resources and intelligence apparatus for surveillance and to clamp down on opposition actors. The government may have access to artificial intelligence surveillance tools such as the Cloudwalk facial recognition system, which has sparked concerns from political activists. One participant at the Harare meeting shared their concern on the use of technology for surveillance in the country, citing an example where information collected by means of communications surveillance was used by the State to dispute a claim that two active female members of the opposition were kidnapped, tortured, and sexually assaulted by suspected state security agents or members of the ruling party. The Minister of Home Affairs held a press conference and shared what he claimed was the location data from both women’s mobile phones and car movements to show that both women had not been kidnapped but had rather willfully spent time away from Harare. 28