In 2019 the phrase of the year was “the Zondo commission”, emblematic of the corruption in SA. In 2017 “state capture” was used more than 20‚000 times‚ according to the Pan South African Language Board.
In 2000 “state capture” was used by the World Bank to describe small corrupt groups using their influence over government bureaucrats to appropriate government decision-making for their own ends. State capture is sometimes not intentional.
It can result from the philosophical concept called information asymmetry, where one party (usually private individuals) know more than another party (usually government officials). Information asymmetry can result in exploitation. When the Democratic Republic of the Congo attained independence in 1960 under Patrice Lumumba, there were only 30 university graduates in a country bigger than Western Europe.
This was a recipe for state capture, and Mobutu Sese Seko seized power and handed it to his family and ethnic group. In 2017, a report by the Public Affairs Research Institute, entitled “The Betrayal of the Promise”, argued that the power elite in SA had violated the constitution and that the then political project became unachievable in the existing legal framework. As the tales unfolded and the rot was exposed, it is worth asking whether we could have uncovered this quicker with artificial intelligence (AI).
While AI has that potential, we are still left with acts of corruption and malfeasance. Since the creation of statehood, corruption has been a deviant characteristic. As the report outlined, “state capture by shadowy elites has profound implications for state institutions”. “It destroys public trust in the state and its organs; it weakens key economic agencies that are tasked with delivering development outcomes, and it erodes confidence in the economy.”
The repercussions are lack of trust in public institutions, and thus few will to pay tax or invest while criminality increases, and a brain drain. Now we see a fundamental shift in the global order, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic but largely because of the seismic changes of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The 4IR is predicated on a confluence of the physical, digital and biological spheres through technologies such as AI, automation, biotechnology, nanotechnology and communication technologies.
The pandemic has been useful to gauge our preparedness for this era. With national lockdowns, people and companies have had to embrace this new normal and swiftly adopt technologies to remain relevant.
AI, on which the 4IR is largely predicated, makes machines intelligent. A machine is regarded as intelligent if it can analyse complex information and extract insights using imagination. While computers traditionally relied on people to tell them what to do and how to react, AI is based on machines that learn and make their own decisions.It is clear that we are in the 4IR. Given the large swathes of data we are faced with, there are potential solutions to many of our deep-seated issues, including corruption.
The fears around job losses and humans made irrelevant are because, through AI, machines are able to do tasks much quicker and with greater precision. In China an anti-corruption AI system called Zero Trust has been used to monitor and evaluate the lifestyles of government officials.
In China an anti-corruption AI system called Zero Trust has been used to monitor and evaluate the lifestyles of government officials
The system can access more than 150 protected databases in central and local governments. Since 2012, Zero Trust has caught 8,721 government employees engaging in misconduct such as embezzlement, abuse of power, misuse of government resources and nepotism. However, it has been criticised for not being able to explain the process of identifying corrupt individuals, and it relies heavily on humans, which could make much of its work superfluous if these individuals were unscrupulous.
Then there are valid concerns around privacy. Yet there are ways AI can be deployed in less intrusive ways. We can deploy AI systems to analyse data from multiple sources and identify irregular activity associated with third parties, employees and customers. AI is more proficient in wading through e-mails, text messages or audio files. The technology is premised on its ability to recognise patterns and identify anomalies. It can also predict risks and identify fault lines where corruption is possible.
The World Bank, along with Microsoft’s research group, have tapped into the potential of AI to detect patterns of fraud and corruption. While this is still in a nascent stage, there is potential to expand on it. The interrogation of data sets from other international organisations, national procurement data, and corporate information, could feed into AI to aid in making better decisions on public spending that could be scaled down for governments.AI also has the potential to create a fairer justice system that would eliminate judges and deliver more impartial court rulings.
For instance, in 2008, judge John Hlophe was referred to the Judicial Service Commission for “an improper attempt to influence this [constitutional] court’s pending judgment in one or more cases”. This would not be a worry with AI. Judges make risk assessments based on factors such as the evidence, how lawyers present their cases and how witnesses testify.
AI systems make rational, optimised decisions in general. Judgments can be made by taking into account the evidence, the defendant’s history, and come up with a recidivism score that estimates whether they are likely to re-offend, to determine a sentence.As questions mount about corruption in the region of R3bn related to the R500bn the government allocated to ease the impact of Covid-19, citizens are demanding greater transparency in awarding government contracts.
An example proposed by Lusanda Raphulu, a partner at law firm Bowmans, is to apply AI algorithms in supply chains, especially in the awarding of tenders. The AI algorithms introduce objectivity and consistency to decision-making on tenders, eliminating human bias and reducing possible unethical decision-making. Our country has had enough of corruption.
It’s time to put AI to use to ensure ethical behaviour and integrity in practices that seemingly lend themselves to greed and corruption. AI has the potential to be the custodian of social justice. We have the abilities and opportunities to use these capabilities to uncover corrupt practices. It is unclear why we do not harness these capabilities and put them to good use.
In years to come, people will speak about millions spent on investigations, yet we can use the less costly AI to uncover and prevent these transgressions as well as safeguard the coffers. In the 2011 novel Brushstrokes of a Gadfly, author EA Bucchianeri wrote: “It’s not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed on our behalf, perhaps it’s the most patriotic thing we can do.”
• Marwala is the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg. He is also the deputy chair of the presidential commission on the fourth industrial revolution
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