I spend my days building AI-powered systems, creating automation workflows, integrating large language models into business processes, and helping companies become more efficient. I genuinely believe artificial intelligence will become one of the most important technologies of our lifetime. Well, when the robots come in bulk it will most probably be game over but lets stay positive.
Yet I still struggle with it. That may sound strange coming from someone whose business is built around AI, but the truth is that I often find myself wrestling with questions that do not have easy answers. For some reason, when I play the story through, its usually a bad ending. Think positive,
As an oldish dude, I have lived through several major technological shifts. In the tech field I usually had a front row seat. We were lucky enough to get a home computer when I was in high school. My dad often encouraged me to play with the software and upgrade the computer hardware teaching me what each of the parts did inside and how it interacted with the software. My first serious job was a computer hardware technician where I watched personal computers become mainstream. My first company was an internet cafe (yes, people paid R7.50 for half an hour access to internet). I saw the internet transform business and communication. I witnessed smartphones put the world’s knowledge into everyone’s pocket. I then started venturing into software, web and application development.
Each of these technologies changed society for the better in many ways. But they also came with unintended consequences.
Social media is perhaps the best example. What started as a powerful tool to connect people became something much more complicated. While it brought incredible opportunities, it also introduced challenges around attention spans, mental health, misinformation, addiction, and social division. Many of us did not fully understand the long-term impact while we were enthusiastically embracing the technology.
That experience stays with me when I think about artificial intelligence.
AI is not simply another software tool. It has the potential to reshape education, work, creativity, business, and society itself. The pace of development is unlike anything I have seen before. Every month brings capabilities that seemed impossible only a year ago.
The technology excites me. The potential concerns me. Both things can be true at the same time.
One of the biggest internal struggles I have is around employment.
I understand the economic argument. Throughout history, technology has created new jobs while making others obsolete. The industrial revolution, mechanisation, computers, and the internet all followed a similar pattern. New industries emerged while older roles disappeared.
Many AI advocates make this point, and they are not wrong. But history can be cold comfort when you are the person whose job is being replaced.
South Africa already faces enormous unemployment challenges. We are not discussing these changes from a position of economic abundance. We are discussing them in a country where millions of people are already struggling to find work.
That reality matters.
When I help a company automate a process that once required several people, I cannot ignore the human side of the equation. Efficiency is valuable. Productivity is important. Businesses need to remain competitive.
But people matter too.
I do not believe the answer is to stop technological progress. That has never worked and never will. AI is here. It will continue to improve. It will become a core skill in almost every profession over the coming decade.
That belief has shaped the philosophy I follow at VoxMachina.
While there is enormous excitement around fully autonomous AI agents, I remain cautious. Despite the impressive demonstrations we see online, I do not believe autonomous AI is yet ready for many critical business functions. The risks are still too high. Hallucinations still occur. Reasoning failures still happen. Context can still be misunderstood. Then there are also the darker, yet not as prevalent situations of no good. Never mind the robots losing it, these are little programs (agents) that can manipulate. Again, lets stay positive…
For that reason, we strongly advocate a Human-In-The-Loop approach.
- AI should assist people.
- AI should augment people.
- AI should help people make better decisions.
I believe people should remain accountable for important outcomes. (for now) until them robots arrive.
- Human judgement still matters.
- Human experience still matters.
- Human responsibility still matters.
Perhaps one day fully autonomous systems will become trustworthy enough for critical operations. Maybe that future arrives sooner than we expect. But today, I believe responsible AI implementation requires oversight and partnership between humans and machines. We should remain the voice of the machine. Keep things humane as possible.
Education
When AI becomes one of the defining technologies of the future, then access to AI becomes a social issue. When I opened my coding academy in 2012, I saw how someone with basic computer skills can learn how to code the practical way. In my 15 years of running the academy I saw how students that did a 5 day course got great jobs in a struggling economy. Coding was the job to have. No manual work, good pay. Now that position is a distant memory. Any coder today that is not using AI is wasting time. There is still enough for a coder to do to fix some AI mistakes giving them some form of respect back.
We need access to education, infrastructure, and training. In developing and often corrupt nations, the gap could widen even further. That possibility worries me.
South Africa does not need another digital divide. We need more people equipped with the skills required for the future economy.
That is one of the reasons we launched our AI Academy through VoxMachina.
- I want small businesses to benefit from AI.
- I want students to benefit from AI and stay competitive in the small jobs market and possibly create new jobs through starting businesses.
- I want people who may never have had access to expensive technology to have an opportunity to participate in this new economy. The current leading AI models (with less limits that the free tier) is not affordable to the vast majority of South Africa.
If AI is going to reshape society, then the benefits should not belong only to large corporations and wealthy nations. We should look at ways to make it super accessible to more. A few ways you can do that is by using opensource models, local hosting and a mixture of experts approach.
Some of that South African ingenuity. We developed atomic bombs while being sanctioned. We developed our own technology for every stage of the weapons, including storage. When we built it, we dismantled it in a way that the international atomic energy dudes could verify the build and the destruction. That is super impressive.
We also have claim to the richest dude on the planet. Regardless of what you think of him, he is a business man of note. Tech is way more advanced than most nation states. From boring to space rockets, AI data centres (in space), and space internet access. Brain interfaces, changing lives. South African.
I believe deeply in the technology. Most days I feel excited about what we are building. Other days I wonder what the world will look like in ten years. Perhaps the healthiest approach is not blind optimism or fear but responsible optimism. To embrace innovation while remaining aware of its consequences.
Because the future of AI should not be determined only by what we can build. It should also be shaped by what we choose to build, why we build it, and who ultimately benefits from it. As consumers, founders, developers, educators, that responsibility belongs to all of us.
If you would like to get involved in any way let’s hookup. If you are interested in our ai apps or ai courses.
