The architecture of trust: Why South Africa’s AI accountability framework is fragmented, not failing

Trust does not hold itself up. That was the starting premise of a panel that I joined at the inaugural LexisNexis Future of Law Conference in Sandton last…

Trust does not hold itself up. That was the starting premise of a panel that I joined at the inaugural LexisNexis Future of Law Conference in Sandton last week, under the banner “The Architecture of Trust: Accountability in the Intelligent Age”. The organisers put it well: trust rests on structures – codes of conduct, governance frameworks, disclosure obligations, professional standards and institutional culture – that determine who answers for what, and to whom.

The question asked is whether that architecture remains fit for purpose now that artificial intelligence sits inside the governance framework of the very institutions it was built to support.