Large companies in South Africa are still slow to use AI agents, even as fraud driven by artificial intelligence grows fast, executives at identity firm Sumsub said.
The executives spoke at a roundtable lunch about trust in AI agents and how they are changing banking, payments and business work. IOL reported on the event.
“Major enterprise adoption of true AI agents in South Africa is still quite low compared to global markets,” said Jarryd Jensen, Sumsub’s Regional Director for Southern Africa.
Jensen said the country has advanced digital banking and instant payment systems. He said local consumers are already comfortable signing up for services online. But he said full use of AI agents is still at an early stage.
Hannes Bezuidenhout, Sumsub’s VP of Sales for Africa, said some banks are moving ahead. He named Discovery Bank as one bank pushing into this area. He said South Africa as a whole still trails leading countries such as China.
So called agentic AI means trusting a computer system to make big decisions for a person. It goes past writing an email or answering a simple question. Such a system can manage investments, run business tasks with many steps, or book a full trip.
Mick Amelishko, an AI Advocate at Sumsub, led the discussion. He said the biggest change is that AI now acts on its own.
“Last year, AI was just an assistant. It helped check writing or offered basic suggestions,” Amelishko said. “Now, AI can access the external world, read the live internet, interact with other digital products, make independent purchases, register on websites, or interact directly with bank accounts if granted permission.”
Amelishko said society has long worked on the idea that a human carried out every transaction. He said that human part is slowly being replaced by machines.
A main concern raised at the event was blame. When something goes wrong, people asked who is responsible. It could be the person who gave the instruction, or the machine that carried it out.
Most speakers at the event agreed that AI itself cannot be blamed in law for illegal acts. They said responsibility must always lead back to a human operator or the person who controls the system.
New kinds of financial fraud are growing fast, and rules often fall behind new technology, according to the IOL report.
Sumsub’s own data shows the global identity fraud rate fell slightly to 2.2% in 2025. It was 2.6% in 2024.
But the same data shows highly advanced fraud rose by 180% from one year to the next. Sumsub said criminals moved away from simple scams towards attacks that use AI.
Sumsub sells identity checks, fraud prevention, transaction monitoring and risk tools to businesses. The company organised the roundtable.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL. Image: IOL. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.