South Africa’s AI king

Despite the emergence of several competitors in generative artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years, OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to dominate as the preferred AI tool for tech-savvy South Africans.

In a poll of MyBroadband readers in April 2025, roughly 42% of respondents said they used ChatGPT, the most of any of the AI tools.

Originally launched in a research preview in November 2022, ChatGPT’s unveiling became the spark that ignited explosive hype around generative AI and large language models (LLMs).

Its ability to provide human-like responses and generate textual content discussing an extensive range of topics quickly grabbed the public’s attention.

Surging ChatGPT usage and interest fuelled investors looking to inject their money into the companies best positioned to benefit from the AI craze.

These includied those actively developing AI technologies and those who benefit from the technology’s adoption, including AI accelerator manufacturer Nvidia.

Tech giants including Google, Meta, and Microsoft, scrambled to launch their own AI-powered apps and services to avoid getting left behind. Apple is still playing catch-up.

The technology’s dark side — including its inaccuracies, tendency to worsen confirmation bias, and its impact on routine jobs — have done little to deter its popularity.

OpenAI has gradually improved ChatGPT’s capabilities and added new features in the past two and a half years, keeping the platform highly relevant.

In a distant second place in our poll was Google’s Gemini tool, with about 12.7% of the votes.

Aside from being available as a standalone tool and in Google’s Workspace suite, Gemini is prominently featured in Google Search results.

The tool provides summaries highlighting the most important points from user queries, although it can sometimes misinterpret data from online sources.

Gemini is also set to replace Google Assistant as the company’s voice assistant on Android smartphones, Android Auto, and other supported products in the future.

xAi’s Grok, which is integrated into Elon Musk’s X app, placed third with 11.4 % of the vote.

Since the tool became free in December 2024, South Africans have regularly been asking Grok questions about news and current affairs, including on controversial and divisive topics like farm murders.

Grok just edged out Microsoft Copilot, which amassed just about 11%, not enough for a podium finish.

The US software giant has incorporated Copilot into its Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, each of which are the most used in the operating system and productivity suite segments, respectively.

Copilot’s underlying LLM is GPT, the same model used for ChatGPT.

Completing the top five in China’s DeepSeek, which has recently caused a stir for reportedly being based on an LLM requiring far less processing power than GPT and the like while offering similar results.

Despite being among the earliest significant investors in AI tech, Meta’s AI tools were not that popular.

That is despite the fact that Meta has even incorporated its AI into the world’s most popular chat app, WhatsApp.

The chart below summarises the results of MyBroadband’s poll asking our readers what AI tools they used the most in April 2025.

AI hallucination warning

While AI tools are undoubtedly powerful when employed as intended, users should tread carefully when it comes to the information they generate.

AI systems can use a variety of sources for their responses but can misinterpret this and make information up as they go along.

While the companies behind these tools have regularly warned that their responses can contain inaccuracies, a big problem is that AI systems can easily sound convincing.

Several legal firms have landed in hot water for citing non-existent cases made up by AI in their court arguments.

A Norwegian man recently launched a defamation case against OpenAI after ChatGPT falsely accused him of murdering his children.

Our testing has also yielded a fair amount of inaccuracies from LLMs.

For example, I recently asked Google Gemini for statistics on South Africa’s smart ID card numbers over the past few years.

The tool was able to accurately extract details from annual performance reports from the Home Affairs department’s website, going back to 2020.

However, it simply started making up numbers from 2019 and earlier, despite reports with accurate information on smart ID card issuances being available for those years.

An AI tool can be useful in extrapolating important information or making summaries, saving time and allowing people to be more productive.

However, it is essential that users — especially educators, learners, students, scientists, researchers, and legal professionals — double-check sources to confirm the veracity of AI-generated content.