The Southern African Conference for AI Research is pleased to announce SACAIR2026

Power, Justice and the Governance of AI

The SACAIR series of conferences is the premier Artificial Intelligence conference in Southern Africa that has been held since 2019 and provides a platform for researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to meet and share cutting-edge developments. It provides a publishing venue for Artificial Intelligence researchers from across the academy and thus aims to promote multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary research and collaboration. The conference will bring together nationally and internationally established and emerging researchers from various disciplines, including Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Informatics, Humanities, Philosophy and Law.

The conference theme, Power, Justice, and the Governance of AI has not been more relevant than now, as generative AI permeates through society at an unprecedented rate. The rapid global deployment of powerful AI systems is triggering critical challenges for all sectors of society. Regulatory frameworks are struggling to keep pace with technological development; a handful of corporations and states command disproportionate influence over the direction of AI; and the consequences of governance failure—algorithmic bias, automated misinformation, mass surveillance, and autonomous harm—fall disproportionately on those least able to bear them. These problems demand a genuinely interdisciplinary response: one that draws simultaneously on computer science, information systems, philosophy, and law, and one that insists on the perspectives of the Global South as central rather than peripheral to the conversation.

SACAIR 2026 is the seventh to be held under the SACAIR brand. The conference will build on the successes of the past six conferences.

SACAIR 2026 will be hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 30 November to 4 December 2026.

SACAIR 2026 will offer the following tracks:

• Traditional AI, Symbolic AI, and Data-Driven AI (Computer Science)
• Socio-technical and human-centered AI (Information Systems)
• Responsible and Ethical AI (Philosophy and Law / Humanities
• Inter- and trans-disciplinary AI research

The programme includes an unconference for students on Monday, 30 November 2026 (a student-driven event for students to interact with each other and with sponsors and other possible employers), a day of tutorials on Tuesday, 1 December 2026, and the main conference from 2 – 4 December 2026.