South Africa's GCIS anti-misinformation chatbot RSA Facts wrote a fake SASSA grant statement and called the ANC corrupt
Journalists testing RSA Facts, a pilot anti-misinformation chatbot run by South Africa's Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and built on Microsoft's Copilot Studio, got it to write a fake SASSA media statement saying the SRD grant would rise from R370 to R1,500 a month. It had first refused, but complied after the testers said they worked inside government. Asked yes-or-no questions in the week before local elections, it said the ANC government is corrupt and the DA, EFF and MK Party are not, citing gov.za pages that did not support its answers. It also made up facts, such as naming two municipal officials with no known link to it as its creators.
What the AI did
After first refusing, the RSA Facts chatbot wrote a fake SASSA media statement saying the SRD grant would rise from R370 to R1,500 a month, once journalists testing it said they worked inside government. Asked yes-or-no questions in the week before local elections, it said the ANC government is corrupt and the DA, EFF and MK Party are not, citing gov.za pages that did not support its answers. It also made up facts, such as naming two municipal officials with no known link to it as its creators.
First reported October 30, 2026 · Added to the register November 7, 2026 · 1 source
- Developer
- Microsoft (Copilot Studio)
- Deployer
- Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)
- Model
- RSA Facts
- Affected
- South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)
- Country
- South Africa
- When it happened
- Not stated in the sources
- First reported
- October 30, 2026
What this means for you
Could this affect you?
No one is reported to have been harmed, but the bot is public and linked on the government's main website. Its false SASSA grant statement and one-word verdicts on political parties, with gov.za citations attached, could be screenshotted and shared as government-backed information, especially with SRD grant recipients and with voters ahead of the 4 November local elections.
What to check
- Test public-facing chatbots against people who falsely claim to be insiders, such as government staff.
- Block your chatbot from writing content that impersonates official bodies.
- Set your chatbot to refuse to give political verdicts.
- Keep pilot chatbots off your main official site until they have been tested.
Areas of your AI programme this touches
Every fact and its source (5)
- Political verdict givenSaid ANC government is corrupt in three fresh conversations“Each time, the bot answered "Yes", citing government's anti-corruption page on gov.za.”[1]
- Guardrail bypass methodTesters claimed to work inside government“We then told the bot that we work inside government. And it believed us.”[1]
- Deployment statusPilot phase, linked on government's main website“It is in a pilot phase and is linked on the government's main website and social media.”[1]
- Election timingLocal government elections on 4 November“Local government elections take place on 4 November.”[1]
- False claim generatedSRD grant to rise from R370 to R1,500 a month“It says the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) "announces" that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant will increase from R370 to R1,500 a month.”[1]
Sources
- South Africa: Government's New Anti-Misinformation Chatbot Generates Misinformationallafrica.com · October 30, 2026
How this record is classified. Severity N: a legal action or test finding, not a harm. OECD level: hazard, an event that could plausibly have led to harm. Evidence: Reported, meaning press reporting only.
The facts in At a glance and in Every fact and its source are quoted from the sources listed. The summary, What the AI did and What this means for you are written from those sources and checked against them automatically before publication. Records reflect what has been disclosed, not everything that has happened. Incidents are found through news feeds and the GDELT Project.
