Ramaphosa Urges Human Oversight of AI as BRICS Adopts New Delhi Declaration

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for artificial intelligence to be developed with care rather than fear, warning that governments must keep pace with the technology's rapid advance. Speaking after the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, he said the responsibility of states is to ensure that human governance moves forward as quickly as AI itself.

"We should therefore neither fear AI nor approach it recklessly," Ramaphosa said, adding that governments need to understand the technology and take an active role in shaping it. He cautioned against allowing an AI ecosystem to slip out of control.

His remarks come as the global AI industry debates whether the race to build ever more powerful systems is moving too fast. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has urged that frontier AI development be paced so safety measures can keep up, proposing independent third-party evaluators, common safety standards and stronger international coordination. OpenAI's Sam Altman has backed wider coordination among leading AI firms, while xAI's Elon Musk has also supported greater caution.

The debate has grown more urgent as AI systems take on complex tasks with less human involvement, raising concerns about cyberattacks, autonomous agents, rapid self-improvement and safeguards that may lag behind capabilities. South Africa has pushed for an international mechanism to independently evaluate AI, with Ramaphosa stressing human control and stronger protections.

The New Delhi Declaration adopted at the summit calls for greater cooperation on AI and says the technology should be safe, secure, reliable and inclusive. Leaders also endorsed the bloc's statement on global AI governance, seeking to balance the opportunities of AI against its risks while giving developing countries a larger role in shaping its future. Chinese President Xi Jinping has separately called for deeper cooperation among member states on AI and innovation.

Ramaphosa praised India's leadership of the expanded BRICS grouping, saying New Delhi served as the focal point that helped members reach consensus. He credited India with organising a summit of considerable scale and said the bloc's expansion had added political depth to the grouping. Despite doubts that the enlarged membership could agree on a joint declaration, he noted, the summit succeeded in adopting one.

Describing his bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as relaxed and productive, Ramaphosa called Modi a practical, forward-looking leader full of ideas. The two discussed the India-South Africa strategic partnership, trade and investment, the Mandela-Gandhi scholarship and India's space programme. With the two countries set to mark 30 years of their strategic partnership, Ramaphosa said he had invited Modi to South Africa next year on Nelson Mandela's birthday. South Africa will host BRICS in 2028, after China takes over the chairmanship next year.