South Africa’s rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming entry-level work, creating hybrid and higher-value roles, rather than eliminating jobs.
This is one of the key findings of new research conducted by the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, in collaboration with non-profit management consulting firm The Bridgespan Group.
The study finds that SA’s AI market grew 31% year-on-year between 2023 and 2024.
However, rather than driving mass layoffs, AI is reshaping workflows, shifting the focus from repetitive task completion to oversight, judgement and customer engagement, it says.
SA’s value proposition within the global labour market sets the country apart from low-cost competitor countries, whose only strategy is to scale automation, it adds.
According to the report, SA has an acknowledged cultural and linguistic advantage when it comes to complex customer experience work − the kind that requires high empathy, intuition and English proficiency.
“Across markets, AI is reshaping jobs rather than eliminating them,” says Victoria Duncan, head of research at the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.
“Hybrid and higher-value roles that rely on human judgement, emotional intelligence and contextual understanding are emerging. Human oversight of AI agents remains essential to manage outputs, ensure accuracy and maintain authentic customer engagement, especially with complex customer experience work for regulated sectors.”
Human-AI collaboration
According to the report, in sectors such as business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services, over 40% of tasks are technically automatable.
However, entry-level roles in this sector are being redesigned rather than replaced, it finds.
Frontline agents are increasingly supervising AI outputs, validating automated decisions, managing escalations and engaging in high-touch customer interactions. The role becomes more hybrid: less about executing routine tasks and more about handling exceptions, ensuring the work is of the expected standard and solving complex problems.
“This scenario enhances South Africa’s position in complex, empathy-led customer experience and supports clear pathways from entry-level roles into higher-value, hybrid work,” the research explains.
South Africa’s competitive-edge lies in its cultural fluency, English proficiency and capacity for nuanced, empathetic customer engagement.
Unlike low-cost, high-automation countries, the nation can leverage AI to augment rather than replace human talent.
The youth factor
One of the most promising outcomes of AI adoption in SA is its potential to directly address youth unemployment, Harambee points out.
By automating routine and repetitive tasks, AI frees young workers to focus more on roles that require human comprehension, emotional intelligence and complex problem-solving, as well as other areas where youth are well-positioned to excel.
This shift allows more entry-level positions to be upgraded into hybrid roles, expanding employment opportunities for young people in sectors such as BPO, IT services, tourism and digital customer engagement, says Harambee.
“AI is not just a tool for efficiency; it can create meaningful pathways for youth into higher-value work,” Duncan highlights. “When implemented strategically, AI allows young workers to move faster through career development pipelines, gaining experience in hybrid roles that combine technical skills with uniquely human capabilities.”
Initiatives like the SA Youth contact centre already demonstrate this effect at scale. AI-driven tools provide real-time guidance, intelligent routing and safety monitoring for over five million young people, allowing youth agents to deliver higher-quality service while building future-ready skills.
According to the report, AI’s impact extends beyond BPO and IT services; in tourism, automation handles booking and routine support, while generative AI enables hyper-personalised travel experiences.
Harambee projects that AI integration could support up to 1.28 million jobs in tourism by 2030 − 75 000 more direct roles than if no AI investment occurred.
“In the tourism industry, AI opens opportunities for self-employed, gig and small-enterprise workers, who can connect to global demand via digital platforms,” the report notes. “New roles include virtual tour curators, AI-assisted itinerary designers and community-based data collectors. Frontline positions, from flight attendants to culinary operators, resist full automation, highlighting the potential for AI-human hybrid roles.”
SA can choose growth that has room for more of its youth, steer AI adoption to augment human work rather than replace it, and catalyse the skills revolution required for young people to take up these opportunities, the report concludes.
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