Perspectives on South Africa’s open science policy: artificial intelligence and data ownership as unresolved questions

Abstract South Africa’s National Open Science Policy, approved in 2026, promotes open science through incentives rather than state control. However, the policy leaves two foundational questions unresolved. First, it makes no reference to artificial intelligence (AI), despite AI being an increasingly popular means by which research data is now produced, curated, and analysed across contemporary scientific practice. Second, it does not address who owns research data, confining its treatment of property rights to intellectual property and ignoring common-law ownership. These omissions converge at a single critical point: the ownership of AI-generated research outputs. We argue that without resolving these foundational questions, the policy’s vision of open science risks remaining aspirational rather than achievable.