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1 AI App Offers a Lifeline For S.Africa's Abused Women

Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research study for the GRIT job

She says she was broken by authorities. Now she's brainstorming an AI-integrated app with a panic button that alerts personal security to help other females captured in South Africa's tragically high rates of abuse.

Peaches, as the 35-year-old sex worker asked to be recognized, is among the more than a third of South African women that will experience physical or sexual abuse in their life times, according to UN figures.

Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 women who gathered late January to workshop the newest update of the app established by the not-for-profit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).

Equipped with an emergency situation button that releases gatekeeper, a proof vault and a resource centre, the app will also include an AI -driven chatbot called Zuzi that will be showcased at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris this month.

The app has an emergency button that releases gatekeeper, an an AI -driven chatbot

"This app, it's going to give me that hope ... that my human rights need to be thought about," Peaches informed AFP, asking not to give her real name to safeguard her security.

There were more than 53,000 sexual offences reported in South Africa in 2023-24, including more than 42,500 rapes, according to cops figures.

That exact same year, 5,578 females were killed, forum.pinoo.com.tr a 34 percent increase from the previous year.

In Peaches' case, she said she was required to give two police officers "services totally free" to avert arrest for prostitution.

"To me, GRIT isn't just a task-- it's a need," creator Leanora Tima informed AFP.

"I wanted to develop tech-driven options that empower survivors, guaranteeing they receive the immediate aid, legal guidance and emotional assistance they need without barriers," Tima said.

to help' -

Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) go unreported due to the fact that victims face stigma or are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead researcher Zanele Sokatsha.

'There's a lot of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha says

"There's a great deal of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid," she said.

Thato, a woman in her 30s, said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she discovered aid was available.

A devoted football player, she said her coach realised that "some contusions were not in fact associated to football".

It was just when the coach took the group to an anti-GBV occasion in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she found out there were organisations that help ladies in her circumstance.

"It was really heartfelt for me to find such an area," she said, choosing to provide just her very first name.

GRIT's app aims to make it much easier for women to gain access to resources from their homes, where much of the abuse occurs.

It has a map of neighboring clinics and shelters and a digital vault where they can submit evidence like images, videos and authorities reports that will be secured on GRIT's servers.

The functions are based upon user feedback collected at workshops around the nation.

"It will conserve lives," said one lady at the exact same workshop attended by Peaches.

The app is free, moneyed by GRIT's donors including the Gates Foundation and Expertise France. It currently has 12,000 users.

Once downloaded, it can work without data, making it available to those who can not afford phone plans or remain in backwoods with minimal networks.

The chatbot Zuzi, to be released in the coming months, will be available on the app and also integrated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.

Zuzi was initially intended to offer only practical details, like how to obtain a protection order.

But its collection has actually been widened after feedback "that people are more interested in speaking with Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.

- 'All they understand' -

Even if there are more services than ever to assist women who are attacked and strong public condemnation of cases that make it to the media, South Africa's abuse rates remain stubbornly high.

It is "a perfect storm" of a complicated history of colonisation and partition, belief in male dominance, a lack of good function models and financial stresses, said Craig Wilkinson, founder of Father A Nation.

"No kid is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose not-for-profit concentrates on reaching guys. "There's something failing in the journey from boy to male."

"All they understand is violence," said Sandile Masiza, a planner of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid welfare authority.

"We require more programmes that are not simply going to be exclusively focused on victim support, however wrongdoer prevention," Masiza said.

"Society has actually normalised violence against women and women," UN Women GBV expert Jennifer Acio informed AFP.

"That's why we keep sharing details and attempting to empower females ... to understand what is an abuse of their rights, to understand when to report."