GRAF 2026 puts human safeguards behind AI gambling-harm detection
SARGF Executive Director Sibongile Simelane-Quntana will examine how human intervention can complement AI tools used to identify gambling harm.
Mozambique.- AI-driven gambling-harm detection will be examined at the Gaming Regulators Africa Forum (GRAF) Conference 2026 in Mozambique. South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF) Executive Director Sibongile Simelane-Quntana will highlight the need for human safeguards alongside technology.
Simelane-Quntana is a confirmed GRAF 2026 speaker, with the conference bringing together regulators, policymakers and industry leaders from across Africa from September 14-17 to share best practices and shape the future of gaming regulation on the continent.
In its speaker announcement, GRAF said: “Technology alone cannot provide the support required after an individual is identified as being at risk.” Simelane-Quntana will present “Shiny Dashboards with No Safety Nets: Ensuring Human Safeguards in AI-Driven Gambling Harm Prevention.”
GRAF said the session will examine the gap between increasingly sophisticated tools used to detect patterns of gambling harm and the support required after someone is identified as being at risk.
According to GRAF, Simelane-Quntana will draw on SARGF’s experience with AI screening and case data to examine practical safeguards regulators can adopt to ensure digital tools enhance, rather than replace, human care in gambling-harm prevention.
AI will also feature in the GRAF 2026 programme through gaming law practitioner Wendy Rosenberg’s session on its regulatory challenges and opportunities, including its impact on operators, regulators and punter protection. Simelane-Quntana’s presentation takes a more specific player-protection approach, focusing on gambling-harm prevention and the human response when technology identifies someone as being at risk.
GRAF said Simelane-Quntana was appointed to lead SARGF in February 2016. She has more than 20 years of executive management experience across the public and non-profit sectors and previously held senior positions including Chief Operations Officer at CATHSSETA and programme management roles at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the National Heritage Council.
She is a PhD candidate in Business Administration at Wits Business School, researching the effectiveness of SARGF in addressing gambling disorder in South Africa. Her MBA research focused on predictors of problem gambling in South Africa.
