5minutesuccess

darrinfiorini/5minutesuccess

Zanele Sokatsha, centre, king-wifi.win lead research for the GRIT job

She says she was breached by cops. Now she's brainstorming an AI -integrated app with a panic button that signals personal security to help other 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 females that will experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetimes, according to UN figures.

Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 women who gathered late January to workshop the most recent upgrade of the app established by the nonprofit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).

Equipped with an emergency situation button that deploys gatekeeper, a proof vault and a resource centre, the app will also consist of 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 situation button that releases gatekeeper, an an AI -driven chatbot

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

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

That very same year, cadizpedia.wikanda.es 5,578 women were killed, a 34 percent increase from the previous year.

In Peaches' case, she said she was required to give 2 law enforcement officers "services free of charge" to evade arrest for prostitution.

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

"I wished to develop tech-driven services that empower survivors, ensuring they get the immediate aid, legal guidance and psychological assistance they need without barriers," Tima said.

- 'Roadblocks to help' -

Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) go unreported since victims face preconception or are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead researcher Zanele Sokatsha.

'There's a great deal of obstructions still in getting gain access to and nerdgaming.science aid,' Sokatsha states

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

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

A passionate football player, she said her coach realised that "some swellings were not actually associated to football".

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

"It was really heartwarming for me to discover such a space," she said, preferring to offer only her given name.

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

It has a map of neighboring centers and shelters and a digital vault where they can upload proof like pictures, videos and authorities reports that will be safeguarded on GRIT's servers.

The features are based upon user feedback collected at workshops around the country.

"It will conserve lives," said one woman at the very same workshop gone to by Peaches.

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

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

The chatbot Zuzi, valetinowiki.racing to be launched in the coming months, will be available on the app and likewise incorporated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.

Zuzi was at first intended to provide only practical details, like how to obtain a defense order.

But its collection has been broadened after feedback "that individuals are more interested in talking to Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.

- 'All they know' -

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

It is "an ideal storm" of an intricate history of colonisation and partition, belief in male dominance, an absence of good function models and economic stresses, said Craig Wilkinson, creator of Father A Country.

"No boy is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose nonprofit concentrates on reaching males. "There's something failing in the journey from young boy to male."

"All they know is violence," said Sandile Masiza, an organizer of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid well-being authority.

"We need more programs that are not simply going to be solely concentrated on victim support, but criminal prevention," Masiza said.

"Society has normalised violence against women and ladies," UN Women GBV professional Jennifer Acio told AFP.

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