The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has said that artificial intelligence was used in the design of one of its two new commemorative two-rand coins. According to MyBroadband, Microsoft Copilot generated elements on the reverse of the 1956 Women’s March coin, with the bank describing the design as a combination of photographic references and AI-assisted elements.
Two new R2 coins were launched: one marks the 125th anniversary of Charlotte Maxeke’s graduation, which the coin places in 1901, and the other honours the 1956 Women’s March. Both were declared legal tender on 16 June 2026. The Women’s March coin shows four women marching with placards in front of the Union Buildings. The AI-assisted elements are on the reverse of that coin, not on the Maxeke coin.
What the AI actually did
MyBroadband reports that the Women’s March coin was designed by SA Mint senior artist Lilian Guerra, who created the composition, layout and typography. Copilot was used to adapt the visual style of her photographs and drawings to the coin’s broader artistic treatment, and to generate the foreground figures of the marchers, which MyBroadband calls the clearest use of AI on the coin. The publication notes that Copilot’s image tool primarily uses OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 engine.
Why the AI detail is the story
A coin is a national symbol as much as a medium of exchange, so a central bank confirming that a commercial AI tool contributed to the design of one is notable. It also raises questions about provenance and oversight of AI-generated design elements on a national symbol. The MyBroadband report does not go into the design brief given to the AI tool, how many concepts were generated, or what review process the final design went through, so those details remain unclear.
For businesses that handle cash, the practical impact is small. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago described the Maxeke coin as a circulation coin and an ordinary coin that carries the image of a great woman, so the new R2 coins are intended to be used in everyday transactions rather than kept as collectors’ pieces.
