This study investigates South African people’s perceptions around artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of morality and sentience. This was achieved by adapting and replicating a USA study conducted by the Sentience Institute in 2021 in South Africa. The adapted study contains 54 questions on AI, artificial sentience (AS) as well as general sentience. The results were analysed in three ways: descriptively, inferentially against demographic variables, and comparatively against the original study’s results. Our study found that South African respondents have an underlying caution regarding AI/AS developments and see AI as an existential threat. Moreover, the respondents showed stronger compassion for the environment and non-human animals than for intelligent AI. Demographic factors such as age, gender, and religion play an influencing role in South African people’s perceptions. Finally, South Africans appeared to have quite a different outlook to AI/AS developments compared to the USA population. This study underscores a need for further research into the nuances of these perceptions across different demographic groups and between the different cultural contexts.