Call for joint ASEAN effort to reap the benefits and tackle the challenges of AI

The ASEAN region needs to collectively tackle the opportunities and challenges of adopting artificial intelligence (AI), “grounded in common principles, mutual trust, and shared ambition”, according to Malaysia’s Minister of Digital, YB Gobind Singh Deo. 

He was speaking at the inaugural ASEAN AI Malaysia Summit, themed Driving Sustainable & Inclusive AI Development in ASEAN, held in Kuala Lumpur on August 12 and 13. 

The need for collaboration among the ASEAN member states for adoption of technologies such as AI, while keeping regional values in mind was a central theme of the two-day summit which had 1,500 attendees from across ASEAN. 

In his keynote address, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said AI represented a world of opportunities for inclusive growth beyond just providing a technological tool. 

Minister Deo emphasised the commitment of Malaysia in making AI-powered tools more affordable to minimise digital divide across different sectors of the population, as the country moves toward a digital economy.  

The country is currently expanding free AI literacy programmes and investing in local innovation ecosystems to encourage people to actively shape technology and develop solutions according to regional challenges and needs, he added.  

“By embedding affordability into our national AI strategy, through open access initiatives, shared infrastructure models, and collaborative procurement, Malaysia intends to contribute to a regional approach where no member state is left behind,” he said. 

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Integrating inclusivity 

Minister Deo added that by integrating inclusivity in these strategies, Malaysia could contribute as a Southeast Asian country to close the gap in capabilities across the region and move toward a more balanced ASEAN AI ecosystem. 

Malaysia’s efforts in advancing AI adoption placed it as the ideal host for the summit, noted the Ministry of Digital, who then launched the National Cloud Computing Policy (NCCP). 

This cloud-first policy is a whole-of-nation approach that supports and guides digital transformation across sectors and communities in Malaysia, focusing on five core pillars: cloud adoption in the public sector; innovation for the private sector; data protection for citizens; digital inclusion; and environmental sustainability. 

In addition to the NCCP launch, the summit hosted several panels and conversations surrounding the transformative potential of AI for Southeast Asia, and shared insights into accelerating digital transformation regionally. 

Policy-guided journey 

The opening panel titled From Policy to Practice: Collaborating for a Secure and Governed AI Ecosystem in ASEAN, featured Malaysia Deo, Cambodia’s Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Chea Vandeth, and Brunei’s Minister of Transport and Infocommunications, YB Pengiran Shamhary.  

With regards to AI governance, Brunei was looking to a whole-of-nation approach to guide AI implementation across all ministries, Minister Pengiran said. Currently, the country has including AI strategy as a component of the Digital Brunei Transformation Plan. 

“We’ve established that in our economic blueprint, Infocomm Technology (ICT) and services would contribute up to four per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP). So, the intent was that we want to improve public services, support small and medium enterprises, and enhance digital skills,” he shared.  

With the digital transformation plan, Brunei sets to explore how different industries play a role in the AI supply chain, looking for a balanced approach between innovation and regulation that aligns with ASEAN’s guidelines to ensure interoperability, he added. 

Cambodia has also been working on developing a national AI governance framework to facilitate coordination and adoption among various sectors, shared Minister Chea Vandeth. 

This framework accompanies the drafting of two policies for the advancement of cloud-first infrastructure and data governance in Cambodia. 

Minister Chea Vandeth noted that “a strong data governance culture must be initiated to allow for drastic cloud adoption which will open a broader path to AI adoption and interoperable governance of AI”. 

Establishing interoperable frameworks that support AI advancement in the region required conversations about each country’s needs and requirements to find a common ground, Minister Deo observed. 

“Once you have standards, it's a process that is alive. Because as you go along, new technologies will evolve and emerge. The conversations will keep going about what new standards would apply to new technology,” he added. 

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Taking challenges as opportunities 

Speakers at another panel discussion titled Navigating ASEAN’s Role in the Global AI Safety Discourse noted that the different pace of digital innovation across the region offered new opportunities for collaboration.    

Speaking at this session were ASEAN Secretariat’s Digital Economy Division, Senior Officer, Hazremi Hamid, MyDIGITAL Corporation, Malaysia Centre4IR, Director, Calvin Woo, and General Secretariat of the Digital Government Committee of Cambodia, Director, Sovan En.  

Since each country in the region has different local needs in terms of digital and AI innovation, learning from each other could result in more comprehensive and inclusive frameworks to best guide AI adoption regionally, the speakers noted. 

In the case of Cambodia, En shared that while there was internet connectivity, there was still a gap in full “connectivity” since the mainstream AI applications were yet to be offered in the local language.  

Having completed the UNESCO AI Readiness Assessment earlier this year, the country was positioned to continue working on its National AI Strategy according to local priorities and aligned with international ethical standards, he added. 

Cambodia has been adopting a smart follower approach, taking advantage of its early stages of digitalisation to reflect on what other countries have built, what worked, and what could best fit the local priorities.  

Currently, the focus is on improving the infrastructure to allow for AI deployments and investing on talent development to best utilise these upcoming innovations, he added.  

The experience of Cambodia showed the importance of inclusive and interoperable regional AI policies and frameworks that every country can mirror even if they are in different stages of development. 

MyDIGITAL’s Woo highlighted the new ASEAN AI Safety Network (AI Safe) as one of the mechanisms aimed at sharing best practices and building regional capacities to best implement AI.  

“It is an inclusive network where we recognise that there are different levels of AI adoption in the region, so we want create a central platform where [countries] visualise the policy and prepare their respective institutions to deploy these in their national ecosystems,” said Woo.