Building on AI Ecosystem in Malaysia Ensures Economic Growth
KUALA LUMPUR: Economist Geoffrey Williams believes that the call by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to hasten the pace in building an artificial intelligence (AI) nexus is timely as any work towards this in Malaysia is currently minimal or non-existent. Williams said that such an ecosystem is vital to ensure that Malaysia cultivates an ample AI workforce and effectively stimulates economic growth in the future. He reckons that any research from Malaysia on developing AI applications is likely to be very small. He said while there was an announcement that the government would look into establishing the first AI polytechnic in the country, most universities in the country do not yet have AI as part of their programmes and research, except perhaps in specific modules in their information technology (IT) departments. “There are only ad hoc activities in AI at a relatively low level or early stage being carried out in Malaysia’s universities. There is very little research or teaching and no significant attempt to look at the potential economic impact,” he explained. Having this in mind, he suggested that local universities start adopting AI by prioritising among academicians while at the same time taking time to integrate AI into universities’ curricula, which would help build the much-needed ecosystem for such technology to succeed. However, Williams noted that academics have simply not begun this process due to many reasons. Some of the most important to include are regulations that slow down the creation of new programmes and a lack of awareness and training in AI among academics. He also stressed that the government must conduct thorough research to create policies to deal with the impact of AI so that people can thoroughly benefit from it. Besides making the call to hasten the pace for an AI nexus in the country, Anwar launched the AI Talent Roadmap 2024-2030 and the Faculty of AI and the Malaysian AI Consortium (MAIC). He said the governance of the AI ecosystem must be systematic and have professional and skilled talents with AI working with multinational corporations (MNCs) and the MAIC pursuing the growth of AI. — BERNAMA
