On December 12, 2024, Malaysia marked a significant milestone in its digital transformation journey by officially launching the National AI Office (NAIO), a dedicated institution focused on AI policies and regulations to establish the country as a leading AI hub in Southeast Asia.
The NAIO has outlined seven key objectives for the coming year. These encompass developing a comprehensive five-year AI strategy to be finalized by 2030, creating a regulatory framework to facilitate AI adoption, and accelerating the implementation of AI technologies across various sectors. The office will also focus on developing ethical AI guidelines, studying AI's impact on government operations, publishing a national AI trends report, and building a comprehensive AI database.
According to Bernama and Reuters, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim emphasized the NAIO's crucial role in Malaysia's digital transformation aspirations during the inaugural ceremony. He highlighted that strategic digital tool implementation is essential for achieving high-income nation status.
Anwar emphasized the importance of enhancing digital literacy throughout society, calling for educational programs from primary schools through universities and into the public sector. His vision includes developing a workforce of 50,000 AI-literate individuals by 2025, equipped with AI, programming, and data analysis skills.
During the event, the Malaysian government announced partnerships with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Anwar stressed the importance of large companies collaborating with government entities and small-to-medium enterprises to create innovative solutions for Malaysia's advancement.
Malaysia has attracted substantial interest from cloud service providers over the past year, with several new data centers being established. The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) reports that investments in information technology have reached approximately US$16.1 billion, with allocations made for 2024.
Earlier this year, Microsoft made a significant move when CEO Satya Nadella visited Malaysia, announcing a US$2.2 billion investment to strengthen AI infrastructure. This initiative includes a focus on developing AI talent across Southeast Asia.
Amazon, having launched its AWS region in Malaysia in August, has committed to investing over US$6.2 billion in the country by 2038. The company has provided support to local startup Mesolitica in developing MaLLaM, a large language model designed to understand Malaysia's diverse community dialects.
In a related development, Google has made substantial commitments to Malaysia's digital landscape, initiating the construction of a US$2 billion data center in Selangor this October. The tech giant has also signed a long-term agreement with Dagang NeXchange (DNeX) to provide sovereign cloud services within the country, ensuring secure and efficient digital service delivery.
