PM: Ethical, values-based AI vital for Asean's future
He said the 700-million-strong bloc is uniquely positioned to develop AI that is not only advanced, but also inclusive, ethical and rooted in Southeast Asian traditions.
"With our extraordinary diversity of cultures and languages, Asean has a generational opportunity to lead in shaping AI that bridges development divides, empowers small businesses, uplifts rural communities, strengthens public services, and expands access to healthcare, education and justice for all," he said at the opening ceremony of the Asean AI Malaysia Summit 2025.
Anwar said the region must be "bold and principled" in ensuring AI serves the public good, adding that success should be measured not by technological sophistication, but by its ability to meaningfully improve lives in a sustainable and just way.
He said Malaysia's own efforts, under its recently launched AI Nation Framework, would ensure AI becomes "a force for all", driving innovation, better governance and improved quality of life nationwide.
The framework focuses on forward-looking policies, a digitally fluent workforce, secure infrastructure, digital trust and strategic investments.
"This is more than a roadmap. It is a movement," he said.
"Once, highways and ports powered our economic rise.
"Now, we will build intelligent highways, secure data pipelines, future-ready talents, and ethical guardrails for AI.
"We will get there together, with unity, resolve and unshakable will."
The two-day summit at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec) in Kuala Lumpur is organised by the Digital Ministry.
Present were Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Bakar.
Also present were Asean secretary-general Dr Kao Kim Hourn, and Asean delegates, alongside global experts and industry players.
The event also marked the launch of ILMU 1.0, Malaysia's sovereign AI platform, short for Intelek Luhur Malaysia Untukmu (Excellent Malaysian Intelligence for You), a homegrown large language model (LLM) developed by YTL AI Labs.
Built to understand and process text, voice and images, it places strong emphasis on local context, ethics and safety.
The first iteration, ILMU 0.1, was unveiled in December 2024 and outperformed leading global LLMs in Malay-language benchmarks, even passing Malaysia's PT3 and SPM national examinations with top grades.
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