Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo reaffirms Malaysia’s commitment to building a trusted digital ecosystem grounded in accountability, inclusivity, and responsible innovation.
Speaking at the PwC AI Leadership Conference 2025 in Kuala Lumpur this morning, Gobind said Malaysia is entering what the World Economic Forum refers to as the “Intelligent Age” – a transformative era shaped by the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, biotechnology, and advanced connectivity. This shift, he added, is revolutionising technology and fundamentally redefining how societies live, work, and govern.
“To navigate this era successfully, we must build governance systems that are agile, participatory, and grounded in shared values,” said Gobind.
Malaysia is advancing a forward-looking model of governance – one that places trust and accountability at the core of digital infrastructure. This includes ensuring AI technologies are transparent, explainable, and continuously monitored and accountable.
Data governance is central to this effort. Recognising that data forms the backbone of intelligent systems, Malaysia has taken significant steps to strengthen ethical and secure data practices.
Key reforms – such as the modernisation of the Personal Data Protection Act and the enactment of the Data Sharing Act – are foundational to establishing a resilient trust architecture that supports Malaysia’s AI ambitions.
Gobind said a truly resilient trust ecosystem goes beyond technical safeguards. It must include adaptive standards, best-practice guidelines, and tools such as algorithmic audits, model registries, and risk-sensitive compliance mechanisms. These tools must reflect the diversity and complexity of AI use cases across different sectors.
“In this new era, we must not only evolve our technologies – we must elevate our ethics, our institutions, and our leadership. Data is the raw material. AI is the engine. But trust is the infrastructure that makes the entire system work,” he added.
This transformation is being shaped through a broadly participatory national effort. Gobind highlighted the role of the National AI Office (NAIO) and its six expert-led working groups, which engage over 170 professionals from government, industry, academia, and civil society. These groups are actively developing strategies around AI sovereignty, regulation, ethics, safety, security, and talent development.
Gobind said his ministry, through NAIO, was currently actively engaging all concerned stakeholders on this transformation. He also planned to discuss expanding trust ecosystems across the Southeast Asian region as well. He expressed confidence that the member states would be willing to consider cross-border collaborations in this regard moving ahead.
“We will host the Asean AI Summit in Kuala Lumpur in August this year. We will discuss this matter in more detail at that event and hope that it is something that receives support from all Asean member states moving ahead,” he said.
