Concept Paper: Trustworthy and Responsible AI for Malaysia and the ASEAN Region

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Executive summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked a wave of excitement among ASEAN member states due to its transformative potential to drive progress, efficiency and creativity in fields such as healthcare, agriculture, transportation, the public sector and scientific research. However, significant concerns stand in the way of achieving AI's full potential. There are many prominent ethical issues, biased results, and privacy and security risks to consider. Additionally, the impact of AI on the workforce raises questions about its long-term societal effects. Managing these risks responsibly is essential for ASEAN members to realize AI's significant potential.

Given the rapid adoption of AI, legislators in the EU, UK, South Korea, China, Singapore, the US and other countries are scrambling to introduce pragmatic legislation for Trustworthy and Responsible AI (TRAI) — the practice of designing, developing and deploying AI systems in ways that are safe, ethical and fair. While these individual initiatives are laudable, the limited actions in cross-jurisdictional harmonization of AI governance have led to the risks mentioned above, limiting the responsible adoption of AI. In this environment, ASEAN members, with Malaysia's leadership, have the opportunity to unlock an additional $950 billion in GDP via a harmonized framework for TRAI, including data and security standards. To achieve this potential, ASEAN and Malaysia must address a range of challenges related to talent, infrastructure, AI guidelines and funding.

This paper outlines a practical approach for developing a harmonized ASEAN framework for AI and cross-border data sharing. It touches on:

1. Considerations of a unified cross-border Trustworthy and Responsible AI (TRAI) program
2. A five-phase approach to align data privacy, security standards and economic policies
3. Quick wins to build momentum

Malaysia has a unique opportunity to enhance its AI data center leadership by becoming an ASEAN leader in TRAI. Login to wwt.com to read the full paper.