By DayakDaily Team
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5: The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Bill, which includes regulations on safety, human rights, and individual welfare, is scheduled to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat early next year.
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the government is using a risk-based approach in drafting the bill.
He said the level of control and obligation will be assessed based on the potential harm of the AI system itself, rather than just the risk classification by industry.
“This bill is designed as a framework across all sectors, complementing existing sectoral laws,” he said during the oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Gobind said this in response to Datuk Dr Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail’s (PN-Kubang Pasu) question about the government’s stance on the global recommendation to slow AI development to allow regulations, ethics, and worker protection plans to be prepared first.
He said the government is aware of the potential of new technologies to significantly impact the economy, society, and national administration, but emphasised that technology development, including AI, must go hand in hand with stronger risk controls.
“For increasingly powerful AI systems, autonomy, and the potential to have a significant impact on humans or critical systems, safety controls, testing, monitoring, human oversight, and response mechanisms must be strengthened before their use is expanded.
“Priority will always be given to safety aspects to ensure that the risks associated with the use of this technology are always controlled,” he said.
According to Gobind, the government, through the Ministry of Digital and AI Malaysia Berhad, has also established the Malaysia AI Safety Institute to develop a clear, systematic mechanism for regulating the use of AI models in cross-sector organisational operations.
“The Malaysian AI Safety Institute is specifically responsible for overseeing the governance aspects of AI, which include safety benchmarks, risk assessments, and incident reporting for necessary corrective actions,” he added. — Bernama
