How AI can help policymakers in shaping Malaysia’s digital future
Globally, the policy and regulatory landscape has seen a significant increase in AI-related policies, guidelines, regulations and law over recent years. At least 69 countries have proposed over 1,000 AI-related policy initiatives and legal frameworks – addressing a range of issues from privacy, anti-discrimination, liability, and product safety. These measures aim to ensure that AI advancements benefit society while potential risks are mitigated.
To shape good policy, policymakers are themselves exploring the application of AI in supporting their work. To date, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has compiled over 40 use cases for AI shared by parliaments around the world, including the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the Estonian Parliament, the European Parliament, the Parliament of Finland, and the Senate of Italy.
Recently, in Malaysia, Microsoft, in partnership with the Parliament of Malaysia, National AI Office and UNITAR International University’s Centre of Leadership, Governance and Democracy kicked off the ‘AI for Policymakers’ initiative, with a two-day showcase designed to enable Members of Parliament (MPs) to experience using AI to support their everyday work and gain insights on global best practices in AI governance. MPs also had the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the AI economy and the importance of developing widespread AI fluency among the current and future workforce.
AI for Policymakers
The pioneering initiative is rooted in the Quadruple Helix model, bringing together government, academia, industry and civil society to create a robust and future-ready AI ecosystem with the rakyat at the heart of Malaysia’s AI transformation.
As part of the showcase, MPs interacted with ParlimenGPT1 with capabilities such as summarizing key issues, analyzing meeting sentiment, providing real-time language translation, as well as reviewing and editing to ensure accuracy or relevance.
With these capabilities, AI can help Parliamentarians to make evidence-based decisions, creating a more informed and responsive policy environment. For instance, using AI to analyze local legislative debates and records, such as the Hansard, allows lawmakers to quickly understand past discussions on similar issues, enabling a more nuanced approach to new policy creation.
What’s more, predictive analytics powered by AI can support lawmakers in assessing potential public and economic reactions to policy proposals, thus helping them to make proactive and timely decisions. AI can also suggest appropriate language for bills and policy proposals based on historical data and best practices, ensuring consistency and reducing legal conflicts, leading to clearer, more effective policies.
Beyond the showcase in Parliament, a phased training program will be rolled out to provide hands-on learning for MPs, parliamentary officers and support teams. This structured engagement aims to equip decision-makers with the tools to navigate AI’s transformative impact on governance, anticipate emerging challenges, and implement AI-driven policies that foster economic growth and social progress.
As the demos in Parliament highlights, AI can play a significant role in transforming parliaments from paper-based organizations into data-driven institutions. This transformation will yield benefits not only for MPs and institutions themselves, but also for the millions of citizens they serve. That said, the benefits of AI must also be balanced with the need to safeguard democratic principles and maintain public trust.
Harnessing the benefits of AI inclusively
During the showcase in Parliament, Microsoft also shared learnings and insights for policymakers and government officials to consider as they take on the role of formulating policies, laws, and guidelines around AI – based on the lessons learned from our own work globally over the years. This includes lessons from other Global Governance approaches as well as the our five-point blueprint for formulating an approach to effective AI governance.
In addition, the showcase featured “The Future of Malaysia’s AI Governance” white paper by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, in collaboration with the Malaysian Centre for 4IR and Microsoft. Drawing insights from global developments as well as multi-stakeholder dialogue, the paper sets out recommendations for the way forward for Malaysia to develop a robust AI governance approach that facilitates the delivery of inclusive benefits of AI while addressing risks and concerns, contextualized to Malaysia’s specific socio-economic values and aspirations.
The ‘AI for Policymakers’ initiative builds on Microsoft’s “AI for Malaysia’s Future” (AIForMYFuture) program in collaboration with NAIO, with a goal to upskill 800,000 Malaysians by the end of 2025. As part of this program, Microsoft together with skilling partners like Biji-Biji initiative will provide AI skilling opportunities for MPs, parliamentary staff, as well as their constituents.
References
[1] The ParlimenGPT is a minimum viable product (MVP) built for the AI for Policymakers showcase only. This is not a live product.
[2] Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is the UI for AI accessible to every employee with an enterprise subscription