- The ASEAN AI Malaysia Summit 2025 affirms that Malaysia’s approach to AI is not just about catching up with the US, China, or Europe, but about creating a “fourth path”: a postcolonial AI revolution centered on cultural identity and social benefit.
- The recently launched National Cloud Computing Policy is a testament to “digital sovereignty” as Malaysia builds its indigenous data infrastructure, estimated to generate an economic impact of RM110 billion (USD 26.18 billion) by 2028. This is an act of “epistemic decolonization,” refusing dependence on external technology.
- On August 12, 2025, Malaysia introduced LLMU – the first indigenous multimodal AI model, a collaboration between YTL AI Labs and the University of Malaya. LLMU focuses on Bahasa Melayu and local dialects, viewing linguistic diversity as an algorithmic advantage, not an optimization burden.
- Malaysia is the first country to deploy an open-source LLM (DeepSeek) at a national scale. This has led to NurAI – the world’s first Shariah-compliant AI chatbot, demonstrating that AI can serve specific cultural and religious contexts.
- Malaysia is pursuing a prosocial AI model with the 4T framework: designing AI for people and the planet, not just for growth. This approach turns ethics, trust, and sustainability into a competitive advantage, ushering in a “diverse economy 4.0” model.
- Malaysia’s AI strategy is also linked to climate change. AI is positioned as a “tipping element” that can support ecological restoration, optimize renewable energy, and coordinate collective action. Instead of merely minimizing environmental harm, AI is expected to play a regenerative role.
- The article emphasizes: AI is not just a technology, but a conscious choice about the future of society and the planet. Malaysia is testing whether AI can sustain development while preserving global ecological limits.
📌 Malaysia is forging a “fourth path” for AI with digital sovereignty (projected $26.18 billion by 2028), LLMU – a multilingual AI model, and NurAI – the first Shariah-compliant chatbot. Unlike the US, Chinese, and European models, Malaysia chooses prosocial AI, turning ethics and sustainability into a competitive advantage. This AI strategy treats technology as a tool for ecological regeneration and cultural preservation, positioning Malaysia as a postcolonial AI model.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/corneliawalther/2025/08/14/a-fourth-path-malaysias-quiet-ai-revolution
