Beyond Algorithms: Shaping Malaysia’s Ethical Approach to Artificial Intelligence

by Thulasy Suppiah, Managing Partner of Suppiah & Partners

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed our lives with its convenience, seamlessly carrying out tasks that once required human intelligence. From auto-correcting sentences to producing creative content, AI has become an invisible force embedded into everyday activities. While AI systems hold immense promise, they differ fundamentally from traditional software due to their unique ability to learn, adapt, and evolve — creating new ethical challenges we must address.

According to Eleanor Manley, AI and Deep Learning Consultant and Co-founder of Metta Space, no one fully understands how deep learning AI works, not even its creators. In her TEDx talk, “Why AI Can’t Be Ethical – Yet”, she states: “For us to keep using AI, we need to trust it. And right now, we can’t, because we simply don’t understand enough about how it works.”

However, it is worth considering that not every technology requires users to understand its mechanics in order to trust it. Everyday technologies such as WiFi or GPS function reliably without most users needing to comprehend the underlying systems. What matters more is ensuring trustworthy outcomes, not necessarily full public comprehension.

Given the profound potential impact of AI, a key question arises: how do we ensure that AI decisions align with national values, corporate responsibility, and broader societal norms?

Before we answer, it is useful to reflect that sectors like healthcare and finance have successfully used ethical standards to guide growth and benefit humanity. Bioethics in medicine and fiduciary duties in finance have helped build trust, accountability, and resilience — lessons that AI governance can learn from.

Learning from Established Ethical Frameworks

Thankfully, several comprehensive frameworks are already in place to guide ethical AI development:

The UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2022) serves as a global benchmark, offering universal principles for responsible AI.
The ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics (2024) provides region-specific guidance, reflecting the unique challenges and priorities of Southeast Asia.
Malaysia’s own National Guidelines on AI Governance and Ethics (2024), issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), adapt these global and regional standards to suit our local context and national values.

Five Pillars for Malaysia’s Ethical AI Approach:

Human-Centricity

AI should enhance, not replace, humanity. Human dignity, agency, and well-being must remain the central focus. Individuals must retain control over decisions that significantly impact their lives.

Fairness and Non-Discrimination

AI systems must be developed and monitored to prevent biases and ensure equitable outcomes for all Malaysians.

Transparency and Explainability

Trust relies on understanding. AI systems should be designed to be interpretable, with users able to understand how major decisions are made and to challenge unfair outcomes. Black-box models that erode trust should be avoided.

Privacy and Security

Strong protections must be in place for personal data. Privacy safeguards and cybersecurity measures are non-negotiable in maintaining trust.

Accountability, Reliability, Safety and Control

Clear responsibility lines must exist for AI outcomes. Developers and deployers must be identifiable and accountable, with mechanisms to ensure AI operates reliably, predictably, and safely.

Global Regulation in Action: The EU AI Act

Meanwhile, the European Union AI Act is the first major regulatory effort to comprehensively govern AI, potentially setting a global standard. It places most responsibilities on developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems — which include AI used in critical areas such as healthcare, law enforcement, infrastructure, and employment.

Additionally, developers of General Purpose AI (GPAI) models — such as ChatGPT and Midjourney — must comply with specific obligations:

Provide technical documentation,
Publish summaries of training content,
Comply with the EU Copyright Directive, which ensures that AI does not unlawfully exploit copyrighted works.

These obligations are significant because they aim to improve transparency, protect human creators, and ensure that AI models do not become unchecked sources of misinformation or harm.

The Act also mandates systemic risk evaluations, adversarial testing, and incident reporting — ultimately benefiting users by building safer, more predictable, and less biased AI systems.

Creativity and Intellectual Property: A New Frontier

As for creative industries, the Kellogg Institute of Management rightly points out that the legal profession must rethink and update intellectual property (IP) laws. Current laws often struggle to address the blurred boundaries between human and machine-generated work.
Yet this is easier said than done: legal frameworks move slowly, while technology evolves rapidly. This gap raises important questions: can the law ever keep pace with AI innovation? And if not, can ethical principles fill the void until the law catches up?

Ethics may thus serve as a critical stopgap — guiding AI’s responsible development even in areas where formal laws remain unsettled.

Rethinking Leadership in an AI Era

The Kellogg Institute also calls on business leaders to move beyond simply reacting to consumer demands — which often favour short-term convenience over long-term wellbeing. Instead, it urges leaders to adopt a forward-looking mindset, much like Henry Ford once did by envisioning mass automobile use before there was widespread demand.
In the context of AI, this means scrutinising both the large costs and broad benefits across multiple stakeholders — consumers, creators, workers, and society at large. The call to action is clear: “Let’s start the dialogue now — before AI does it for us.”

Conclusion

By embracing ethical principles and frameworks early, Malaysia can unlock AI’s transformative potential while safeguarding the dignity, rights, and wellbeing of all its citizens. But success depends on continuous collaboration — among industries, academia, civil society, and everyday consumers — and a shared commitment to ethical awareness as technology continues to evolve at unprecedented speed.