Malaysia’s new AI bill introduces risk assessments and transparency rules to manage copyright risks from AI training data, ensuring developer accountability.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Artificial Intelligence Governance Bill will mandate developers and users to manage legal and ethical risks, including potential copyright violations from using unlicensed training data.

Deputy Digital Minister Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong said the bill introduces risk assessments, transparency requirements, audits, and compliance measures. These tools will help authorities identify and act against AI systems that may infringe intellectual property rights.

“The legislation does not replace existing copyright or IP laws, including the Copyright Act 1987,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat. He explained it serves as a legal framework to ensure all parties are accountable throughout an AI system’s lifecycle.

He was responding to a question from Suhaizan Kaiat on how the bill addresses IP issues from AI trained on copyrighted data like text, images, and video. Ugak said the bill adds an extra layer of governance to ensure AI development is responsible and transparent.

It aims to balance innovation with copyright protection even when models are trained with copyrighted data. “Substantive enforcement of copyright and IP remains under existing laws, administered by MyIPO,” he stated.

This approach protects creators and data owners as AI technology evolves. The framework ensures development remains legally compliant from inception through deployment.

 The Sun Malaysia