PM Anwar says proposed AI law will emphasise ethics, citizen rights, and copyright protection.
PETALING JAYA: The proposed AI Governance Bill will place a strong emphasis on ethical use, accountability, and the protection of citizen rights, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
“In our national context, when discussing AI risks, harms, and incident reporting, issues relating to citizen rights and moral and ethical considerations will be given special attention.
“This approach may differ from Western practices, which tend to focus on technical and legal aspects but give less emphasis to moral and ethical issues,” he said during the Prime Minister question time in Parliament today.
The bill, currently in the early drafting stage under the Digital Ministry, is intended to establish a comprehensive governance framework covering the entire AI system lifecycle – from development and model training to deployment, monitoring, and risk management.
It will also define accountability measures and clarify the roles of developers and deployers of AI systems.
Anwar was responding to a question from Ampang MP Rodziah Ismail on how the bill will address copyright and intellectual property issues.
He highlighted that one of the key weaknesses of current AI systems is the tendency to overlook ethical considerations.
He said that the law will ensure that existing regulations remain enforceable.
“Under the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO), copyright laws must be implemented effectively, ensuring AI systems trained on copyrighted data – including text, images, audio, and video – do not infringe the rights of creators and rights holders.
“Malaysia cannot merely be a market for AI consumption. We must ensure the digital value chain is fair to all parties, particularly local creators, and that copyright principles are upheld to maintain competitiveness,” he added.
In a follow-up question, Rodziah asked whether the government would adopt risk classification approaches similar to the European Union AI Act and implement tiered compliance measures to avoid overburdening local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The Prime Minister confirmed that an AI Risk and Classification Framework, including harm and incident reporting, will be integrated into the law.
This risk-based approach aims to ensure balanced regulation while encouraging innovation and protecting ethical standards.
The Sun Malaysia
