Good set of ethics, values needed to chart future of AI, forum hears

KUALA LUMPUR: The formulation of the artificial intelligence (AI) code of ethics, which is expected to be ready by 2024, should not only include the Seven Principles of Responsible AI but also inculcate education and awareness on ethics, a forum heard Saturday (Oct 21).

The forum, “Responsible AI: Designing Tomorrow with Ethics and Transparency” agreed that besides the principles listed in the National Artificial Intelligence Roadmap 2021-2025, essential early education on ethics and values is important to shape the future of AI.

Fusionex Group digital and analytics advisory director Freddy Loo said the education system in the country should not limit its focus on training people to be great programmers and AI modellers but also create awareness on how to be an ethicist to detect bias and empathy.

“All these need to be trained. Nowadays, we’re focusing a lot on hard skills, but don’t forget the soft skills. There is a lot of appetite for AI, but the problem is how to get started and a lot of organisations in Malaysia are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are smaller and have limited resources.

“What we can do is to help organisations to get onboard (and) with baby steps. Once they see the value they can scale. I think that is what is important,” he told BK on the sidelines of the forum where he is a panellist.

The forum, held from Oct 19 to 22 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, was organised by Invest Selangor in conjunction with the 7th Selangor International Business Summit 2023 (SIBS) and endorsed by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade).

The Seven Principles of Responsible AI – fairness; reliability, safety and control; privacy and security; inclusiveness; transparency; accountability and pursuit of human benefit and happiness – is a guideline for the development of trusted and responsible AI that can further protect the rights and privacy of individuals.

Loo said the build-up for Malaysia’s own AI code of ethics is a good starting ground for international cooperation as the issue of having a standard AI code of ethics is also experienced globally.

“I’m very hopeful and I think it’s the right first step. I hope it’s not an activity done in isolation just by the government and being pushed from the top, it has to be a collaboration with the industry and it cannot be a one-off activity.

“It has to be an activity that has been reviewed because AI evolves over time and it has to be moving across the times as well,” he added.

Another panellist, Beyond Consulting Ltd United Kingdom consultant Patricia Shaw said AI is making life more efficient and productive but at the same time, it could deskill and create a gap in knowledge assimilation.

“We need to create AI literacy amongst the population. We need capacity building so that we’re raising the next generation of what I call value-leads people who can understand ethics, values and responsible AI and build this into startups, scale-ups or SMEs of the future,” she told the forum.

Shaw added that the process of capacity building will help to create the type of AI that people want for future generations.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang on Oct 10 said the AI code of ethics is being developed and expected to be ready by 2024 and will form the basis of AI regulation in the country.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry is also examining the need to create a legal framework and the AI Act.

According to Chang, the Malaysian Standards Department (JSM) has also established a National Mirror Committee to come up with national AI standards. – BK