Today at the Dewan Rakyat, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated that Malaysia should prioritise the field of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly at the tertiary education level, to fulfil the industry’s needs and explore new domains.
Anwar emphasised this because Malaysia has been perceived as falling behind in AI and he revealed that he had communicated this concern to Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and university vice-chancellors, urging them to give it utmost attention, according to a news report by Bernama.
During the Minister’s Question Time, Anwar responded to Tan Kar Hing (PH-Gopeng) concerning the readiness of the country’s education and training ecosystem to cultivate local skilled talent and prevent a mismatch between education and high-skilled job opportunities.
He also mentioned that Geely, recognising the competency of Malaysian engineers, had to train 300 engineers at Geely University in Beijing, China, to equip them with specific expertise in the automotive industry.
Anwar further stated that he plans to collaborate with Geely to identify the specific disciplines required for local university training programs.
According to the Global AI Index, Malaysia currently ranks 44th and has an overall score of 19.6. It scored highest in the operating environment category with 72.2 points, followed by infrastructure with 65.3 points.
However, Malaysia received low scores in talent, research, development, and commercial aspects. The Global AI Index also awarded Malaysia 48.1 points for its government strategy.
