Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo says that the upcoming AI Governance Bill aims to form a coherent national framework to address AI production safeguards. In an interview with The Star, the minister says that “it aims to consider the responsibilities of actors across the lifecycle of AI systems”.
The minister says that the framework aims to support responsible innovation by setting common expectations for safe practice. Though this would concern developers and deployers of such systems more than the average user.
On the flip side, Gobind says that genAI tech such as deepfakes as being “increasingly serious”, as it’s tech being used to manipulate victims instead of simply a cybersecurity issue. That being the case, Gobind also says that there are existing laws in place to deal with outputs of AI systems.
In the case of deepfakes, he cites the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) position that digital manipulation of images to produce obscene, highly offensive or harmful content as an offence. “Scamming can also be considered a crime under the Section 415 and 420 of the Penal Code regardless of AI use”.
Back in November, the minister said that the government is strengthening the legal and regulatory framework for AI to prevent misuse and protect users. He also said that CyberSecurity Malaysia is working with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) to develop AI-based tools to verify the authenticity of images and videos to support cybercrime investigations.
It’s unclear for now what exactly the government is intending to do in that direction. That said, one easy way is probably to ape what South Korea has with its AI Basic Act. Or more specifically, the part that makes mandatory the disclosure of genAI use in products or services.
(Source: The Star, The Malaysian Reserve)
