Malaysia's AI Schrödinger’s Cat is out of the box

This article first appeared on Aurora Insights

THREE weeks ago, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister for Communications launched the country’s own sovereign, full-stack Artificial Intelligence ecosystem. The initiative, named “Strategic AI Infrastructure”, is powered by Huawei’s Ascend chips. Malaysia’s bold initiative is slated to be the first in the region and first-of-its-kind outside of China. Shockingly, the announcement was retracted a day later, followed by a mysterious “clarification” from the Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry stating that the project is in fact, “privately-driven”.

To the clear-eyed, this is damage control as Malaysia navigates the intensifying US-China tech competition. In this instance Malaysia seeks to placate the US after the White House was irked by Malaysia’s announcement. Just a week before, the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, which effectively reversed export controls on US chips while warning companies against using Huawei’s most advanced chips.

So what exactly is the status of this ambitious AI initiative? To begin with, just like the cat in Schrödinger’s famed thought experiment, the initiative was both dead and alive before it was announced to the public – as indeed the Malaysian government typically prefers to fly under the radar & manage such sensitive matters with a quieter approach.

However, with the cat out of the box, so to speak, we now know that the initiative is alive and well. Despite the government’s attempt to absolve itself of responsibility, it is hard to imagine that a plan of such scale & policy significance would be pursued without the government’s full blessing. It is now clear that such a plan not only exists, but has made it all the way to an official speech shared on the world stage and presented to leading industry players.

More fundamental questions to ponder would be: What are Malaysia’s AI policy & position and its strategy to navigate the tricky geopolitical situation surrounding the technological space? Once again, this incident highlights the dilemma facing countries like Malaysia, as they are caught in the crossfire of US-China strategic competition. The stark truth is that Malaysia is forced to dance this dance because it lacks the technological prowess to develop AI capabilities on its own and is forced to rely on advanced partners. Ideally, the US & China would cooperate instead of compete to advance the field of AI for the benefit of humankind. Further, Malaysia would be able to work with all players, but the zero-sum game that the US is playing versus China in this tech competition is making that ideal scenario virtually impossible. Sadly, barring a major change of circumstances or change in leadership, the current trend is set to continue.

As uncomfortable as it might be, the time has come for Malaysia to make a bold choice for itself instead of tiptoeing between superpowers. The bottomline is that as a sovereign nation, instead of succumbing to foreign pressures, Malaysia should exercise full autonomy to work with any parties and pursue whatever policy options are in the best interest of the country. Interestingly, Malaysia has a precedent of its own making to draw on as it faced a similar situation before, and chose to be defiant – when despite the US’ & EU’s expressing concerns about cyber-espionage, it went ahead with the selection of Huawei as its second 5G network provider.

There is no denying the announced and launched Strategic AI infrastructure plan warrants further scrutiny. There are many complex practical factors to consider, such as the applicability of the technology, cost efficacy & national security risk.

Nonetheless, there’s no reason to kill the cat just because it’s out of the box. Malaysia is best served by objectively evaluating the merits of working with its partners of choice in pursuing its AI ambitions, while also standing its ground in pursuing policy that serves its own interest and pushes back firmly on any attempt to subjugate its choice.

Aurora Insights is a geopolitical risk analysis company that delivers strategic insights on Asia. We help business leaders & policymakers make informed decisions and advance their mission in a way that is sustainable, inclusive, forward-looking.