Kagan (left) says significant investments by US firms in Malaysia presents an opportunity for both countries and the region. At right is Frankel. — LOW BOON TAT/The Star
THE artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is expected to have a positive impact on Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the coming decade.
Meta Southeast Asia public policy director Dr Rafael Frankel said the latest estimates showed that there could be a US$48bil (RM200bil) GDP benefit between now and the next 10 years as a result of AI.
“As one of the companies proud of our open-source AI models that everyone can use, we look forward to continuing our partnerships in Malaysia.
“Whether it comes to upskilling in AI or other elements, it can help drive growth here,” he told a press conference after the US-Malaysia Digital Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur.
Frankel was also one of the speakers with US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgar D. Kagan during a dialogue session titled “Malaysia-America 2030: Building a US-Malaysia Tech Ecosystem”.
Kagan said American companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle were making significant investments in Malaysia, which presented an opportunity for the US, Malaysia and the region.
He said this would help drive innovation and the creation of new companies while creating “opportunities in Malaysia in a safe, secure and equitable manner”.
On combating scams, Frankel said it should be the joint work of different agencies.
“Digital platforms, financial services companies like banks and payment companies, the government, law enforcement and civil society must play their roles to combat scams.
“For us, Meta took down 12 million accounts on its platforms associated with scam centres in Cambodia and Myanmar in the first half of this year.
“Last year, we removed 157 million advertisements for violating fraud and scam policies.
“Ninety percent of these were proactively removed before users reported them.
“We also share intelligence with law enforcement both in South-East Asia and in the US and that has led to recent arrests that we’ve seen in several countries that are engaged in these enterprises,” said Frankel.
The conference continued with two other dialogues, “Driving AI Excellence Through Public-Private Synergy” and “Forging Ahead for Malaysia-America Tech Collaboration”.
