KUALA LUMPUR: Past mistakes of build-first-govern-later must not be repeated with the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), says the Sultan of Perak.
“In our era, we have repeatedly learned, and then seemingly forgotten, the hardest lesson of all: that we tend to build first and govern later.
“The atomic bomb was detonated before the world had any framework for its regulation.
“We must not repeat that error with AI, genetic engineering or the other converging technologies of this century. They demand governance in advance, not in retrospect,” Sultan Nazrin Shah said in his keynote address before launching the Putrajaya Forum held during the Defence Services Asia and National Security Asia 2026 exhibitions yesterday.
On emerging technologies, including AI and quantum computing, Sultan Nazrin said that while such tools enhanced security they also carried risks.
“The deployment of AI in military contexts could inadvertently precipitate conflict. Through automation bias, humans could place too much trust in machines, allowing them to make life-or-death decisions that break moral and legal rules.
“Consider the implications: a cyberattack on a regional financial system could disrupt economies across borders within minutes while a breach of sensitive data could compromise national sovereignty without a single shot being fired.
“Thus, the very tools that promise progress also carry the seeds of instability. In some ways, of course, our present dilemma is not new.”
Sultan Nazrin said the region’s extraordinary diversity in language, religion, culture and governance, is precisely what makes it vulnerable to AI systems calibrated on the assumptions of others.
On another matter, Sultan Nazrin said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has affected every Asean nation.
“The surging prices of energy, fertilisers and transport are driving up the price of food, increasing production and distribution costs and fuelling inflation. Worst affected are the countries with low energy reserves.
“An economic crisis is looming. Livelihoods will continue to be affected for months even if the Strait is reopened in the near-term.
“It is therefore imperative that negotiations to end the Middle East conflict are speedily and successfully concluded.”
