One of the most significant potential impacts of AI is its ability to accelerate economic growth, with the potential for Southeast Asia to reap up to US$950 billion by 2030, resulting in a 10 to 18 per cent uplift in GDP.
But there are still several barriers to developing this cutting-edge technology and making Southeast Asia globally competitive. A study by the Asia Society Policy Institute highlights the imperative of ensuring that the adoption of AI is mindful of risks including inclusivity, cyber resilience and labour market disruption.
AI inclusivity refers to the urgency of pushing for more public engagement, promoting citizen-centric design and reducing governments’ centralised approach to developing future AI-based technology. Ensuring that this technology is not used to discriminate against minority users, as highlighted by recent events in Thailand, should also be taken into account by the authorities.
Because AI relies heavily on data generated by users’ everyday online activities, cyber resilience needs to be a prerequisite for embracing this technology. Implementing high personal data protection standards and anticipating the threats of digital surveillance must become priorities of governments if they are to foster public trust in AI-based government services.
The exponential, widespread adoption of AI also threatens to eliminate jobs in a number of industries and displace workers. This is often compounded by the lack of high-skilled labourers working in high-tech industries and highlights the need for more public spending on education, training and research. Southeast Asian governments must start developing AI governance frameworks to optimise the benefits of AI and avoid potential risks. Clear and specific AI governance frameworks are prerequisites for harnessing AI-based technology.
Southeast Asian governments have made important initial steps in advancing AI governance. Singapore initially spearheaded the way by launching its National AI Strategy in 2019 and the first AI framework in Asia with its Model AI Governance Framework in 2020. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam have also published national strategies and roadmaps for the development of AI. ASEAN digital ministers have acknowledged the importance of developing an ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics while enhancing collaborations focussed on narrowing digital gaps.
But none of the existing frameworks, documents and meeting outputs include specific guidelines to address the potential risks of harnessing AI-powered technologies. Singapore’s Model AI Governance document proposed a risk-based approach to building users’ trust, but the details surrounding categories and levels of risk remain absent. If this continues, it may lead to an uncertain definition of the legal basis for the use of AI, resulting in vague positioning to regulate practices associated with AI and tackle the misuse of this technology.
The use of AI-powered facial recognition is one striking example. Facial recognition technology has assisted governments like Singapore’s in tracing those infected with COVID-19. But this technology has considerable potential for misuse, such as expanding mass digital surveillance by installing cameras to oversee citizens, as occurred in Myanmar, and widening racial discrimination due to inequity in its algorithms. Without developing an AI governance framework with a specific, clear legal basis for the use of AI, it would be difficult for authorities to categorise what practices are prohibited and decide when to take legal actions against misuse of AI.
To leverage AI’s advantages equally for Southeast Asian people and manage its potential risks for society, concrete collective action is urgently needed. Southeast Asian leaders should consider jointly adopting the Singaporean government’s risk-based approach at the regional level to define specific groups and categories of risk and protect users from possible harmful outcomes. This would provide Southeast Asia with a common ground legal basis to govern the use of AI. This would be akin to the one recently set by the EU that each member-state can further adopt into national AI governance frameworks.
Authorities across the Southeast Asia region must consider devising a form of comprehensive regional cooperation on AI development like the one established by the EU in 2018. This could create a sense of togetherness in nurturing high-skilled labour, digital infrastructure, research and investment in AI-based technology.
The 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship, Indonesia, and its grand vision to make ASEAN the epicentre of growth could be a source of momentum for these initiatives. Leading countries on AI development in the region, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, will play a pivotal role in enforcing initiatives’ negotiation process. With a clear, specific regulatory and governance framework on AI, Southeast Asia has the opportunity to not only strengthen its regional competitiveness, but also secure citizens’ digital rights when harnessing AI.
Albert J. Rapha is an Erasmus+ Scholar and Postgraduate Student in Public Sector Innovation and E-governance at KU Leuven.