PETALING JAYA: The government bars artificial intelligence (AI) service providers from using data from the government or the people to train their AI models, says digital minister Gobind Singh Deo.
In a written parliamentary reply, Gobind said this is a clause in all of the government's AI procurement contracts, adding that AI firms are also not allowed to store data from Malaysians after processing.
"The guidelines on AI use in the public sector also makes it mandatory for all government agencies to minimise, conceal or anonymise data before processing them with AI systems," he said.
He added that the ministry is drafting an AI governance bill to ensure accountability when it comes to AI systems.
The minister was responding to Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) who asked how the government was ensuring public data processed by cloud and AI firms remain under Malaysia's control.
Only non-sensitive, open data stored in foreign clouds
Gobind said the government only stores non-sensitive, open data in foreign-based data clouds, while secret and top secret government data can only be stored in government data centres, not just any online cloud.
On the other hand, confidential and restricted information can only be stored in personal or hybrid clouds based in Malaysia, he said.
"For personal data handled by the private sector, relocating it to foreign clouds is regulated by Section 129 of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), as amended in 2024," he said.
Among others, the amended section requires consent to be granted by subjects for the cross-border transfer of their personal data, while receiving jurisdictions must have a law similar to Malaysia's PDPA in place.
Gobind said the government also mandates encryption of its data to ensure foreign service providers are incapable of unilaterally accessing the data, even if requested by the authorities of other nations.