Muslims not concerned enough about AI challenges, Anwar says

Muslims, including scholars, are not paying enough attention to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says.

He said such inattentiveness was worrying, especially as leading figures behind AI were voicing concerns about how the technology could affect society.

“Muslim scholars are the least worried. Muslim societies are not following the challenges,” he said in a speech at Markaz Saquafathi Sunniya here, where he paid tribute to Indian grand mufti Sheikh Abu Bakar Ahmad for his contribution to Islamic scholarship and education.

Anwar said Muslim societies could not afford to ignore AI, digital transformation and other new technology, as doing so would leave them dependent on those who controlled such knowledge.

He said that without sufficient knowledge and expertise, societies could eventually become vulnerable to outside influence and be “weaponised by foreign forces”.

However, he said embracing technology should not mean abandoning religious and moral values, and that Muslims needed both expertise in technology and a strong grounding in faith and ethics.

Noting a proposal for an Asia forum to study how societies could make greater use of AI while ensuring that their values and faith remained strong, he said he would ask his colleagues to study and support the plan.

Anthropic, a US-based AI firm, recently released a report describing how bad actors used its Claude AI system for state-sponsored surveillance and propaganda operations, among others.

Anthropic also said its system was used to disrupt a commercial election manipulation platform that primarily targeted people in Malaysia. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is currently examining the report.

At the event, Anwar was also presented with the inaugural Excellence Award instituted by the Sheikh Abubacker Foundation, becoming the first recipient of the honour.

The award also reflects the close ties between Anwar and Sheikh Abu Bakar. In 2023, Malaysia conferred its International Tokoh Ma’al Hijrah Award, its highest honour for influential Muslim scholars, on the Indian cleric.

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