NEW YORK (Sept 27): The Global South must have a meaningful role in shaping decisions on artificial intelligence (AI) rather than merely becoming a destination for data centres, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.

He said AI was transforming economies, societies and government decision-making, thus creating enormous opportunities but also significant risks.

“The Global South cannot simply become a destination for data centres, while decisions about AI are made elsewhere,” he said in his national statement at the General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) here on Saturday. Mohamad is in New York from Sept 23 to 27 for Malaysia’s participation in the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

Mohamad said the UN must continue empowering Global South countries, which are likely to be more greatly affected by inequitable AI development, to participate in global discussions on AI.

“We must be partners in innovation. Not merely customers and markets. And not merely destinations for investment,” he said.

He said equitable decision-making and equitable development were necessary to ensure that the benefits of AI could be shared more broadly across borders.

Mohamad also called for the enormous demands that technology infrastructure places on water, energy, land and other resources to be managed.

“Technology must serve humanity. Never the reverse,” he said.

He said the answer could not be for a small number of companies or countries to decide the rules for everyone else.

The Global South comprises 134 countries, representing about 80% of the world’s population, according to the UN.

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