PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has launched its first homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) system, Ilmu 1.0, with promises it can rival global platforms such as ChatGPT.
Experts, however, warn the hype may be running ahead of the reality.
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan associate professor and AI specialist Prof Madya Dr Nooraini Yusoff described the project as ambitious but cautioned that without openness on how Ilmu was created, its bold claims cannot be verified.
“We don’t know how it was built, what kind of data it used or if it is truly original, or just adapted from another system using Malaysian material,” she said.
She raised concerns over the handling of sensitive data, safeguards against harmful content and the risk of misuse.
“The main issue with Ilmu is that we don’t know exactly how it was developed or where its data came from, which makes it hard to check whether its claims are accurate.
“There are also worries about how it will handle private information, prevent harmful content and avoid misuse. Whether it proves reliable can only be judged once the public starts using it.”
Nooraini warned that if Ilmu proves to be more of a branding exercise than breakthrough, Malaysia’s AI ambitions could suffer.
“Public and institutional trust may erode if real-world performance fails to match expectations, undermining confidence in future local initiatives. This disappointment could discourage researchers and developers, pushing talent towards foreign projects or open-source alternatives.
“Additionally, investors may lose confidence, threatening future funding. Perhaps most critically, a lack of transparency and rigour could stall the growth of a genuine AI research culture, reinforcing shallow achievements over meaningful innovation,” she added.
International Islamic University Malaysia AI specialist Dr Yasir Mohd Mustafah voiced similar concerns.
He welcomed the focus on local needs, particularly the development of a Malay-language test called MalayMMLU, but cautioned that because it was designed by the same team behind Ilmu, its results may not reflect true performance.
He likened it to “a student marking their own exam (papers)”, adding that strong scores may not translate into success under independent testing.
“While the claim that Ilmu is rivalling ChatGPT and outperforming Llama 3.1 is very impressive, it is difficult to fully validate without transparency,” he said.
Without clearer technical details, Yasir stressed it is hard to compare Ilmu fairly with other leading systems.
He said the dream of creating a proudly Malaysian AI system is commendable but warned against overpromising.
“If they fail to deliver on their promises, it could severely damage public and investor trust, negatively affecting future AI research and ultimately threatening Malaysia’s potential in the global AI race.”
Launched last month by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Ilmu was developed by YTL AI Labs in collaboration with Universiti Malaya.
It is billed as Malaysia’s first sovereign AI model able to process text, voice and images. Developers claim it matches OpenAI’s ChatGPT and outperforms Meta’s Llama 3.1 in some tests.
Public registration for Ilmu has already opened but users will only be able to access it from Sept 16 through its chatbot service, ILMUchat.
