Kuala Lumpur: According to Communications Minister Fami Fazil, all media organizations in the country are encouraged to prepare artificial intelligence (AI) transformation plans for their respective businesses.
However, he said that investing in technology should be careful so that it doesn’t affect existing employees.
“…I don’t want a situation where many workers are fired or lost their jobs. Also, I’m not sure that many journalists may need to do two or three other tasks.
“Ahead of this, they had to perform one (report) task, but now they have to perform two or three other tasks. He held a press conference here today after launching the “Newsroom AI” course hosted by the National News Agency of Malaysia (Bernama), the first course in a series of AI-related training programs for media experts.
Bernama’s CEO Datin Paduka Nuru a Afida Kamaldin and Huaway Malaysia CEO Simon Sun were present.
Also, Bernama Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj, Associate Editor (Economic News Service) Azlina Aziz, Executive Editor (Assuming the duties of Associate Editor of International News Service), Mohd Shukri Ishak, Zain Zain’s Zain bank and Treasury Secretary.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said all media organizations should also make an investment to appoint Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to protect all the data they generate.
“This post is very important because we have amended the Personal Data Protection Act and know that today’s data, including what media companies have produced, is invaluable.
“So if you have a CISO, you can protect your data and you can benefit from it,” he said.
Regarding today’s course, Fami hopes that more media organizations can benefit from the experience of professionals invited to share their knowledge.
He said the ministry would seek feedback from media companies and journalists involved in the role the government can play in helping it navigate the changes caused by the emergence of new technologies.
“We previously discussed a lot about the impact of social media, but the advent of AI will likely affect some of the functional tasks of positions, such as editors, graphic designers and more.
“We had a meeting with the affected media companies last week, and I think more media organizations will be affected in the future,” he said.
Fahmi said that because of courses like this, media organizations can take steps to understand and utilize the changes, while also expecting employees to find new opportunities to use the new applications.
He added that the courses are organized in other states as well, so all media across the country can get the opportunity to get it.
