Malaysia's WhatsApp AI Chatbot To Combat Fake News Is In Its Final Stage
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said his ministry will hold discussions with Meta soon.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 12 Jun 2024, 12:04 PM
The development of Malaysia's artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot to combat fake news on WhatsApp is in its final stages
This is according to Bernama's report, which cited Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil on the matter.
Previously, Fahmi had reportedly said that the AI chatbot was designed to verify the authenticity of information shared on WhatsApp.
Fahmi explained that Malaysians are very comfortable with WhatsApp. Due to this, a lot of misinformation is spread through the platform that is owned by Meta.
Fahmi said that Malaysia's Communications Ministry will hold discussions with Meta soon
While not revealing specific dates for the launch of the AI chatbot, Fahmi said his team will be speaking to Meta's representatives on ways the tool can be integrated on WhatApp.
Fahmi added that currently, there are several technical issues that needs to be ironed out before the AI chatbot can be launched.
"At present, there are several technical issues being scrutinised," he said.
The AI chatbot will be designed to detect fake news on WhatsApp in various languages spoken in Malaysia
"We are also working to ensure that the chatbot facility will be able to address all issues raised in various languages, including Malay and English," Fahmi said.
With over 137 living languages spoken here, Fahmi said the AI chatbot would focus on the major languages spoken in the country — Malay, English, Mandarin, and Tamil.
However, he added that the chatbot would expand to other languages too.
"When we finally launch it, there will be several main languages, but we will expand to other languages later as it was based on AI," he said.
