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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a major catalyst for the transformation of public services around the world. In Malaysia, the National Digital Department (NDD) plays a strategic role as a leader in the digitalization of the public sector, particularly in ensuring that the adoption of AI is carried out ethically, responsibly and with high impact on the people. Throughout 2024 to 2025, NDD has recorded various important achievements in formulating policies, developing platforms, strengthening the capabilities of civil servants and introducing AI applications based on the real needs of the public sector
This brief report brings together the main achievements of AI in JDN as a whole, covering aspects of governance, ecosystem development, talent empowerment and digital service innovation for the benefit of the people.
One of JDN’s major achievements is the development and implementation of the Guidelines for the Adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Public Sector (GPAISA). These guidelines serve as a specific reference for public sector agencies to ensure that the use of AI is implemented ethically, transparently and responsibly. The main focus of GPAISA is to improve the efficiency of service delivery, strengthen the effectiveness of government operations, and drive innovation based on new technologies.
Throughout 2025, JDN has implemented various strategic initiatives to expand the understanding and application of GPAISA in the public sector. These include the organization of the Public Sector AI Seminar 2025, which is an important platform to increase AI literacy and understanding of AI ethical principles among civil servants. In addition, a total of 40 technical advisory services have been provided to various government agencies to assist in the coordination of AI policies and practices at the organizational level.
AI ethics elements were also integrated into the AI@Work Programme, launched by the YB Minister of Digital in February 2025, as a step to ensure that the use of AI in public services is in line with the values of integrity and accountability. GPAISA has also been widely promoted through national and international platforms, including conferences, advocacy programmes and presentations at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) level.
In an effort to accelerate the practical use of AI in government agencies, JDN launched the AI as a Service (AIaaS) Platform in August 2025. This platform provides an “AI Sandbox” facility that allows public sector agencies to explore, test and develop AI solutions based on the real problems faced by their respective organizations.
Initially, AIaaS was implemented as a pilot project (Proof of Concept) through collaboration with major cloud service providers. As of December 2025, the platform has received 40 sandbox applications from 16 public sector agencies , shows a high level of interest and need for the use of AI in government operations. This approach not only reduces development costs, but also allows government agencies to access the latest AI technologies more quickly and in a controlled manner.
AIaaS’ future plans include expanding the ecosystem with the participation of more technology providers, thus providing more choice and flexibility to the public sector. This move is expected to strengthen the government’s ability to drive a more progressive and competitive digital transformation.
In February 2025, JDN was appointed as the Public Service AI Centre of Excellence (CoE AI). While this role was later realigned under the GovTech approach and Whole-of-Government model, JDN’s commitment to leading the adoption of public sector AI remains intact.
JDN continues to play a key role as a strategic enabler, initiative coordinator and facilitator for government agencies in implementing AI sustainably. This approach ensures that AI development does not occur in isolation, but rather supports the government’s aspiration to provide more integrated and people-centric digital services.
Another significant achievement of JDN is the development of Chatbot AI@JDN, which was launched alongside the JDN Portal in July 2024. The chatbot was developed using Generative AI technology and JDN’s in-house expertise, in line with the principles of local capability development. It functions as an interactive communication medium to provide information related to JDN services to the public, and supports multiple major languages.
Throughout 2025, JDN has expanded the use of this chatbot through training, workshops and pilot sessions to various government ministries and agencies. Training programs such as “Chatbot Zero to Hero” have successfully involved dozens of agencies, thus accelerating knowledge transfer and AI capacity development in the public sector.
In the future, Chatbot AI@JDN is planned to be enhanced towards Agentic AI , namely an AI approach that is smarter, proactive and capable of making recommendations based on context and data. The development of the AI Knowledge Catalyst (AKC) as a one-stop information centre also supports this vision by providing a structured reference resource for civil servants.
As part of its efforts to strengthen its people-centred approach, JDN has also developed the SuaRA application , which is a smart analytics system that uses Generative AI to analyze public perceptions and sentiment towards public sector services. This application collects data from various social media platforms and translates it into sentiment information that is useful for policy and service improvements.
Although still in the final stages of development, SuaRA is expected to be an important tool to help the government understand the views of the people in a more comprehensive and data-based manner. The planned pilot implementation will pave the way for the application to be expanded to the entire public sector in the future.
Overall, the achievements of AI at the National Digital Department reflect the government’s continued commitment to driving the digital transformation of the public sector in a strategic, ethical and people-centric manner. Through the development of guidelines, technology platforms, service innovation and talent empowerment, JDN has laid a solid foundation towards the sustainable and high-impact use of AI. This effort not only supports the efficiency of government administration, but also improves the quality of services to the people in line with the aspirations of MADANI Malaysia and the national digitalization agenda.