NEF Impact Tech 2026 was held today at Asia Pacific University (APU), Technology Park Malaysia (TPM), Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur with the theme ‘Where Technology Meets Purpose’. This theme emphasizes the role of technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) for a greater purpose.
The program also brought together technology experts, company founders and intellectuals, while the discussion focused on how green technology, social enterprises and artificial intelligence can be combined to benefit society.
In the session ‘AI for Productivity, Profitability and Scale’, two experts explained that AI can help companies work more efficiently, increase profits and grow faster. However, they also reminded that AI has advantages and disadvantages that need to be understood. Among them, AI does not just rely on prompts, but instead requires continuous training and clear guidance to be used correctly.
In addition, AI can make work easier, speed up automated processes and build prototypes, thus helping new companies try out ideas faster. At the same time, they stressed that data quality is very important because the principle of 'garbage in, garbage out' still applies. This means that if the input is bad, the output will also be bad. Therefore, good results depend entirely on the quality of the input, and the data must be safeguarded from the beginning with a commitment to quality data.
In terms of cost, this factor plays an important role in evaluating the implementation of AI. Therefore, companies need to find a balance by ensuring that personal information is always protected before being sent to LLM. At the same time, there is concern that the promotion of AI is actually more focused on selling cloud computing services (cloud hosting).
Therefore, it is important to ensure that AI technology remains accessible in Malaysia. According to both experts, the country is now showing positive trends in the field of AI, in addition to strengthening its position as a management and resource center, thus opening up great opportunities for the people.
However, they reminded that this technology does not only function to reduce workload but can also create new tasks. Therefore, the company culture needs to be given attention while employees should be exposed to 'prompt engineering', which is to provide quality instructions to AI.
In addition, the quality of employees is also important, especially those who are interested in the field they are involved in. In terms of coding, AI is useful for building prototypes but is not suitable for production. Therefore, its usage limits need to be clearly understood. In addition, UX developers also need to understand the basics of coding because AI can help them provide a more efficient user experience.
In addition, the issue of the 'Wrapper problem' was also discussed, namely the need to evaluate first before building a system. The recommended approach is to start with exposure, then make an assessment and finally build the system. In the context of education, they emphasized the importance of developing a learning system that is able to prepare for the future with AI.
Focus should be given to improving skills, while maintaining basic programming skills. AI can be used in assignments, but assignments must be designed so that students think deeply. In addition, lecturers are encouraged to develop guidelines for the use of AI as well as provide support tools to assist the teaching process.
In the session titled 'What's Next for AI in Malaysia? Predictions for Business in the Next 3 Years’, the discussion highlighted the impact and future of AI in Malaysia over the next three years. Among the main concerns were the lack of local talent and the need to retrain the existing workforce to keep pace with the needs of an increasingly technology-dependent industry.
Experts also highlighted the potential of AI, which is not only capable of increasing productivity, but also capable of bridging the gap between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. This raises questions about how society defines the role of humans in the new era of technology.
AI will not replace human civilization, but rather reflects the values, culture and principles that shape society. Therefore, the development of AI in Malaysia needs to be based on local identity so that this technology truly benefits users.
In addition, the importance of creative content was also given attention. Malaysia was urged to develop its own AI model and not simply imitate Western models, to avoid cultural injustice and the influence of external values. The discussion also touched on the issue of data sensitivity and the need to examine the data sources used to train AI models. Emphasis was placed on adapting the model to reflect local values and culture.
In the discussion, several interesting views were also presented. For example, users are now pursuing fast, smart and cheap AI, while universities need to emphasize value-based education. At the same time, the education system must change in line with the development of AI because the prompt data used is not always accurate.
Therefore, character building needs to start at home and be implemented since childhood. Regardless of the restrictions set by the government, the foundation still goes back to value-based education, namely how users can overcome these limitations.
For your information, NEF Impact Tech 2026 has cooperation from the New Entrepreneur Foundation, Satu Creative and several other sponsors. In addition, several booths were also provided for visiting throughout the program.
