Kuala Lumpur (VNA)🐟 – Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim on May 27 announced an allocation of 1 million MYR (220,000 USD) to the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) Centre for Excellence to organise courses and training relating to artificial intelligence (AI) for media practitioners.

Speaking at the National Journalists' Day 2024 (HAWANA 2024) celebration in Kuching, Sarawak state, the PM stated that the allocation was in line with the call for the media fraternity to also delve into and master the use of technology, including AI, in carrying out their tasks. Accordingly, Bernama is responsible for providing training programmes for its staff as well as government agencies and corporate entities, in addition to managing applications from students of higher learning institutions to undergo industrial training within the organisation. The government's commitment to developing the AI ecosystem is portrayed through various initiatives such as the "AI Untuk Rakyat" programme aimed at increasing public awareness about the technology and the AI Sandbox 2024, which targets the creation of 900 AI start-ups and 13,000 new talents by 2026. At the event, PM Anwar also launched the AI Talent Roadmap for Malaysia 2024-2030, the Faculty of AI at University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), and the Malaysia AI Consortium (MAIC). HAWANA is the largest gathering of Malaysian media practitioners. Apart from local journalists, this year's event from May 25-27 attracted journalists from 12 other countries, namely Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Timor Leste, China, the Republic of Korea, Qatar, France, and Kuwait. The gathering of journalists was organised by the Ministry of Communications in collaboration with the Sarawak state government. Bernama was the implementing agency. May 29 was gazetted as the National Journalists' Day of Malaysia, aimed at celebrating the contributions of media practitioners./.