Malaysia’s Ministry of Digital has partnered with Microsoft once again, this time rolling out the new Microsoft Elevate initiative aimed to be the bigger and more structured push to get the country ready for AI at scale, in line with the AI Nation 2030 plan.
Officiated by Gobind Singh Deo, this iteration expands on how wide they are casting the net this time, as not only tech professionals are involved, but also educators, MSMEs, civil servants, veterans, and students, working alongside groups like the National AI Office, Sekretariat Majlis TVET Negara, plus ecosystem partners such as Biji-biji Initiative and Mereka – all to make AI readiness a whole-of-nation effort instead of something limited to a few sectors.
Through Microsoft Elevate, a long-term pipeline will be built, stretching all the way to 2030, starting with foundational skills and workforce activation, then moving into deeper industry adoption, and eventually embedding AI capabilities into institutions for sustained impact. They actually kicked off a pilot earlier this year in January, and so far, about 80,000 learners have already gone through the program.
This also builds on Microsoft’s earlier efforts in Malaysia – like AIForMYFuture, which trained around 800,000 people, and Bersama Malaysia, which reached over 1.5 million with skills in cloud, AI, and cybersecurity.
From the government’s perspective, Gobind Singh Deo framed this as a necessary step if Malaysia wants to position itself as a regional AI hub, emphasizing that real progress depends on strong collaboration between public and private sectors while ensuring digital inclusion across all layers of society.
From the ecosystem side, Rashvin Pal Singh highlighted that the real challenge isn’t just access to AI, but making it practical and relevant in everyday settings like classrooms and communities, while Jasmine Begum reinforced that AI only delivers value when people know how to use it responsibly in real-world scenarios.
