Malaysia’s PM Launches AI Clone of Himself
▼ Summary
– Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is launching an autonomous AI avatar, PMX AI, built by Zetrix AI Bhd. and trained on his writings and speeches.
– Unlike typical political AI clips, PMX AI is agentic, meaning it can independently process requests like renewing a driving license and sending payment links.
– The avatar is designed as a campaign asset to appeal to younger voters and showcase Anwar’s comfort with AI and digital investment.
– Malaysia’s avatar goes further than other countries’ political AI by adding autonomy, enabling it to perform tasks rather than just speak.
– The system raises concerns about security risks and the blurring line between helpful public service and persuasive political tool.
Malaysia’s prime minister is preparing to deploy a fully autonomous AI clone of himself for public service tasks. Anwar Ibrahim’s digital counterpart, dubbed PMX AI, could go live within days, as reported by Bloomberg. The avatar was developed by Malaysian digital infrastructure firm Zetrix AI Bhd., which trained it on Anwar’s writings, speeches, and government records to ensure an unmistakable resemblance in both appearance and voice. This initiative, spearheaded by his party Parti Keadilan Rakyat, arrives ahead of a national election required by early 2028.
Unlike typical AI clips used by politicians, PMX AI is designed to act, not just speak. Engineers built it as an agentic system, meaning it can process a user request, break it into steps, and execute them with minimal human oversight. For instance, the avatar can help a citizen renew a driving licence by sending a payment link and confirming the transaction. It communicates in English and Malay, adapting to regional dialects and slang. The system also functions as a careers adviser, steering people toward training programs, job placements, and suggesting courses to students based on their interests.
“AI will transform governance and politics,” said TS Wong, Zetrix’s group managing director. The company feeds the model a steady stream of Anwar’s recent remarks to sharpen the likeness in near real time.
The launch video is both ambitious and surreal. “It is a digital extension of myself. Ready to listen, assist and serve the people,” the narration says in Anwar’s voice, while visuals depict him as an astronaut, a caped superhero, and a character resembling Neo from The Matrix. The timing is clearly strategic. Anwar aims to project an image of a leader comfortable with AI and digital investment, while appealing to younger voters. An avatar that never sleeps and never strays off-message is a powerful campaign asset.
Malaysia is not the first country to experiment with political AI avatars. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has used AI-generated multilingual messages. India’s Narendra Modi has addressed audiences in several Indian languages via AI. South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, ran an AI avatar during his campaign that answered voters’ questions directly. What sets Malaysia apart is the autonomy of its avatar, which does not just talk but performs tasks.
Yet an agentic stand-in for a head of government raises uncomfortable questions. The same system that pushes a payment link could, after a bad update or a breach, push something else. As AI avatars become more capable, the line between helpful public service and persuasive political tool grows thinner. Regulators are taking notice. France is moving to triple penalties for AI-driven election disinformation, while China has begun reining in lifelike AI agents. Detection tools like Google’s SynthID watermark are racing to catch up, with the first political deepfake already flagged in the wild.
Malaysia is betting that voters will see PMX AI as convenience, not spin. Anwar’s team is confident the avatar will help people navigate a slow bureaucracy. The harder question is whether citizens will always know, or care, that the prime minister answering them is a machine.
(Source: The Next Web)