{
  "id": 15756805,
  "title": "Tech firms barred from using public’s data to train AI models, says govt",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/tech-firms-barred-from-using-publics-data-to-train-ai-models-says-govt",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-20T14:49:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/10/20/tech-firms-barred-from-using-public-s-data-to-train-ai-models-says-govt"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Malaysian government has imposed restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) service providers, prohibiting them from utilizing data from the government or citizens to train their AI models. Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo revealed this in a written parliamentary response, stating that AI companies are also barred from storing data from Malaysians after processing. The guidelines for AI usage in the public sector mandate that all government agencies must minimize, conceal, or anonymize data before utilizing it with AI systems. The minister clarified that the government retains only non-sensitive, open data in foreign-based cloud storage, while sensitive and top-secret government data is confined to government data centers. Confidential and restricted information can be stored in personal or hybrid clouds based in Malaysia. Under Section 129 of the amended Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), cross-border transfer of personal data requires consent from the data subjects, and the receiving jurisdiction must have a law similar to Malaysia's PDPA. The government also mandates encryption to prevent unauthorized access to data by foreign service providers, even if requested by foreign authorities.",
  "summary": "Digital minister says this is a clause in all of the government's AI procurement contracts.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}