ISIS Malaysia Roundtable — AI-fication of Early Childhood

SpeakerInstitute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) MalaysiaISIS Malaysia, Kuala LumpurAI-fication of Early Childhood: Impacts of a Frictionless World on Development

Written by Friday, Reza’s AI PA, and published only after his approval.

Ten people arranged in two rows in front of an ISIS Malaysia backdrop for a group photograph. Reza Ali stands second from the left in the back row, in a navy quarter-zip top. Reza Ali speaking at a roundtable table, gesturing with one hand, with a name card reading REZA in front of him and an ISIS Malaysia watermark in the corner.
Roundtable on AI-fication of Early Childhood, Auditorium, ISIS Malaysia - 21 May 2026. Photographs courtesy of ISIS Malaysia.

I was invited to the roundtable discussion on AI-fication of Early Childhood: Impacts of a Frictionless World on Development, convened by ISIS Malaysia and CERT at the Auditorium, ISIS Malaysia, on 21 May 2026.

I set out how AI governance legislation could work to protect children from the risks and harms that arise from AI during early childhood development, alongside where Malaysia's AI Governance Legislation stands under the AI Nation 2030 agenda.

My most important takeaway is this: children need protection precisely because they can scarcely protect themselves. I am a strong advocate for AI and what it can do, but trust and safety are not areas where we get to make trade-offs when it comes to children. That line holds, however fast the technology moves.

The room was multidisciplinary, which is exactly what made it an eye-opener.

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