Governance of artificial intelligence in Southeast Asia

Abstract Governance of artificial intelligence (AI) has not achieved global participation. The primary state‐led instrument focusing specifically on the global governance of artificial intelligence is the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). Although GPAI aims for broad international participation, the only GPAI member from Southeast Asia is Singapore. GPAI's imbalanced global participation, restrictive membership process, and limited translations are potential barriers to Southeast Asian participation. However, a comparative policy analysis suggests that GPAI members and nonmembers in Southeast Asia have AI governance policies which are largely compatible, despite key differences. This study uses quantitative topic‐modeling and qualitative content analysis to compare the AI governance policies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam with the policies of Australia and Singapore, as reference GPAI members. The policies of GPAI, Australia, and Singapore emphasise the function of ethics while the policies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam emphasise the function of human capital development. State‐led, global AI governance efforts could attract more Southeast Asian participation by further emphasising human capital development and deemphasising the function of ethics. GPAI could increase the likelihood of Southeast Asian participation by decreasing its emphasis on political systems, allowing intergovernmental organisations to join, and recruiting all G20 members.