Governing AI in Southeast Asia: ASEAN’s way forward

Despite the rapid development of AI, ASEAN has not been able to devise a regional governance framework to address relevant existing and future challenges. This is concerning, considering the potential of AI to accelerate GDP among ASEAN member states in the coming years. This qualitative inquiry discusses AI governance in Southeast Asia in the past 5 years and what regulatory policies ASEAN can explore to better modulate its use among its member states. It considers the unique political landscape of the region, defined by the adoption of unique norms such as non-interference and priority over dialog, commonly termed the ASEAN Way. The following measures are concluded as potential regional governance frameworks: (1) Elevation of the topic's importance in ASEAN's intra and inter-regional forums to formulate collective regional agreements on AI, (2) adoption of AI governance measures in the field of education, specifically, reskilling and upskilling strategies to respond to future transformation of the working landscape, and (3) establishment of an ASEAN working group to bridge knowledge gaps among member states, caused by the disparity of AI-readiness in the region.