<figure id="attachment_3115711" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3115711" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3115711 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/528ec8a2-anwar-ibrahim-bernamapic-230725.webp" alt="anwar ibrahim" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3115711" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said while AI could help save time, there has been no significant bottom-line impact. (Bernama pic)</figcaption></figure>
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today lamented that despite billions of ringgit invested in digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI), productivity has remained sluggish and the sector&#8217;s full potential has yet to be reached.
He urged the chief secretary and the heads of government departments to look into the challenges related to AI, especially the AI productive paradox phenomenon.
&#8220;I want the chief secretary to the government and heads of departments to get back to me in the next two weeks or month.
&#8220;I do not want us to repeat the same mistakes made by mega corporations around the world,&#8221; he said at the monthly assembly of the Prime Minister&#8217;s Department here.
He said the productivity paradox, in which increased investments in technology do not necessarily correspond with an increase in measured productivity, had been observed in several reports by multinational consulting firm McKinsey &amp; Co, investment bank JP Morgan, and an experiment in Denmark involving some 5,000 employees.
He said while AI could help save time, there had been no significant bottom-line impact.
&#8220;In fact, departments which were supposed to go paperless end up being &#8216;paper more&#8217;,&#8221; he quipped.
Anwar also warned against the use of AI as a tool to mask weaknesses or prolong corruption.
&#8220;The principle (when it comes to AI) is transparency and effectiveness. There’s no use spending billions but having nothing to show for it,&#8221; he said.

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