By Ameen Hazizi || The Sun
Knowing when to stop, think: Learning to use AI without losing judgement
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) already decides what many Malaysians see online, from recommended videos to altered images that move through social feeds unquestioned.
Harnie works on digital literacy and scam awareness initiatives.
Efficiency has limits
“AI has given us efficiency, it works faster and it has been more highly scalable than what we had before, but it still needs some intelligence by critical thinking,” she said at Fugen: Recode Your Reality at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, where speakers urged young users to slow down and think before trusting what AI produces.
Pertubuhan Generasi Digital Malaysia executive chairman Datin Sri Harnie Mohamed said AI has transformed daily work but warned against complete dependence.
She stressed that AI should not replace human judgement.
“It cannot fully replace human. It still needs some intelligence and experience for humans to make the final decision,” she said.
Harnie said over-reliance on AI risks weakening personal judgement, especially among younger users.
“The biggest risk is loss of intellectual independence, because you are totally dependent on it,” she said.
She also warned that AI has made scams harder to detect.
“You need to see the link at the end. It may look like a government website, but it is not. These are the things people must look out for,” she said.
Dinesh is tech lead at the digital internet association malaysia, which also runs hackathons nationwide to promote practical digital skills.
AI reflects what you ask of it
Digital Internet Association Malaysia tech lead Dinesh Vijayan said AI is shaped by how humans communicate with it.
“The future belongs to those who can explain what they want,” he said.
He said ethical use begins with understanding responsibility.
“If you know that it is going to hurt someone and you are using their art, then you should not do it. We learn as we go along and we grow along with the technology,” he said.
Dinesh said AI should support decision-making, not replace it.
“AI can predict and simulate, but there still needs to be human in the loop to make that final call,” he said.
Shukri highlights why cultural context still matters in ai-assisted content.
Speed does not equal meaning
From a creative perspective, Naga DDB Tribal brand director Shukri Saleh said AI has become part of content creation but cannot replace human insight.
“AI is the ultimate optimiser. It can make things faster, smoother and cheaper, but logic does not move people,” he said.
He said emotional connection still comes from human experience.
“You cannot automate a heartbeat. Data is a map, but it is not the journey.”
Shukri warned that chasing efficiency alone risks producing forgettable content.
“If we optimise everything, we end up with perfect ads that no one remembers,” he said.
Streitberg says people are increasingly interacting with ai without knowing it.
Knowing when AI is present
Hong Leong Bank chief information and technology officer William John Streitberg said AI is already unavoidable in daily life.
“Not using AI today is literally like not using the internet in the 2000s. You will get left behind,” he said.
However, he cautioned that AI is advancing faster than public understanding.
“AI is getting very, very good, and it is becoming harder to tell what is real and what is not.”
Streitberg said users must be cautious even as AI becomes more embedded in everyday systems.
“You need to understand AI and you need to embrace it, but you also need to be careful how you trust it,” he said.
From left: fugen project manager sara irdina mustafa kamal, senior advertising lecturer shifa faizal, harnie, streitberg and dinesh. – pics by ameen hazizi/thesun
Learning to question again
Rather than discouraging AI use, Fugen: Recode Your Reality focused on digital literacy. Interactive activities challenged students to distinguish between real and AI-generated content and to understand how easily prompts influence outcomes.
The two-day programme, organised by UiTM advertising students, focused on how AI shapes perception, behaviour and decision-making in everyday digital life.
As AI continues to blur the line between real and synthetic, speakers agreed on one thing. The most important skill now is not using AI faster, but knowing when to stop and think.
Source: ai-literacy-matters
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