KUCHING: A total of 108 participants from the Petra Jaya constituency took part in the ‘Microsoft AI for My Future’ course held at CENTEXS Kuching today, an initiative aimed at empowering community leaders, teachers, and entrepreneurs with digital and artificial intelligence (AI) knowledge.
The course was held at the request of the Petra Jaya Parliamentary Service Centre (P.194), with CENTEXS as the venue partner and Microsoft as the main sponsor under the ‘Microsoft AI for My Future’ programme.
Participants included 51 village chiefs (ketua kampung), 33 teachers, and 24 entrepreneurs, all from the Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency.
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who is also the Member of Parliament for Petra Jaya and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, attended the course to show his support and engage with attendees.
“This programme came about following a courtesy visit by Microsoft to Parliament.
“They shared the latest developments in technology and proposed ways to contribute to society, especially through training
“We want to raise awareness on the importance of leaders understanding the existence of such technologies, how to master them, and how to use them to ease their work.
“That is why I agreed to collaborate with Microsoft on this pilot project, to share this knowledge and expand the use of Microsoft’s innovations among community leaders, educators, entrepreneurs and NGOs,” he told reporters.
Fadillah highlighted how the programme introduces tools such as ChatGPT and AI systems that can assist with documentation, data analysis, and more efficient communication.
“More importantly, I hope that those trained, including the teachers and entrepreneurs, will eventually become trainers in their own communities.
“Some of our community leaders, like myself, are older and need more time to master technology, so they have requested additional training.
“We are aware of this and are starting in urban areas first. If successful, we will expand it to rural areas,” he added.
He stressed that with the right training and tools, leaders can better serve their communities by using data to plan and allocate resources more effectively.
“We’ll be able to identify households in need, understand what kind of support they require, and improve learning access for students.
“With a clear database, we can plan more accurately, efficiently, and ensure limited resources reach the right target groups,” he said.
Microsoft is expected to present the outcome of this pilot programme for further review, improvement, and potential rollout to other areas in Sarawak.
“This aligns with the Premier of Sarawak’s aspiration for our state to become a leader in the digital economy.
“But for that to happen, our people must be digitally literate and well-trained,” Fadillah said.
