KUCHING: The Communications Ministry will launch a new Artificial Intelligence-powered (AI-powered) chatbot on WhatsApp to combat the spread of false information.
Its minister Fahmi Fadzil said the innovative tool aims to verify the authenticity of information shared on the widely used platform nationwide.
He said the WhatsApp chatbot's development, which will be launched soon, would help verify topics or contents being circulated online.
"Currently, it works with text, but I have requested that it should also handle videos and images.
"By using AI, we will be able to verify whether the video is old, if action has been taken, or what its actual content is," he said.
He said this after launching the "Jelajah Hawana Bersama Siswa 2024" programme held on National Journalists' Day 2024 (Hawana 2024) at the Sarawak State Library auditorium today.
Present was Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier's Office (Corporate Affairs, Information and Sarawak Public Communications Unit) Datuk Abdullah Saidol.
Furthermore, Fahmi said the public who received videos on WhatsApp forwarded from Facebook or TikTok could also use the chatbot to verify the content they received.
"This might be a future feature, but the chatbot's text verification capability is almost ready to be launched soon.
"We see that Malaysians are very comfortable with using WhatsApp, and a lot of false information is also being spread through that platform," he added.