Southeast Asia’s developers have sought to democratize AI by building language models that better represent the region’s languages, worldviews, and values. Yet, language is deeply political in a region as multiculturally diverse and complex as Southeast Asia. Can localized large language models truly preserve and project the region’s nuances?
Written and researched with Binya Kanitroj. Published as a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace paper on 6 January 2025.
Watch the video explainer here: https://carnegieendowment.org/videos/2025/04/western-bias-in-ai-why-local-models-matter-for-southeast-asia?lang=en
By treating undersea cables as critical infrastructure, Southeast Asian stakeholders can better manage geopolitical, environmental, and more conventional risks threatening cable resilience.
Published as a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace paper on 18 December 2024.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his commitment to his policy agenda will challenge U.S. relations with Southeast Asia. This compilation looks to understand how the region views its relationship with the United States and to examine whether the region’s goals and interests can be aligned with those of a new administration.
Featuring essays by Lina A. Alexandra (Indonesia), Thomas Benjamin Daniel (Malaysia), Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby (Philippines), Fuadi Pitsuwan (Thailand), and Nguyen Hung Son (Vietnam). Published on 13 January 2025.
Because strategic, economic, and ideological perceptions of China contain multiple, sometimes contradictory facets in Southeast Asia, receptions of and responses to Beijing diverge across and within state lines.
This collection of essays was edited by Evan A. Feigenbaum. Introduction by Chong Ja Ian and me. Published on 7 November 2024.
International AI governance enshrines assumptions from the more well-resourced Global North. These efforts must adapt to better account for the range of harms AI incurs globally.
This paper, co-written with Aubra Anthony and Lakshmee Sharma, provided an introductory overview to a project aimed at amplifying ideas and perspectives from groups and geographic areas that lack strong representation in current global discussions about AI. The project offers a series of papers from Carnegie scholars and affiliates focused on how those beyond the Global North experience AI, and how approaches to governance could adapt to these realities to improve AI’s trustworthiness for the Global Majority. For more on the project: https://carnegieendowment.org/programs/technology-and-international-affairs/artificial-intelligence-and-the-global-majority?lang=en
This introductory piece was published as a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace paper on 30 April 2024.
This article demonstrates that Southeast Asia has been involved in undersea cable networks since the 19th century and that these cables are increasingly valuable to regional countries—but also increasingly vulnerable. It argues that US-China competition is resulting in a fragmentation of cable networks, and consequently, Southeast Asian countries are increasingly being forced to choose between infrastructure provided by China and infrastructure provided by the US and its partners.
This article also argues that the region has been remiss in not taking a more comprehensive approach to the construction, routing, and protection of undersea cables. It concludes with recommendations for the creation of a new multi-stakeholder council of interagency officials, industry captains, and foreign policy and security practitioners to discuss cross-cutting technological issues, including undersea cables.
Published in Indo-Pacific Outlook | Volume 1, Issue 5 by the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa on 7 February 2024.
It’s time Southeast Asia reckoned with the weaponisation of artificial intelligence and what it means for the region’s security.
South China Morning Post, 29 March 2026:
Instead of joining Trump’s neocolonial ‘Board of Peace’, Southeast Asian leaders should seize the chance to help rebuild a global order that is just and equitable.
South China Morning Post, 28 January 2026:
Malaysia’s chairmanship sought to
fend off short-term challenges while laying the groundwork for minimizing ASEAN’s longer-term exposure to external stresses.
Carnegie China, 29 December 2025:
For Malaysia, the conjunction that works is “and” not “or” when it comes to the United States and China.
Carnegie China, 26 December 2025: https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2025/12/when-it-comes-to-superpower-geopolitics-malaysia-is-staunchly-nonpartisan?lang=en¢er=china
ASEAN needs to determine how to balance perpetuating the benefits of technology cooperation with China while mitigating the risks of getting caught in the crosshairs of U.S.-China gamesmanship.
Carnegie China, 25 December 2025:
Despite grumbles about loss of focus and misgivings about the longevity of new networks, Malaysia, ironically, perhaps didn’t go far enough.
South China Morning Post, 27 November 2025: https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3334072/its-year-under-malaysia-asean-tried-set-systemic-reform-motion
Despite the undeniable, worsening climate crisis, the ASEAN region continues to carry out business as usual under the twin banners of the digital and green revolution.
What would AI governance covering these two trajectories look like if the region were to stay true to its people-centred commitment?
Analysis of 2025 ASEAN and Related Summits and Outlook for 2026: CSIS Special Edition Commentaries, November 2025:
Download PDF: https://s3-csis-web.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/doc/Analysis_of_2025_ASEAN.pdf?download=1
Building local AI models on local knowledge requires nations to be certain about their terms of reference.
South China Morning Post, 2 September 2025: https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3323872/local-ai-models-will-live-and-die-quality-their-data-sets
U.S. tech dominance, led by the private sector and supported by the government, has only accelerated the inevitability of the military-technology complex in the digital age.
South China Morning Post, 2 July 2025.
The rapid adoption of US-made, Anglophone large language models has led developers in Southeast Asia to focus on building AI tools that can speak to the region in its own words. But creating truly local AI models also means capturing the deep cultural and historical nuances that have been encoded in language.
Project Syndicate, 25 June 2025.
This critical infrastructure’s governance and security varies from region to region, and great power dynamics are one of the factors shaping investment, deployment, repair, and resilience. This piece stems from a project with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace colleagues, Jane Munga, Sophia Besch, and Erik Brown
Emissary, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 5 June 2025.
For third states, what is there to differentiate a Chinese AI stack from an US one when both lock in external reliance in the longer term?
South China Morning Post, 1 June 2025.
The costs of technological convenience and presumed efficiency can be terrifyingly high, especially when communal and national identities are at stake.
South China Morning Post, 6 May 2025.
In US-China rivalry, Southeast Asia is no one’s prize. Why do we insist otherwise?
The Interpreter, Lowy Institute, 24 April 2025.
ASEAN could consider a different approach to AI if it allows itself to strategize beyond the strictures of the global supply chain and obsession with growth figures.
Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, 10 April 2025.
The potential of BRICS members and partner countries to fulfill their individual aspirations via BRICS hinges on what vision of the future of world order ultimately wins out within BRICS.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 31 March 2025.