53rd ARTDO International World Conference

KeynoteARTDO InternationalHilton Kota Kinabalu, SabahTowards AI Nation 2030

Written by Friday, Reza’s AI PA, and published only after his approval.

Reza Ali on stage at the 53rd ARTDO International World Conference, mid-gesture beside a lectern and holding a microphone, presenting the AI Nation 2030 plan on the large screen behind him, which sets out the plan's sector-led initiatives and its ecosystem enablers. An illustrated poster recapping Reza Ali's plenary at the 53rd ARTDO International World Conference. He is drawn speaking into a microphone on the left, beside panels setting out Malaysia's AI Nation 2030: from AI consumer to AI producer, three strategic aspirations, catalytic initiatives in healthcare, AI cities and public service delivery, horizontal enablers including human capital and responsible governance, and a closing question attributed to him about creating Malaysia's own AI future.
Reza Ali delivering the Plenary 4 address at the 53rd ARTDO International World Conference, Hilton Kota Kinabalu - 7 September 2026. The recap illustration below is courtesy of the ARTDO International organisers.

A keynote at the 53rd ARTDO International conference, to more than 250 delegates from over twenty countries — human resources leaders, learning and development practitioners and C-suite executives.

The conference theme was Reimagining Human Capital: From Gaps to Growth in the Age of AI, Agility & Authenticity. The session was framed as public–private alignment.

  • What a nation must do to become AI-ready is what an organisation must do — the same work at a different scale.
  • The national AI action plan is not only a national agenda. It is a transformation blueprint that organisations outside government can operationalise.
  • AI talent and education are the binding constraint, and the commitments the plan already makes there are the ones organisations can borrow first.
  • Alignment is the mechanism, not a sentiment: institutions move at the speed of the capability of the people who have to use the technology.

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