SAIC provides opportunities for industrial training, AI talent development in Sarawak

KUCHING, 17 Oct: Sarawak Artificial Intelligence Centre (SAIC) provides industrial training opportunities and innovation programs to university students as well as new graduates to develop artificial intelligence (AI) skills and gain experience solving real world problems.

SAIC Chief Executive Officer, Professor Dr Patrick Then said that the initiative aims to generate local talent capable of developing practical AI applications and leveraging the relevant technology infrastructure in Sarawak.

He said SAIC is working closely with the Sarawak Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) in developing AI ecosystems, especially through human capital development as an important component of the industry.

"As much technology and data as we have, we still need local talent capable of developing useful AI applications and ensuring that the AI infrastructure is exploitable", he said during a media briefing at the NVIDIA RTX AI PC Workshop hosted by PC Image at Swinburne Sarawak University of Technology, here today.

According to him, SAIC also plays a role as co-coordinator and advisor with MEITD as well as higher education institutions, including Swinburne Sarawak University of Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Kolej Universiti i-CATS, Universitas Curtin and Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS).

The partnership includes sharing information on the latest technology and developments in the AI industry to help educational institutions adapt curricula so that students are exposed to current technologies and policies of the industry.

Meanwhile, Algoin Tech Game Director Ayden Lim Phong Hian said that local AI technology allows students and creative activists to create digital content without relying entirely on online AI platforms requiring token purchase or subscription.

He said NVIDIA GeForce RTX technology enables users to leverage the capabilities of graphics processing units (GPUs) to locally generate AI content, including for game development, animation and creative content production.

According to him, the use of platforms such as ComfyUI enables students to generate reference images, character design, game environments and cinematic scenes to support the creative work production process.

Ayden also shared his experience using AI in Tajang game development, as well as producing launch videos for several government events including Sarawak Day, Malaysia Day and Air Borneo launch.

"Don't be afraid that AI will replace us because AI is actually a tool to help speed things up. In the creative industry, we can use AI to generate reference images before finishing up with our own skills and creativity", he said.