CSR · Responsible AI
Dato Seri Ivan Teh puts responsible AI and digital inclusion at the centre of CSR
Most AI ethics statements describe a governance process. This one starts with a harder question: who can actually reach these tools, and what happens to everyone who cannot.
Most corporate AI ethics statements describe a governance process. Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh’s version starts somewhere less comfortable, with a question about distribution: who can actually reach these tools, and what happens to everyone who cannot.
That framing turns responsible AI from a compliance topic into a social one, and it is the reason digital inclusion sits alongside philanthropy in how his community work is organised.
Access as the first ethical question
His starting observation is that the balance of power around AI has shifted quickly. Capability that was available only to large, well-resourced organisations a few years ago is now reachable by small businesses, students, startups and independent creators.
He treats that shift as the significant one, on the basis that innovation stops being limited by geography or scale when the tools are commonly available. A young entrepreneur with a good idea can now build something globally competitive without a corporate research budget behind them.
The corollary is uncomfortable and rarely stated. If access is what creates the opportunity, then unequal access creates a widening gap rather than a temporary lag, and it compounds.
Literacy, not just availability
Availability alone does not produce inclusion. A tool nobody knows how to use is not accessible in any meaningful sense, which is why his position ties AI access to continuous learning.
He has argued that education systems, governments and businesses need to work far more closely together, and that continuous learning has stopped being optional. Read alongside the campus and curriculum initiatives, that is not an abstract call. It describes the specific mechanism.
The test he applies
Are we creating opportunities? Are we improving lives? Are we helping people feel more empowered or more disconnected?
Those three questions are the operative content of his responsible innovation position. They are deliberately outcome-facing rather than process-facing, which makes them harder to satisfy on paper and easier to check in practice.
His broader argument follows from them: that the strongest technology ecosystems of the future will not simply be the most advanced, but the ones people trust, and that trust is built when people feel technology is working with them rather than against them.
Why frame it as CSR
Filing responsible AI under corporate social responsibility is a choice, and a defensible one. Ethics review inside a company is bounded by that company’s products. Digital inclusion is not. It concerns people who are not customers, will not become customers, and are affected anyway.
The same logic connects it to the argument for making analytics reachable for smaller companies. Both treat access to capable technology as something closer to infrastructure than to a premium product tier.
The full position, including his views on AI and employment, is set out in the 2026 interview.
Frequently asked questions
What does Ivan Teh mean by responsible AI?
Building with ethics, transparency and human consequences in view rather than optimising for speed. He applies three outcome-facing tests: whether the technology creates opportunities, improves lives, and leaves people feeling more empowered rather than more disconnected.
Why does he link responsible AI to digital inclusion?
Because if access is what creates the opportunity, unequal access creates a compounding gap rather than a temporary lag. That makes distribution an ethical question, not only a commercial one.
Is access alone enough?
No. His position ties availability to literacy, arguing that continuous learning has stopped being optional and that education systems, governments and businesses need to work far more closely together.
Why classify this as corporate social responsibility?
Because its scope extends beyond the company’s own products and customers. Digital inclusion affects people who are not customers and will not become customers, which places it closer to infrastructure than to product ethics.