Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) and Malaysian AI company 8nabler are planning additional voice AI trials before deciding whether to proceed with a commercial deployment across government services.
The plans follow a two-month proof of concept involving SAINS’ internal ICT helpdesk, during which the AI system received 4,056 calls. The next phase will assess more complex applications and address technical limitations identified during the initial testing.
In an October 18 interview with The Borneo Post , 8nabler CEO Benjamin Foong said the companies had established objectives and a timeline for the next phase of testing. However, he did not disclose when the trials would conclude or which government systems would be assessed first.
The latest plans follow a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed at the Digital Government Exchange 2026 in Kuching in September. The agreement established a framework for exploring voice AI applications across SAINS-supported government systems and public-facing services.
Under the MoU, the companies established a 12-week working period to examine potential applications, technical feasibility, and requirements for wider deployment. According to 8nabler’s partnership documentation, the agreement does not commit either organisation to a specific system or commercial arrangement.
The initial trial involved calls received both during and outside normal working hours, including weekends and public holidays. Of the 4,056 calls received, 1,225 were identified as genuine civil-servant ICT incidents, Foong told The Borneo Post .
The remaining calls either contained no actual request or fell outside the helpdesk’s first-level support responsibilities. Foong did not provide a breakdown of how many incidents were resolved by AI, escalated to human agents, or abandoned by callers.
According to 8nabler’s partnership documentation, the trial served SAINS staff and connected existing telephone infrastructure, AI processing, and helpdesk operations. The system had not been extended to other government agencies or public-facing services.
Foong said the AI system processed requests made in mixed Bahasa Malaysia and English, classified reported problems, and routed them to specialist queues covering hardware, software, and network services.
The trial also identified difficulties with regional accents and government-specific terminology. Foong said the system had trouble recognising certain Sarawak accents, departmental names, internal applications, and acronyms that were not adequately represented in its original training data.
8nabler’s partnership documentation identifies local vocabulary and scripted interactions as areas requiring further adjustment. The proposed next phase will also examine support for additional languages, including Iban, Mandarin, and Tamil, alongside mixed-language conversations.
The next phase will also assess how government information is processed and stored. According to 8nabler, the evaluation will examine whether AI models, voice processing systems, and conversation records can be hosted within Sarawak, alongside data access, retention, and deletion controls managed by government agencies.
The proposed safeguards include masking personally identifiable information before it reaches AI models, maintaining audit trails of conversations, and restricting data access according to agency roles. These remain areas for evaluation rather than confirmed features of a deployed government system.
Malaysia’s National Digital Department (JDN) has established Public Sector AI Adoption Guidelines covering responsible AI use in government. The guidelines address data privacy, security, transparency, accountability, and system reliability.
The trials also address how the AI should respond when a request falls outside its capabilities. Foong said 8nabler’s Panacea platform uses confidence thresholds, predefined rules, and approved information sources to determine when to respond and when to transfer a request to a human agent.
According to Foong, escalation can occur when the AI cannot provide a sufficiently confident answer, repeated responses fail to resolve an issue, or a request involves sensitive information or falls outside its authorised scope.
Foong identified information requests, status enquiries, and appointment bookings as potential applications for initial public-facing services. Decisions involving welfare eligibility or individual rights would continue to require human judgement.
SAINS and 8nabler are also examining whether voice AI can support government services beyond internal ICT assistance.
The September agreement includes plans to evaluate integration with existing government applications and assisted-service channels. One proposed use case would allow residents to obtain information or request assistance through ordinary telephone calls without relying on mobile applications or online forms.
AI processing would take place through backend systems, allowing residents to use the service without a smartphone or personal broadband connection. However, access would still depend on the availability of telephone network coverage.
Future evaluations will examine whether the technology can connect with applications operated by different government agencies and handle higher call volumes during periods of increased demand. The initial proof of concept did not involve a public-facing deployment or rollout across other agencies.
The partnership will also explore whether conversation records can be converted into structured data to help agencies monitor demand for services and identify gaps in service delivery.
SAINS and 8nabler have not announced a commercial agreement, a public rollout date, or the government services that will be included in the next phase of testing.
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