Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, today launched ILMU by YTL AI Labs, Malaysia’s first multimodal large language model (LLM), at the ASEAN AI Malaysia Summit 2025. Built entirely in Malaysia to serve Malaysian needs by YTL AI Labs in collaboration with Universiti Malaya, ILMU marks a major leap in the nation’s AI aspirations— combining local intelligence and languages with best-in-class performance.
ILMU — short for Intelek Luhur Malaysia Untukmu — is a multimodal AI model that can process and generate not just text, but also voice and images, and is ready to support real-world applications across sectors. The name reflects the model’s core values: ‘Intelek’, for context-aware intelligence; ‘Luhur’, for ethical foundations rooted in Malaysian values; ‘Malaysia’, for cultural and linguistic fluency; and ‘Untukmu’, because it is built to serve all Malaysians.
“The Ministry of Digital welcomes ILMU, a groundbreaking Malaysian innovation by YTL AI Labs that reflects our national vision for a future driven by technology, inclusivity, and cultural relevance. Built by Malaysians for Malaysians, ILMU showcases our ability to create world-class AI infrastructure while preserving our linguistic and cultural identity. This is more than just technology — it is a step toward empowering our people, our businesses, and our nation in the digital era,” said YB Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Digital.
What sets ILMU apart:
- Culturally Attuned: Fluent in Bahasa Melayu, Manglish and local dialects like Kelate – ILMU understands the way Malaysians speak, interact and ask, helping to bridge the digital divide.
- Secure, National Capability: Developed with national interests, safety and data governance in mind — enabling trusted AI adoption across sectors.
- Built on National Infrastructure: Hosted on the YTL AI Cloud, delivering enterprise-grade performance, scalability and local data residency.
- Global-Standard Performance: ILMU performs on par with leading global models like GPT-4, DeepSeek, and Llama across major benchmarks.
Across global benchmarks, ILMU performs on par with state-of-the-art models like GPT-4o and Llama 3.1. ILMU achieves the highest score among all frontier models in Bahasa Melayu language understanding (MalayMMLU – a test of multi-domain knowledge in Malay), demonstrates stronger performance on real-world prompts than Llama 3.1 (Arena Hard Auto – an interactive evaluation of practical problem-solving), and matches GPT-4o’s results on complex instruction-following tasks (IFEval – a measure of how accurately AI follows nuanced, multi-step instructions).
“ILMU represents YTL’s commitment to innovation, rooted in Malaysia’s diverse cultural and intellectual heritage. As we introduce this advanced AI model, we aim to empower every Malaysian with accessible, reliable and culturally relevant knowledge. ILMU is not just a technological leap, but a national capability that can power smarter systems, drive productivity and create progress that includes everyone – government, businesses and most importantly, the rakyat,” said Dato’ Seri Yeoh Seok Hong, Managing Director of YTL Power International Berhad.
To catalyse adoption and innovation, YTL AI Labs also announced the ILMU AI Accelerator Programme in partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The programme is open to Malaysian startups, SMEs and global solution providers seeking to ultilise ILMU to build AI products and services that are rooted in local needs and ready to be scale globally. Eligible companies will receive:
- Malaysia Digital (MD) Status and its associated benefits
- Facilitation of Talent Passes, Work Permits and Visas
- RM5 million in free ILMU API credits
“From virtual assistants to education and healthcare, ILMU is a flexible engine for digital transformation. It performs on par with global models and is already powering real solutions across industries. When it comes to Bahasa Melayu, we are the best-performing LLM in the world. With API access now available, ILMU is ready for business and we welcome developers, start-ups and enterprises to build with us and shape Malaysia’s AI future together,” said Foong Chee Mun, Chief Executive Officer of YTL AI Labs.
At the time of launch, YTL AI Labs’ lineup of partners included Aco Tech, Ryt Bank, Astro, Media Prima, Yes, Carsome, Swipey, Vision Machina, Vistel, TeeniAI, TrustAI and Mesolitica, demonstrating early industry confidence in ILMU’s capabilities and relevance across diverse sectors. API access to ILMU tokens is now available for all businesses.
ILMUchat (AI Chatbot) for consumers, will be available for early access on Malaysia Day, 16 September 2025. The public is welcome to register their interest at https://www.ilmu.ai/