Supranational · Asia

AI regulation in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 2 instruments · 0 binding

Overview

ASEAN has chosen voluntary, regionally harmonised guidance rather than binding regulation: the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics (February 2024) sets principles and a governance framework for member states and organisations, and the Expanded ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics – Generative AI (January 2025) addresses generative-AI risks. Member states retain their own instruments; Singapore's Model AI Governance Framework strongly influenced the guide.

What is the current regulatory status?

Voluntary regional guides (2024, 2025); no binding ASEAN AI regulation.

Binding rules versus guidance

Binding: none recorded. Strategy or guidance: ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics (2024); Expanded ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics – Generative AI (2025).

Key policy instruments

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Guidance Guidance

ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics (2024)

ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics

Endorsed at the 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers' Meeting in February 2024, the guide sets seven guiding principles (transparency and explainability, fairness and equity, security and safety, human-centricity, privacy and data governance, accountability and integrity, robustness and reliability) and a four-part governance framework (internal governance structures, human involvement in decision-making, operations management, stakeholder interaction), with national and regional recommendations including an ASEAN working group on AI governance.

Adopted 2 Feb 2024 Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 Official source

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Guidance Guidance

Expanded ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics – Generative AI (2025)

Expanded ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics – Generative AI

Endorsed in January 2025, the expanded guide addresses risks specific to generative AI (hallucination, deepfakes and misinformation, intellectual property, privacy, security, bias, embedded values) and proposes governance dimensions covering accountability, data, development and deployment, incident reporting, testing and assurance, security, content provenance, safety research and public-interest use, with policy recommendations for member states.

Adopted 17 Jan 2025 Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 Official source

Upcoming deadlines

No scheduled future dates recorded. Past milestones are listed on each policy page.

Latest changes

No change events recorded yet.

Applicable sectors, use cases and obligation areas

Use cases: Customer service and chatbots Generative AI and foundation models
Sectors: Cross-sector / all sectors
Obligation areas

How to use this information

Use the ASEAN guides as the regional baseline, then check each member state's own instruments.
The guides are voluntary; obligations arise from national data-protection, consumer and sector law.

Official government and regulator sources

ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics
ASEAN Secretariat · 2024-02-02 · Tier 1 source

Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.