YTL Communications turns to football to bring AI closer to Malaysians

YTL Communications hopes its partnership with FAM will encourage football fans and aspiring players to embrace AI through YES’ ILMUchat, Malaysia’s own AI assistant.

KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Communications is using a two-year partnership involving YES, Ryt Bank and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to bring artificial intelligence (AI) closer to Malaysians.

The partnership comes as FAM seeks to move forward under new leadership following last year’s doctored-documents scandal, which damaged Malaysian football’s reputation and remains unresolved.

Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan was elected FAM president on Sept 17. However, most members of the new executive committee were part of the national body when the scandal emerged.

YTL Communications chief executive officer Wing K. Lee said he had faith in FAM’s new leadership. He hoped the partnership would encourage supporters and aspiring players to engage with football and embrace AI through YES’ ILMUchat, which the company describes as Malaysia’s first sovereign, consumer-facing generative AI assistant.

Under the banner ‘Demi Bola Sepak Malaysia’ (For the sake of Malaysian football), FAM, YES and Ryt Bank will promote football’s role in uniting Malaysians across communities and generations.

Ab Ghani said FAM and YTL would roll out programmes leveraging YES’ 5G Advanced connectivity and Ryt Bank’s services.

“At YTL Group, we pride ourselves on doing the right thing. With the new leadership in place, the timing is right for us to move forward as a nation, leverage our 5G connectivity to move forward together, and embrace the future as an AI nation,” said Wing.

“We want to be remembered as the people who stood by others. We are always here to do the right thing.

“Through YES, we bring 5G Advanced connectivity and AI closer to fans, helping them stay connected to the action wherever they are. If they are on the YES network, fans and players can access ILMUchat, Malaysia’s own AI assistant.”

Wing said he hoped football fans and Malaysians generally would use ILMUchat to learn, explore and discover possibilities on and off the pitch.

“We want to contribute more than just sponsorship by supporting communities and the next generation of Malaysian footballers,” he said.

“AI is a global race, and Malaysia must have its own sovereign AI. At YTL Group, we are the only company in Malaysia with the entire AI stack.

“We have our AI data centre. We have our AI chipset. We have our large language model, ILMUchat, which is built for sovereign use and tailored to Malaysian culture and context. Our job at YES is to ensure it can be used by all Malaysians to improve their lives, promote positive outcomes and help make Malaysia a competitive AI nation.”

Wing said Ryt Bank was pleased to extend its support for Malaysian football. The bank is already a partner of the Malaysia Football League (MFL), which is also headed by Ab Ghani.

Ryt Bank interim chief executive officer Wilson Soon said: “Whether it’s a game of futsal or gathering at a local mamak to watch football, the sport creates moments that bring people together. With Ryt AI, we make settling and sharing payments effortless, allowing football fans to focus on the experience rather than the transaction.”

Separately, Ab Ghani confirmed that 22 FAM staff members had recently left the national body.

“I can confirm their contracts were not renewed, and they were not sacked,” he said. “It was part of a restructuring of FAM.”

An Asian Football Confederation audit of FAM on March 16 identified a “culture of conformity” as the organisation’s biggest problem and called for structural and governance reforms to bring it in line with modern standards in Asian football.