- HONOR hosted the AI + Design Summit 2025 (APAC Edition) in Kuala Lumpur’s REXKL, uniting regional leaders to explore how AI is reshaping creative industries, education, and future skill needs.
- A major highlight was the launch of the AI + Youth Empowerment Society (AYES), a new regional ecosystem aimed at building AI literacy, creative-tech skills, and mentorship opportunities for young innovators.
- The summit introduced HONOR’s “New Logic of AI Arts & Design” framework, setting the stage for global collaboration in AI-driven creativity and positioning Malaysia as a rising hub for design and innovation.
The HONOR AI + Design Summit 2025, APAC Edition, convened a unique blend of academics, innovators, policymakers, and industry leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region amidst the vibrant creative hub that is REXKL in Kuala Lumpur. As evidenced by the gathering of such a diverse group, there is a growing recognition that in these creative industries, the rising tide of artificial intelligence will increasingly reshape their definition, and new frameworks are required to prepare young people for a future defined by digital creativity, automation, and global collaboration.
The summit was aimed at assessing how AI can be meaningfully integrated into design, media, arts, and education-a way to ensure that creativity remains right at the heart of technological progress. The key highlight of the event was HONOR's launch of a major regional initiative: the AI + Youth Empowerment Society. Conceived as a collaborative ecosystem, AYES brings together universities, technology companies, government agencies, and industry organisations to cultivate AI literacy and creative skills among youth.
In this way, the program is designed to practically provide young people with access to digital tools, training, and mentorship, such that they can participate in emerging creative-tech fields with confidence. Through the encouragement of broad participation from academia and industry across Southeast Asia, China, and Australia, HONOR aims to nurture a generation that will be fully capable of contributing to an increasingly interconnected and AI-enhanced creative economy.
Panel discussions throughout the summit elaborated on this mission, focusing on how rapidly advancing AI tools are transforming creative workflows and professional expectations. Speakers explored how AI-generated content, automation, and intelligent design tools are influencing disciplines such as communication design, digital media, product innovation, and cultural production.
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A recurring concern was how educational institutions can adapt, particularly in redesigning curricula to ensure that students acquire the analytical, ethical, and creative skills needed in a world where technology evolves faster than traditional teaching models. Many participants emphasized that international collaboration will be necessary in order to keep up with global developments, making cross-border research and exchange a key pillar of the AI + design movement.
HONOR also introduced the 'New Logic of AI Arts & Design', a conceptual framework that aims to spur dialogue and experimentation at the intersection of AI and creative expression. Presented as a collaborative platform, it facilitates co-creation in developing new artistic methods, cultural narratives, and design languages driven by AI. This is a reflection of the ambition of HONOR to grow its influence beyond consumer electronics manufacturing into deeper involvement in shaping the future of creativity.
By hosting the summit in Malaysia and launching AYES, HONOR positioned the country as an emerging regional hub for innovation in design, education, and artificial intelligence. It champions a vision of accessible, inclusive, and responsible AI adoption so that young creators are not only ready for future careers but also leading technological and artistic developments. As the region continues to explore the transformative possibilities of AI, outcomes from this summit could very well influence curriculum development and talent pipelines, along with ethical AI integration across the creative sectors.
