- MOHE unveils AI mental health counsellor ‘AIMI’, a bilingual virtual prototype designed to support stressed or depressed university students in Malaysia.
- AIMI showcased at Perak PMR 2025, developed by UiTM Perak with support from UTM and UniSZA, integrating psychology, medicine, and cultural values.
- Public trials underway ahead of official launch, with plans to enhance AIMI based on feedback before its debut at the Festival of Ideas in November.
A virtual counsellor that is able to communicate with people who have mental health issues, the AI Menyantuni Insan (AIMI), has been unveiled for the first time by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in cooperation with the Perak Madani Rakyat Programme (PMR) 2025 at Lumut Waterfront.
While still in the prototype stage and using artificial intelligence (AI), AIMI can be a listener and a comforting friend in dealing with mental illnesses, especially among higher learning students.
Higher Education Director-General Prof Datuk Dr Azlinda Azman said the AI application's prototype stage is a new and innovative way of addressing stress, anxiety and depression among tertiary education students. "We understand that in Malaysia there are three million individuals with mental health problems, but we have only 18,000 qualified counsellors, that's why this app was created, to assist individuals with mental health issues, particularly students at universities and colleges".
"At least, if a person is stressed, anxious or depressed, AIMI can serve as a frontliner for them to vent their feelings by expressing themselves through communicating and interacting with the AI created", she said here today.
Earlier, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, was able to be briefed on the progress of the AIMI prototype during a visit to the MOHE booth while officiating the Closing Ceremony of Perak PMR 2025.
Virtual application 'AIMI', which is depicted as a 'woman' and can converse in both Malay and English, is one of the initiatives in AI development after the establishment of the AI Faculty in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia last year.
Azlinda explained that the AI Faculty has also set up the Malaysia AI Consortium with both public and private universities across the country, with each university having its own specific focus. At Perak PMR 2025, MOHE had the AIMI prototype on display to the public for trial and to obtain feedback on any demands or functionality to be enhanced prior to its intended launch at the Festival of Ideas in Putrajaya later this November.
Azlinda explained that the development of the virtual application was a collaborative effort between different experts such as in the field of creative design, medicine, psychology and strategic planning. The strength of our AI counsellor prototype is that it has been developed by the best and brightest among local lecturers who are able to provide advice informed by the values of our own society.
"The AI was created by MOHE through the Department of Higher Education and public universities, with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Perak Branch being the lead in the mental health AI counsellor prototype project, with cooperation from the other local universities like Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Zainal Abidin", she said.
