KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 18 -- It's time to stop treating online predators as a distant threat, says Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Speaking at the launch of the Asean ICT Forum on Child Online Protection today, Ahmad Zahid warned that regional governments are dangerously behind on tackling rapidly evolving digital exploitation methods.

"Artificial intelligence now enables predators to clone voices, create deepfake images, manipulate children's identities - all from behind a screen, without ever being in the same room," he said in his keynote address, calling on Asean to "confront this challenge with courage, clarity, and unity".

The two-day forum, held at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, brings together ministerial ...