AI Untuk Rakyat 2026 is Malaysia's free national AI course, and this year it comes with a reward. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on 28 July 2026 that Malaysians aged 18 to 30 who complete and pass the modules on the Rakyat Digital platform get three months of free access to leading AI software. The offer opened on 31 August, Merdeka Day, for 100,000 people, according to The Star. The portal confirms that figure is a cap rather than a target, and that the places go to whoever passes first.
Two things changed at the end of August. The tool list is finally published, and the course requirement quietly moved from five to six.
AI Untuk Rakyat 2026: what was actually announced
| Detail | What we know |
|---|---|
| Programme | AI Untuk Rakyat, run through the Rakyat Digital platform |
| Who qualifies for the reward | Malaysian citizens aged 18 to 30 with a valid MyDigital ID |
| What you get | Three months of free subscription to selected AI tools |
| Condition | Complete and pass all six prescribed courses |
| Modules named | CyberSAFE untuk Rakyat, Generative AI, AI Safety, Agentic AI for All, Cloud untuk Rakyat, AI Nation 2030: The MADANI Approach |
| Redemption | Opened 31 August 2026, running in phases |
| Places | First 100,000, first come, first served |
Update, 4 September 2026: the tool list, and a sixth course
The portal added a Redemption Guide tab to its FAQ, and it answers the two questions the programme had been carrying since July.
The guide names four tools and gives the activation steps for each:
- Google Gemini Enterprise, which you sign into at gemini.rakyatdigital.gov.my
- ILMUchat from YTL AI Labs
- Alibaba Cloud WonderClip, listed as 1,500 credits every month for three months
- Alibaba Cloud MuleRun, redeemed with a code
The Ministry of Digital published the same list on 30 August, alongside the National Day address, and said the programme phases in from 31 August 2026 through 2027.
The other change is the course count. It is now six, not five. AI Nation 2030: The MADANI Approach joins CyberSAFE untuk Rakyat, Generative AI, AI Safety, Agentic AI for All and Cloud untuk Rakyat. The Redemption Guide and the literacy hub both use the phrase "all six prescribed learning courses". If you worked off the earlier five, you have one more to sit before you can redeem.
Worth saying plainly: three of the four tools are foreign vendor products, two of them Alibaba Cloud's and one Google's. ILMUchat is the only Malaysian one. A scheme framed as building national AI capability is, in practice, handing out three months of foreign vendor credits. That is an observation rather than a complaint. Free access to good tools is worth real money to a 22-year-old, and people learn AI by using it. Handing out vendor credits is just not the same thing as building capability at home.
The portal also contradicts itself on the page. Question 18 still reads that the list of AI tools "will be announced soon" while the Redemption Guide beside it lists all four. Question 8 still says five courses while the guide says six. A small thing, and a fair sign of how fast this was shipped. If two parts of the same page disagree, take the Redemption Guide, because that is the one the redemption flow follows.
We break down the Malaysian option and how it stacks up against ChatGPT in ILMUchat Pro vs ChatGPT.
How the claim actually works, now that the portal has said
Updated 25 August 2026. For a month the claim step was the blank in every article about this programme, including ours. The Rakyat Digital portal has now filled it in.
Redemption opened on 31 August and runs until the places are gone. The 100,000 is a cap, not a forecast: the portal's own words are that free access is "limited to the first 100,000 eligible participants on a first come, first served basis". Once you have completed and passed all six courses, access details are sent to you after your completion is verified.
There is no deadline for finishing the courses. That sounds generous until you read it next to the cap. Nothing stops you taking until December, and nothing saves you a place if you do.
Three smaller rules worth knowing before you spend a day on quizzes:
- You need a MyDigital ID. An email address or Google account no longer gets you in, and anyone who registered on the earlier version of Rakyat Digital has to re-map their account first.
- You get it once, and you cannot pass it on. The subscription is non-transferable and one benefit per person.
- It does not renew. After three months you either pay the vendor yourself or you stop.
One thing the portal does not answer: whether the 100,000 places are gone. The FAQ says only that waitlist arrangements "will be announced if all available redemptions have been claimed", which is not the same as saying a waitlist exists. Assume nothing either way and finish the courses.
Which government AI course is free with a certificate?
Go to rakyatdigital.gov.my right now and the courses are there: Agentic AI for All, AI Fluency, AI Safety, Cloud untuk Rakyat, CyberSAFE untuk Rakyat, Generative AI and more. The portal was rebuilt in August and the courses now sit inside two hubs, Hab Literasi Digital and Hab Kemahiran Digital, rather than on one flat list. Registration is free, and most modules end in a certificate. The catch is eligibility: the portal FAQ limits the AI Untuk Rakyat programme to Malaysian citizens aged 18 to 30 with a valid MyDigital ID, and says that anyone over 30 can still register for the platform's other learning instead.
The free course list on Rakyat Digital, live already. Source: Rakyat Digital, Ministry of Digital
The training was never the new part. The reward is, and the courses were open long before Merdeka Day.
How many hours is the AI Untuk Rakyat course?
The 2024 version ran about four hours across two modules, built on activities and quizzes rather than lectures. The 2026 list is longer, so set aside a full day.
Why the subscription matters more than the certificate
The 2024 course crossed one million completions in under six months, according to MyDIGITAL.
What did a million people get for finishing? A digital badge per module, and free entry to the National Science Centre that year. Nothing they could open on Monday morning.
A paid subscription is a different class of reward. People learn software by having it, not by hearing that it exists.
Our worry is the three months. That is long enough to build a habit if someone has a real problem to point the tool at, and short enough to change nothing if they do not.
Is AI Untuk Rakyat 2026 worth it if you are 18 to 30?
The honest case is the tools, not the certificate. Consumer AI subscriptions start around RM100 a month and the higher tiers cost several times that, so three months free for a day of quizzes is cheap.
The certificate is the weaker half. More than a million Malaysians already hold the 2024 badge, so it does not make a CV stand out. What does is using the three months on one real thing: a side project, or something automated at your current job. "I built this with AI" survives an interview question. "I completed the module" does not.
How to get something out of the three months
We build software and use AI tools every day at Gotchaa Lab. Here is what separates the people who keep using them from the people who forget them.
- Start this week. The reward is for passing, not registering. Redemption is already running, the 100,000 is a real cap, and the late finishers are the ones who miss it.
- Know what you are getting. Four tools, and they do different jobs. ILMUchat is Malaysia's own AI assistant, and you can see how it compares to ChatGPT before you plan the three months.
- Point it at a problem you already have. Your assignment, or the spreadsheet you hate. A tool with no problem attached gets opened once and forgotten.
- Check yourself in month four. If you would pay for it once the free months end, you found a use. If not, drop it without guilt.
- Keep expectations honest. A certificate and three months of access do not make you an AI engineer. They make you someone who is not scared of the tools.
Managing staff under 30? The same list works, and HRDF claims can fund the next step for whoever sticks with it. More in our guide to whether government AI courses are worth it.
Over 30, or want the courses rather than the tools? The same portal runs Global Learning Pass Malaysia, three months of free Coursera with no upper age limit and a 16-day activation rule that catches people out.
How to register for AI Untuk Rakyat 2026
Registration takes about two minutes and there is no fee.
- Go to rakyatdigital.gov.my.
- Register with MyDigital ID. If you already had an account, re-map it to MyDigital ID first.
- Pick all six prescribed courses: CyberSAFE untuk Rakyat, Generative AI, AI Safety, Agentic AI for All, Cloud untuk Rakyat and AI Nation 2030: The MADANI Approach.
- Complete each course and pass its quiz. Both are required.
- Redeem. Redemption opened on 31 August and is running in phases. The first 100,000 who have passed get the tools, and access details follow once your completion is verified.
At Gotchaa Lab we work out which parts of the AI wave are worth acting on. Talk to us, or see how we approach AI solutions.
This article is for general information only. Programme details and eligibility may change. Verify with the Ministry of Digital before making decisions.
References
- Govt to offer free AI subscriptions for 100,000 youths, says PM, The Star
- Govt to give 100,000 youths free access to AI software, Free Malaysia Today
- Rakyat Digital, Ministry of Digital
- Program AI Untuk Rakyat FAQ and Redemption Guide, Rakyat Digital
- Program AI Untuk Rakyat Bakal Perkasa 100,000 Belia, Ministry of Digital, 30 August 2026
- One Million Malaysians Complete AI Untuk Rakyat, MyDIGITAL
- AI untuk Rakyat official portal
