Onn, Norhusna Emirah and Md Tahir, Farah Sherwani and Mat Seman, Nurul Nabila Anis (2026) Artificial intelligence-enabled drones: navigating safety, accountability, and privacy governance in Malaysia. In: ICLAS IX The 9th International Conference on Law and Society Navigating Justice in the AI-Driven Society Through Harmonisation of Laws 22–24 September 2026, 22–24 September 2026, INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA.
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Abstract
The recent advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Enabled Drones has transformed the conventional operation of remotely piloted drones into an autonomous system capable of making independent decisions. Such technological advancements offer a significant impact on the commercial arena and simultaneously raise complex legal issues vis-à-vis safety, accountability, and privacy. The AI-enabled drones expose cyber vulnerabilities, such as spoofing, hacking, or manipulation, which multiply the potential damage and security risks. This paper aims to examine the regulations of AI-enabled drones, focusing on the main legislation, the Civil Aviation Act 1969, the Civil Aviation Regulations 2016, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM)’s directives, and other ancillary laws such as the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, tortious liability, constitutional issues, and contractual liability. It contended that the current regulatory framework is fragmented, resulting in legal ambiguity regarding the assignment of responsibility and accountability for the loss and injury caused by autonomous drone operations. This paper adopts a doctrinal and comparative methodology, utilising content analysis to examine the legal development of AI-enabled drones on the European continent, with reference to the rules and regulations by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This study proposes harmonising AI-enabled drones to incorporate aviation safety standards, an AI accountability mechanism, and privacy safeguards, all while protecting the AI-driven society from legal uncertainty. It is anticipated that such harmonisation is crucial for the structured growth of the drone sector in balancing innovation and efficiency of airspace management into a proposed framework of Integrated SAP (Safety, Accountability & Privacy) Governance.
| Item Type: | Proceeding Paper (Other) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Accountability, AI-Enabled Drone, Governance, Privacy, Safety. |
| Subjects: | K Law > K623 Civil Law T Technology > T Technology (General) |
| Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button): | Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws > Department of Civil Law |
| Depositing User: | DR NORHUSNA EMIRAH ONN |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2026 12:17 |
| Last Update: | 06 Oct 2026 12:17 |
| Queue Number: | 2026-09-Q5445 |
| URI: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/131619 |
| Indexed In: | UNSPECIFIED |
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