Our Company
Built to help people learn AI with clarity and care
Akal Suria was founded on a simple belief: that AI education works best when it is honest, well-structured, and genuinely supportive of the learner.
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Where Akal Suria began
Akal Suria — meaning "solar intelligence" in Malay — was founded in Kuala Lumpur in 2021 by a small group of practitioners who had each spent years working in AI and software development. What they kept noticing, across their own careers and in the broader learning landscape, was a gap: most AI courses either moved far too quickly for newcomers, or stayed so theoretical that learners struggled to produce anything working by the end.
The founders set out to build something different — a school with a clear path, strong mentorship, and content that grew with the learner rather than overwhelming them. The first course launched in early 2022 with a small cohort of twelve students. By the end of that year, more than two hundred people had enrolled across the three stages.
Today, Akal Suria continues to operate from Kuala Lumpur, serving learners across Malaysia and beyond. The focus remains unchanged: a steady, mapped progression from first concepts to working applications, with real people available to help at every step.
Mission & Values
What guides how we work
Clarity over cleverness
We write and teach for understanding, not to impress. If something can be explained simply, we explain it simply.
Honesty about effort
We describe what each course asks of learners before they commit. Building real skills takes real effort — we never pretend otherwise.
People, not just content
Every course includes access to mentors who know the material. You are not left with a video library and no one to ask.
Progress that builds on itself
Each stage assumes the previous one. Skills compound. Nothing is repeated unnecessarily, and nothing is skipped over.
The People
Who you will be learning with
Our instructors and mentors come from working AI and software roles. They bring practical experience, not only academic knowledge.
Ahmad Syafiq Razali
Founder & Lead Instructor
Ahmad spent eight years in applied ML roles before starting Akal Suria. He teaches the foundational and machine learning courses, and keeps the curriculum grounded in what actually matters at work.
Nurul Kasim
Senior Mentor, AI Applications
Nurul leads the third-stage course and capstone reviews. Her background is in deploying AI systems in production environments, and she is particularly good at spotting where learners are close but not quite there.
Fariz Hamdan
Curriculum Developer & Mentor
Fariz designs the exercises and project structures across all three stages. He came to education from software development and still works on client projects, which keeps his perspective current.
How We Work
Our standards for the learning experience
These are not aspirations — they are practices we follow every time a new cohort begins.
Reviewed course content
All lessons are reviewed for accuracy before each cohort. Where tools or libraries change, we update the material.
Timely mentor responses
We aim to respond to questions within one working day. If something is unclear or blocking you, you will not be waiting long.
Learner data handled with care
We collect only what is needed to deliver the course. Personal data is not shared with third parties for advertising or other unrelated purposes.
Structured exercise feedback
Assignment feedback is specific and points to what to try next, not just what did not work. Vague feedback is not useful to learners.
Session recordings always available
All live sessions are recorded. If you miss one or want to revisit something, the recording is accessible for the full duration of your course.
Content updated between cohorts
AI tooling moves quickly. We review and refresh course material between cohorts so what you learn reflects current practice, not last year's state of things.
About Our Work
Teaching AI development in Malaysia
Malaysia's technology sector has grown steadily, and the demand for people who understand how to build with AI has followed that growth. Akal Suria sits at the point where that demand meets learners who are motivated and willing to put in the effort, but who need a well-marked path to follow.
Our three-stage curriculum covers the full journey from writing basic Python through to deploying a complete AI application. Each stage is self-contained enough to be taken independently, but together they form a coherent progression that reflects how the field actually develops — not a collection of unrelated modules, but a single path with distinct milestones.
We teach in English, which reflects both the professional context in which most learners will apply these skills and the language in which the majority of technical documentation, libraries, and frameworks are written. Malaysia's multilingual environment is something we respect, and our community space welcomes Bahasa Malaysia as well.
We are based in Kuala Lumpur, and while our courses are fully online, being grounded in the local context matters to us. The examples, case studies, and discussions in our courses reflect the realities of working in technology in Malaysia — not just the Silicon Valley narrative.
Take the next step
Find the course that matches where you are now
We are happy to help you decide which stage to start from. Get in touch and tell us a bit about your background.
Get in Touch