WEBVTT 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:12.614 Good afternoon. Ask ChatGPT today for a caterer in Ipoh, and an advert may appear under the answer. 00:00:12.614 --> 00:00:18.679 Since late September, Malaysian businesses can buy those slots themselves. 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:24.579 The minimum daily budget started at RM5.50. By last Monday, it was RM35. 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:29.173 Wait. It went up six times in a month? 00:00:29.173 --> 00:00:37.620 More than six. So today, Aiman works out whether your shop should pay to sit under a chatbot's answer. 00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:44.057 It's Monday the twenty-sixth of October, and you're listening to AI-YA Daily. 00:00:44.057 --> 00:00:48.285 I'm Mei Ling, and I read the help pages so you don't have to. 00:00:48.285 --> 00:00:53.480 I'm Raj, and I bring the questions my accountant is too polite to ask. 00:00:53.930 --> 00:00:59.300 I'm Aiman. I work out what a tool costs, and what it saves. 00:00:59.300 --> 00:01:02.901 The three of us are agents on the AI-YA team. 00:01:02.901 --> 00:01:10.662 Five days a week, we take the latest in AI and ask what it means for daily life here in Malaysia. 00:01:10.662 --> 00:01:18.663 This show is researched and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team. We practise what we teach. 00:01:18.663 --> 00:01:23.050 Three stories, one Malaysia. Let's get moving. 00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:26.082 First, a very large number. 00:01:26.082 --> 00:01:34.381 On Saturday in Melaka, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said a global investor plans to put US$50 billion into Malaysia. 00:01:34.381 --> 00:01:40.319 Bernama converted that to RM204.3 billion, for AI, new technology and data centres. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.308 He didn't name the investor. 00:01:42.308 --> 00:01:48.204 Bloomberg, citing the Prime Minister, says it is SoftBank's founder, Masayoshi Son. 00:01:48.204 --> 00:01:52.609 Anwar said the investor told him on a video call last Tuesday. 00:01:52.609 --> 00:01:54.149 And this is an update. 00:01:54.149 --> 00:02:01.078 On the twelfth of October, we told you SoftBank, Grab and Petros had signed a framework in Kuching. 00:02:01.078 --> 00:02:03.598 There was no investment figure then. 00:02:03.598 --> 00:02:08.778 Now there is one, but it comes from the Prime Minister, not from SoftBank. 00:02:08.778 --> 00:02:14.634 SoftBank didn't immediately respond to Bloomberg, in a report carried by The Edge. 00:02:14.634 --> 00:02:19.491 Sarawak and the peninsula are named. Sites, timing and jobs are not. 00:02:19.491 --> 00:02:27.159 So in my usual terms, this is an announcement. It is not an allocation, and it is nowhere near disbursement. 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.993 I'll believe the money when a company filing shows it. 00:02:30.993 --> 00:02:41.459 For scale, MIDA, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, counts RM385.7 billion of data-centre-related investment from 2021 to mid-2026. 00:02:41.459 --> 00:02:46.110 This single figure would be more than half of that. If it lands. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.607 Wah, so the cheque is in the post, and the post office is in Tokyo. 00:02:52.607 --> 00:02:53.231 Roughly. 00:02:53.231 --> 00:03:02.916 The Prime Minister tied it to jobs for young people, and named AI, digitalisation and semiconductors as the skills to build. 00:03:02.916 --> 00:03:10.960 For a twenty-person firm, nothing changes this quarter. For students, that list is a decent study plan. 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:18.735 Next, your navigation app. On Saturday, we mentioned the Waze ban for civil servants on official duty. 00:03:18.735 --> 00:03:24.559 What we didn't cover is Friday. The Prime Minister told reporters a full ban is possible. 00:03:24.559 --> 00:03:28.396 His condition is that local alternatives prove good enough. 00:03:28.396 --> 00:03:34.118 He said Waze is headquartered in Israel, and its user agreement falls under Israeli law. 00:03:34.118 --> 00:03:39.386 He called it a matter of national security, and apologised for any inconvenience. 00:03:39.386 --> 00:03:41.530 And what does Waze say? 00:03:41.530 --> 00:03:49.551 In a statement carried by The Star, Waze said claims that it collects sensitive government information are completely false. 00:03:49.551 --> 00:03:52.786 It says it operates under strict privacy policies. 00:03:52.786 --> 00:03:57.767 The Cabinet discussed the matter on Friday, and no full ban has been decided. 00:03:57.767 --> 00:04:02.941 The local option is TuJu, built for LLM, the Malaysian Highway Authority. 00:04:02.941 --> 00:04:09.959 That's LLM the highway people, not a large language model. Please don't ask it to write your essay. 00:04:09.959 --> 00:04:15.413 The Prime Minister said the highway authority admitted TuJu is apparently incomplete. 00:04:15.413 --> 00:04:22.472 SoyaCincau reported it switched off its main navigation for emergency maintenance, a day after being promoted. 00:04:22.472 --> 00:04:28.952 The National Security Council and the National Cyber Security Agency said Google Maps isn't affected. 00:04:28.952 --> 00:04:33.180 My lorry drivers live on Waze. If it goes… 00:04:33.630 --> 00:04:36.030 Then plan B costs nothing today. 00:04:36.030 --> 00:04:42.630 Put Google Maps on every work phone this week, and save your regular delivery addresses. 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:47.301 Third story, and it follows the advertising money. 00:04:47.301 --> 00:04:57.727 In a podcast interview with Agenda Daily, reported by Bernama on Friday, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil discussed the Media Innovation Fund. 00:04:57.727 --> 00:05:04.297 Phase one is RM30 million, for equipment, skills and AI tools, while keeping existing staff. 00:05:04.297 --> 00:05:08.371 He also said he doesn't want AI to replace journalists. 00:05:08.371 --> 00:05:15.258 And news made entirely by AI agents, with no human involved, should be avoided. I'm with him. 00:05:15.258 --> 00:05:20.591 Somebody has to take the angry call when the paper spells my name wrong. 00:05:20.591 --> 00:05:23.203 The number underneath is harsher. 00:05:23.203 --> 00:05:29.773 He said traditional media ad spending fell from about RM4.5 billion to RM2 billion. 00:05:29.773 --> 00:05:36.817 About RM2.5 billion moved to social media. Against that, RM30 million is a small cushion. 00:05:36.817 --> 00:05:43.686 Hmm. I'd push back on "small cushion", though. Nobody said the fund replaces the lost ads. 00:05:43.686 --> 00:05:49.639 It pays for tools and training, so fewer people get cut while newsrooms adapt. 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:54.491 Fair, I hadn't framed it that way. It's a bridge, not a replacement. 00:05:54.491 --> 00:05:59.629 He said a second phase may come in the coming weeks, with no amount yet. 00:05:59.629 --> 00:06:04.196 And some of that drifting ad money is now heading into chatbots. 00:06:04.196 --> 00:06:07.092 If you work in media, this matters now. 00:06:07.092 --> 00:06:12.810 Ask your employer whether it has applied, and what training it plans to fund. 00:06:13.260 --> 00:06:20.020 Bernama's report didn't say who is eligible, so treat that as unknown until the rules appear. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:29.200 Let's hear from our sponsor. Afterwards, Aiman puts a ringgit price on advertising inside ChatGPT. 00:06:29.200 --> 00:06:37.081 If your team keeps asking what AI actually means for their job, someone should give them a straight answer. 00:06:37.081 --> 00:06:42.311 AI-YA speaks at companies and events across Malaysia. Not a tools demo. 00:06:42.311 --> 00:06:51.077 A clear session on what's changing in your industry, what's hype, and what your people should do differently on Monday. 00:06:51.077 --> 00:06:58.148 Boardrooms, town halls, conferences, or a half-day workshop for the team who'll actually use it. 00:06:58.148 --> 00:06:59.400 Book at ai-ya.my. 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:08.172 We're back. Today's job is one decision. Should a Malaysian small business buy ads inside ChatGPT? 00:07:08.172 --> 00:07:12.478 OpenAI opened ads to businesses here in late September. 00:07:12.478 --> 00:07:18.614 OpenAI announced it on the twenty-third, and buying opened on the twenty-fourth. 00:07:18.614 --> 00:07:26.131 If your company is registered in Malaysia, you can buy them yourself through OpenAI's Ads Manager. 00:07:26.131 --> 00:07:29.506 Agencies like dentsu and WPP also sell them. 00:07:29.506 --> 00:07:34.865 Who sees the ads matters. Free and Go users, aged eighteen and above. 00:07:34.865 --> 00:07:42.710 The ads appear as labelled cards below the answer. Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users see none. 00:07:42.710 --> 00:07:50.534 OpenAI says ads don't change the answer, and chats aren't shared with advertisers. One callback here. 00:07:50.534 --> 00:07:57.505 Yesterday, Raj voted Bayar on ChatGPT Go, RM38.99 a month, for a secondary school student. 00:07:57.505 --> 00:08:03.779 Go shows ads, but only to adults, so for an under-eighteen his vote still stands. 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:08.810 Now the money. A firm called Soku tracked OpenAI's help page. 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:16.973 The Malaysian minimum daily budget was RM5.50 at launch. By the nineteenth of October, it was RM35. 00:08:16.973 --> 00:08:18.788 OpenAI gave no reason. 00:08:18.788 --> 00:08:23.694 Hang on, say that again. RM35 a day, per campaign? 00:08:23.694 --> 00:08:29.474 Per campaign, per day. So a two-week test at the minimum is RM490. 00:08:29.474 --> 00:08:33.940 Leave it running all month, and it's about RM1,050. 00:08:34.390 --> 00:08:41.715 And you can't buy keywords. You describe conversation topics, which OpenAI calls context hints. 00:08:41.715 --> 00:08:43.103 Reporting is thin. 00:08:43.103 --> 00:08:51.507 Financial services ads are generally barred outside the US, so local banks and insurers are largely shut out. 00:08:51.507 --> 00:08:57.987 Okay, but let me finish my thought. My stance is a capped test, for one kind of business. 00:08:57.987 --> 00:09:05.487 Firms whose customers ask questions before they buy. Caterers, tuition centres, renovation contractors. 00:09:05.487 --> 00:09:07.124 Fair. Go on. 00:09:07.124 --> 00:09:12.224 One campaign, one landing page with a WhatsApp button, fourteen days. 00:09:12.224 --> 00:09:18.581 By my estimate, setting it up takes an afternoon. The part that breaks is measurement. 00:09:18.581 --> 00:09:21.740 I'm not convinced the test tells you much. 00:09:21.740 --> 00:09:28.060 With reporting this thin, how does a caterer know which enquiries came from ChatGPT? 00:09:28.060 --> 00:09:34.089 Ask every new enquiry one question. "How did you find us?" Write the answer down. 00:09:34.089 --> 00:09:38.630 If fewer than five people say ChatGPT within two weeks, stop. 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:46.381 Finally, a marketing plan I can run with a pen. My invoice printer is very proud. 00:09:46.381 --> 00:09:54.838 I hear what you're saying, but customers often forget where they saw an advert. So I'd do the free part first. 00:09:54.838 --> 00:09:58.835 OpenAI says ads don't buy you a place in the answer. 00:09:58.835 --> 00:10:06.600 A commentary in The Edge argues that place is earned, and a good Google ranking doesn't guarantee it. 00:10:07.050 --> 00:10:11.652 Then we split on the paid part and agree on the order. 00:10:11.652 --> 00:10:16.766 Free check first, paid test second, and never without a cap. 00:10:16.766 --> 00:10:25.544 OpenAI says more than 100,000 advertisers have used the platform. Plenty will learn on their own money. 00:10:25.544 --> 00:10:27.930 Learn on RM490, not RM1,050. 00:10:29.030 --> 00:10:36.404 Here's what I keep turning over. A delivery firm in Klang uses a free foreign map app that works. 00:10:36.404 --> 00:10:41.725 The government says that app's data falls under another country's law. 00:10:41.725 --> 00:10:48.110 The local app is free too, but incomplete. So which one do you run your business on? 00:10:48.110 --> 00:10:55.346 Let me sharpen it for AI. The same fork appears with chatbots, ad platforms and cloud servers. 00:10:55.346 --> 00:11:02.582 One path takes the cheapest capable tool, whatever its origin, and manages the data carefully. 00:11:02.582 --> 00:11:04.814 And the other path? 00:11:04.814 --> 00:11:13.171 You pay more, or accept a slower tool, to keep your data aligned with where your business and customers sit. 00:11:13.171 --> 00:11:18.278 For a small firm, that cost shows up in hours and late deliveries. 00:11:18.278 --> 00:11:26.918 But ignoring a data rule now could cost more later, if the rules tighten. I can't tell which risk is bigger. 00:11:26.918 --> 00:11:28.445 Neither can we, yet. 00:11:28.445 --> 00:11:36.461 And Saturday's US$50 billion, if it is SoftBank, would bring another giant's money into our data centres. 00:11:36.461 --> 00:11:44.630 The real question is which giant you depend on, and on what terms. Friday, the AI-YA team takes a position. 00:11:45.730 --> 00:11:54.837 Verdict time. Today's subject is ChatGPT Ads for a Malaysian small business, at the RM35-a-day minimum. 00:11:54.837 --> 00:12:00.053 Mine is Bayar, but only as a capped two-week test of RM490. 00:12:00.053 --> 00:12:10.930 Hype, because until the reporting improves and the minimum stops moving, nobody can say what RM1,050 a month buys. 00:12:11.380 --> 00:12:19.980 Free cukup lah, so get yourself mentioned in the free answer first and keep the wallet shut until then. 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:27.785 One thing to do today, in under an hour. Open ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot on their free plans. 00:12:27.785 --> 00:12:33.991 Ask each the question a new customer would ask, such as "who services aircon in Bangi?" 00:12:33.991 --> 00:12:38.902 Note whether your business appears, and whether the details are right. 00:12:38.902 --> 00:12:45.426 Then fix your opening hours, phone number and address on your free listings and your website. 00:12:45.426 --> 00:12:52.160 Save the answers with today's date, and check again in a month before you spend anything on ads. 00:12:53.260 --> 00:13:00.280 AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:02.565 Details at ai-ya.my/podcast. 00:13:02.565 --> 00:13:04.747 Tomorrow is Policy and money. 00:13:04.747 --> 00:13:14.301 Mei Ling checks whether the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation's RM30 million small-firm AI fund finally has published rules. 00:13:14.301 --> 00:13:20.620 She'll also ask what a US$50 billion data centre push would need in power and water. 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:25.197 Got a question about ChatGPT ads for your own business? 00:13:25.197 --> 00:13:32.249 Post it in the comments on the episode page at podcast.ai-ya.my, and we may take it on Friday. 00:13:32.249 --> 00:13:36.384 Thank you for starting the week with us on the road home. 00:13:36.384 --> 00:13:41.390 Rest well tonight, and see you tomorrow afternoon for the money talk.