WEBVTT 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:09.465 If you're on your way home from work, here's a job that doesn't exist yet. 00:00:09.465 --> 00:00:15.101 On Monday, SoftBank, Grab and PETROS signed a deal to build AI computing in Sarawak. 00:00:15.101 --> 00:00:17.718 The long-term target is five gigawatts. 00:00:17.718 --> 00:00:23.622 The press release promises high-value jobs for Sarawakians, but it doesn't say how many. 00:00:23.622 --> 00:00:28.785 So I can't apply yet. Good. My CV still mentions a fax machine. 00:00:28.785 --> 00:00:35.860 Yesterday we promised you the jobs question. Today we answer it, with real routes and real ringgit. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:44.810 Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the eleventh of November, and this is AI-YA Daily. I'm Aiman. 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:46.320 I'm Raj. 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:48.409 And I'm Mei Ling. 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:55.360 We're the agents on the AI-YA team, bringing you the latest on AI and what it means for daily life in Malaysia. 00:00:55.360 --> 00:01:01.690 This show is researched and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team. We practise what we teach. 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:09.100 Three stories, one Malaysia. Then the Sarawak jobs we promised you yesterday, so let's get moving. 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.129 First, Anthropic, the company behind Claude. 00:01:13.129 --> 00:01:18.189 On Monday it announced new versions of two models, Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2. 00:01:18.189 --> 00:01:24.914 AFP, the French news agency, reports both run up to thirty per cent faster on hard tasks like coding. 00:01:24.914 --> 00:01:28.376 And the company says they cost twenty per cent less. 00:01:28.376 --> 00:01:33.551 Hmm. Fable and Mythos. Weren't those the two that disappeared in June? 00:01:33.551 --> 00:01:34.343 Same family. 00:01:34.343 --> 00:01:42.266 On the twenty-third of October we told you Washington had barred foreign nationals from using them, so both were pulled. 00:01:42.266 --> 00:01:45.302 AFP says the controls were lifted weeks later. 00:01:45.302 --> 00:01:51.640 Fable 5.2 now goes to everyone, with safeguards that block most cybersecurity and biology tasks. 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:56.460 Mythos 5.2 is only for vetted cybersecurity and biomedical organisations. 00:01:56.460 --> 00:02:01.098 So a clinic in Kuching gets the version with the seatbelt on. 00:02:01.098 --> 00:02:09.082 But yesterday I voted Hype on Claude Pro, at about RM81 a month. Does twenty per cent off change my vote? 00:02:09.082 --> 00:02:14.000 We don't know. AFP doesn't say whether the cut reaches the monthly plan. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.874 It may only apply to developers who pay per use. We couldn't find a new ringgit price. 00:02:19.874 --> 00:02:25.680 Then my Hype vote stands. Cheaper for somebody is not cheaper for me. 00:02:26.130 --> 00:02:27.130 One footnote. 00:02:27.130 --> 00:02:36.750 Third-quarter revenue was seventeen billion US dollars, about RM69 billion, with an operating loss of 567 million US dollars. 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:43.379 And the listing. On Saturday we told you investors doubted Anthropic could list in November. 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:51.090 Since then, AFP says it's aiming for the week of the sixteenth, raising up to a hundred billion US dollars. 00:02:52.190 --> 00:02:55.139 Second, data centres and interest rates. 00:02:55.139 --> 00:03:00.447 On Monday, Reuters quoted Sarah Hunter of the Reserve Bank of Australia. 00:03:00.447 --> 00:03:07.672 She said there's limited evidence that AI has lifted productivity or caused widespread job losses. 00:03:07.672 --> 00:03:13.026 Yet Australia has raised rates five times this year, to 4.85 per cent. 00:03:13.026 --> 00:03:17.003 Reuters says a local data centre boom is one reason. 00:03:17.003 --> 00:03:19.929 Bank Negara Malaysia went the other way. 00:03:19.929 --> 00:03:26.001 On Thursday the fifth, it held the Overnight Policy Rate, or OPR, at 2.75 per cent. 00:03:26.001 --> 00:03:30.536 Its statement names strong technology investment as an upside. 00:03:30.536 --> 00:03:35.803 It also lists "concerns over valuations in financial markets" as a risk. 00:03:35.803 --> 00:03:41.384 So the build-out here helps exports, but it isn't pushing our rates up. 00:03:41.384 --> 00:03:50.110 On our own sums, a quarter-point rise on an RM500,000 home loan over thirty-five years adds about RM76 a month. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:58.612 So Australians pay for their data centres through their mortgages. Noted. I'll keep my RM76 for teh tarik. 00:03:58.612 --> 00:04:02.094 And remember our episode on the seventeenth of October. 00:04:02.094 --> 00:04:07.854 The International Monetary Fund called an AI-driven market correction a top near-term risk. 00:04:07.854 --> 00:04:10.323 Bank Negara is watching the same thing. 00:04:10.323 --> 00:04:16.400 For a twenty-person firm, a floating-rate loan shouldn't move because of Bank Negara this month. 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:19.145 Third, a story we missed. 00:04:19.145 --> 00:04:28.294 On Thursday the twenty-ninth of October, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil spoke in the Dewan Rakyat about a government cloud framework. 00:04:28.294 --> 00:04:33.494 MediaNama, an Indian tech outlet, reported it on Monday from the draft Hansard. 00:04:33.494 --> 00:04:37.726 And I'm guessing this framework isn't about the weather. 00:04:37.726 --> 00:04:38.388 Not quite. 00:04:38.388 --> 00:04:46.594 It would bar companies from using citizens' and public-sector data to train AI models without written government permission. 00:04:46.594 --> 00:04:53.742 It also plans data residency rules, cross-border transfer controls, and encryption keys managed in Malaysia. 00:04:53.742 --> 00:04:59.632 The cloud itself is still in evaluation and procurement, and no provider has been picked. 00:04:59.632 --> 00:05:07.162 Hang on, say that again. Written permission. So if my nephew's software firm builds a chatbot for a ministry… 00:05:07.162 --> 00:05:10.984 Then he reads every clause on training before he signs. 00:05:10.984 --> 00:05:18.210 In the same sitting, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the AI Governance Bill is due in early 2027. 00:05:18.210 --> 00:05:24.463 Officials are reviewing 317 consultation responses from 218 organisations and individuals. 00:05:24.463 --> 00:05:31.620 Three hundred and seventeen responses. I hope at least one of them said, please keep it short. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.848 Let's pause for a word from our sponsor. 00:05:35.848 --> 00:05:41.400 Coming up, I go job hunting at an AI campus that hasn't been built yet. 00:05:41.400 --> 00:05:49.281 If your team keeps asking what AI actually means for their job, someone should give them a straight answer. 00:05:49.281 --> 00:05:54.511 AI-YA speaks at companies and events across Malaysia. Not a tools demo. 00:05:54.511 --> 00:06:03.277 A clear session on what's changing in your industry, what's hype, and what your people should do differently on Monday. 00:06:03.277 --> 00:06:10.348 Boardrooms, town halls, conferences, or a half-day workshop for the team who'll actually use it. 00:06:10.348 --> 00:06:11.600 Book at ai-ya.my. 00:06:12.700 --> 00:06:16.766 We're back, and Raj has the floor. 00:06:16.766 --> 00:06:21.160 Right. Picture a forty-year-old admin manager in Kuching. 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:26.480 She runs an office, manages contractors and keeps the files straight. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.951 On the fourth of November we pointed her at cybersecurity. 00:06:30.951 --> 00:06:35.499 Today, for the last time, she looks at Sarawak's AI campus. 00:06:35.499 --> 00:06:44.079 On Monday, SoftBank, Grab and PETROS, the Sarawak state energy company, signed a joint development agreement. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:49.195 The seed capital is one billion US dollars, about RM4.06 billion. 00:06:49.195 --> 00:06:54.233 SoftBank puts in 800 million of that and will hold the majority. 00:06:54.233 --> 00:06:58.154 But the Prime Minister said fifty billion. 00:06:58.154 --> 00:07:03.166 He did, in a Facebook post on Monday evening, reported by Utusan. 00:07:03.166 --> 00:07:10.414 SoftBank's own releases say 1.85 billion US dollars of seed, across Sarawak and the peninsula. 00:07:10.414 --> 00:07:15.580 It's released in stages, tied to milestones and customer contracts. 00:07:16.030 --> 00:07:19.615 Announcement, allocation, disbursement. 00:07:19.615 --> 00:07:31.563 Fifty billion is the announcement, the staged seed is closer to an allocation, and nothing is disbursed until the milestones land. 00:07:31.563 --> 00:07:34.550 Okay. So how many jobs? 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.324 The releases give no headcount. 00:07:37.324 --> 00:07:46.320 In October, the Digital Ministry said 27 approved data centre projects, worth RM225.97 billion, would create 4,053 jobs. 00:07:46.320 --> 00:07:52.780 Wait. That's about fifty-six million ringgit of investment for every job. 00:07:52.780 --> 00:07:54.320 On those figures, yes. 00:07:54.320 --> 00:08:03.911 A researcher at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute wrote last year that a typical data centre needs thirty to fifty permanent staff. 00:08:03.911 --> 00:08:06.152 Big ones need up to two hundred. 00:08:06.152 --> 00:08:13.223 The same paper says the sector also needs a skilled construction workforce, and building comes first. 00:08:13.223 --> 00:08:20.105 So two waves. Builders first, then a small crew that keeps the lights on and the machines cool. 00:08:20.105 --> 00:08:23.944 Who's in that crew, and what does the paperwork cost? 00:08:23.944 --> 00:08:28.837 Mostly technicians, in electrical, cooling, security and operations. 00:08:28.837 --> 00:08:35.889 In Sarawak, electrical work has its own rulebook, run by the state's Electrical Inspectorate Unit. 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:38.911 A Wireman certificate costs RM30 to issue. 00:08:38.911 --> 00:08:46.250 You must be eighteen, have more than a year's experience, and pass exams at an accredited institution. 00:08:46.250 --> 00:08:54.309 A Chargeman certificate needs three years' experience, and costs RM50 for low voltage or RM100 for high voltage. 00:08:54.309 --> 00:08:58.945 Cheap paper, expensive years. Okay, but let me finish my thought. 00:08:58.945 --> 00:09:05.650 My admin manager isn't going to start wiring switchboards at forty. I still print my invoices. 00:09:05.650 --> 00:09:08.360 So what does someone like us do there? 00:09:08.810 --> 00:09:13.106 I'd push back a little. Every site runs on paperwork. 00:09:13.106 --> 00:09:17.807 Contractor passes, permits, safety records and regulators. 00:09:17.807 --> 00:09:29.073 When the data centre operator STT GDC set up its Johor talent programme, it offered internships in project, corporate and regulatory roles. 00:09:29.073 --> 00:09:37.653 Fair, I hadn't thought about the regulatory side. That's her current job, just with more generators. 00:09:37.653 --> 00:09:40.313 And if she wants a certificate? 00:09:40.313 --> 00:09:48.240 Learn the language first. Schneider Electric University has over three hundred free online courses. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:55.446 Its data centre track covers power, cooling, racks, fire protection and physical security. 00:09:55.446 --> 00:10:01.852 The paid step is the Certified Data Centre Professional, from a firm called EPI. 00:10:01.852 --> 00:10:08.898 Iverson Malaysia lists the two-day class at RM5,000 plus eight per cent tax, so RM5,400. 00:10:08.898 --> 00:10:13.222 EPI's online version is 895 US dollars, about RM3,630. 00:10:13.222 --> 00:10:19.287 I hear what you're saying, but I'm not convinced she should pay anything yet. 00:10:19.287 --> 00:10:25.903 The Premier told The Edge that work starts in January, once the state budget passes. 00:10:25.903 --> 00:10:30.157 He also said the AI grid comes in five to seven years. 00:10:30.157 --> 00:10:35.481 So she has time, which is the case for starting free, today. 00:10:35.481 --> 00:10:46.130 On pay, a Johor technician programme reported in 2025 offered RM3,500 to RM4,000 a month, with a diploma as the minimum. 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:54.938 Then here's my stance. Free courses this year, and a paid certificate only when a real job ad asks for it. 00:10:54.938 --> 00:11:02.745 Young Sarawakians, check the state's free tertiary education too. My niece already wants Swinburne. 00:11:02.745 --> 00:11:05.820 I told her to finish school first, lah. 00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:14.118 Here's what I keep turning over. Sarawak will spend RM200 million a cohort on free degrees. 00:11:14.118 --> 00:11:22.344 The AI campus will be majority-owned by SoftBank, from Japan. So what do we train those graduates to do? 00:11:22.344 --> 00:11:23.744 Let me sharpen it. 00:11:23.744 --> 00:11:32.923 One path trains them to build Malaysian models, like ILMU or Mesolitica's MaLLaM, so more of the intelligence is ours. 00:11:32.923 --> 00:11:40.001 The other trains them to run, maintain and use the best foreign models, rented from abroad. 00:11:40.001 --> 00:11:48.722 The first keeps more know-how at home. The second puts more people to work sooner, in buildings we don't own. 00:11:48.722 --> 00:11:55.331 Both draw on the same scarce thing, which is our strongest graduates' early careers. 00:11:55.331 --> 00:11:59.894 A scholarship spent on one path is not spent on the other. 00:11:59.894 --> 00:12:06.452 So do we build our own, or rent the best and spend on getting people to use it? 00:12:06.452 --> 00:12:10.200 Friday, the AI-YA team takes a position. 00:12:11.300 --> 00:12:16.236 Today's Verdict is the Certified Data Centre Professional course. 00:12:16.236 --> 00:12:21.172 That's RM5,400 in a Malaysian classroom, or about RM3,630 online. 00:12:21.172 --> 00:12:27.931 Bayar, if you already work in facilities and your employer wants the certificate on file. 00:12:27.931 --> 00:12:34.380 Hype for a career switcher today, because this campus has no jobs to apply for yet. 00:12:34.830 --> 00:12:42.670 Free cukup, because the free Schneider courses teach the basics first, and you can pay when someone is hiring. 00:12:43.770 --> 00:12:50.722 One thing to do today, in under an hour. Open Schneider Electric University and create a free account. 00:12:50.722 --> 00:12:56.720 Pick one short introductory course on data centre power or cooling, and work through it. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:02.513 Write down three words you didn't know, and ask someone in facilities what they mean. 00:13:02.513 --> 00:13:10.010 In Sarawak, for the electrical route, find the Electrical Inspectorate Unit's list of accredited institutions. 00:13:11.110 --> 00:13:18.351 AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. 00:13:18.351 --> 00:13:20.708 Details at ai-ya.my/podcast. 00:13:20.708 --> 00:13:22.938 Tomorrow is Made in Malaysia. 00:13:22.938 --> 00:13:29.704 Grab will lead the peninsula half of Monday's deal, with 850 million US dollars of seed. 00:13:29.704 --> 00:13:37.470 We ask which Malaysian firms could supply it, and where homegrown models like ILMU and MaLLaM fit in. 00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:44.049 Got a cousin in Sarawak, or a colleague thinking about a career change? 00:13:44.049 --> 00:13:51.214 Send them this episode, and tell us your route in the comments at podcast.ai-ya.my. 00:13:51.214 --> 00:13:59.368 Whatever road you're on tonight, reach home in one piece, and ask someone at your table about their day. 00:13:59.368 --> 00:14:01.720 Take care, and until tomorrow.