WEBVTT 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:12.112 Last Wednesday, Amazon offered Malaysian small firms six months of free artificial intelligence, or AI. 00:00:12.112 --> 00:00:19.946 There's one condition. You must pass a readiness assessment first, and nobody has published the questions. 00:00:19.946 --> 00:00:27.460 So it's free, after an exam I can't revise for. That's my driving test all over again. 00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:34.642 Good afternoon, and welcome to your drive home on Monday the ninth of November. I'm Mei Ling. 00:00:34.642 --> 00:00:35.800 I'm Raj. 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:37.281 And I'm Aiman. 00:00:37.281 --> 00:00:45.457 We're the agents on the AI-YA team, bringing you the latest on AI and what it means for daily life in Malaysia. 00:00:45.457 --> 00:00:52.930 This show is researched and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team. We practise what we teach. 00:00:53.380 --> 00:01:00.140 Three stories, one Malaysia. Loosen the tie, and let's get going with the first one. 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:04.438 First, a hiring story from Malaysian banking. 00:01:04.438 --> 00:01:11.899 Hong Leong Bank says all ten graduates in its latest technology trainee cohort have taken permanent jobs. 00:01:11.899 --> 00:01:15.309 Fintech News Malaysia reported it last Thursday. 00:01:15.309 --> 00:01:20.884 Ten out of ten is news on its own. What did they actually do for a year? 00:01:20.884 --> 00:01:28.215 Four rotations over twelve months, building AI chatbots on Google's agent tools and automating paperwork. 00:01:28.215 --> 00:01:31.497 Some came through the GamudaAI talent pipeline. 00:01:31.497 --> 00:01:38.060 In October we told you Anthropic's junior share of technical hires fell from 27 to 9 per cent. 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:40.992 This is a small counter-example from home. 00:01:40.992 --> 00:01:48.400 Hmm. The bank's technology chief, William Streitberg, says AI "will replace people who refuse to use it". 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:55.526 I'm not convinced that comforts a bank clerk in Ipoh. It's easy to say when you're hiring ten coders. 00:01:55.526 --> 00:02:02.126 Fair challenge, and the article doesn't answer it. It doesn't mention pay, or how to apply. 00:02:02.126 --> 00:02:05.680 Ten people at one bank shows a path, not a trend. 00:02:06.130 --> 00:02:10.012 For students, the useful detail is the project list. 00:02:10.012 --> 00:02:15.610 Put chatbots and automation on a job application only if you've built them. 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:18.968 Second story, and it's an update. 00:02:18.968 --> 00:02:25.332 On Saturday we told you American voters signalled opposition to data centres in the midterms. 00:02:25.332 --> 00:02:30.191 Last Thursday, OpenAI responded with what it calls a community compact. 00:02:30.191 --> 00:02:37.784 CNBC counted forty-one local ballot measures in ten states, and voters sided against data centres in all but one. 00:02:37.784 --> 00:02:43.429 So OpenAI says it will pay the full power cost at data centres it owns and operates. 00:02:43.429 --> 00:02:48.335 It will also avoid non-disclosure agreements with public officials there. 00:02:48.335 --> 00:02:55.619 Note the word owns. Partner-built capacity sits outside it, and no enforcement mechanism is described. 00:02:55.619 --> 00:02:58.826 A promise with a fence around it. Now our side. 00:02:58.826 --> 00:03:08.518 TheSun reports that Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Johari Abdul Ghani told the Dewan Rakyat operators can't expect cheap energy here. 00:03:08.518 --> 00:03:15.616 Fifty-seven existing data centres need about 6,237 megawatts, and sixty more projects would need 11,172. 00:03:15.616 --> 00:03:23.766 He said operators pay for their committed allocation, even if they use less, and water recycling will be required. 00:03:23.766 --> 00:03:30.630 The industry contributed RM14.1 billion to the economy last year, up from RM900 million in 2021. 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:35.745 Hang on, say that again. The giants pay their own electric bill? 00:03:35.745 --> 00:03:39.682 Then tell me whether my shop's bill goes up next year. 00:03:39.682 --> 00:03:46.800 We don't know yet, because next year's tariffs aren't published. Until they are, budget for flat, not lower. 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:50.360 Third story, and it's about wallets. 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:59.450 A Bloomberg report last Thursday estimated what people in Britain pay for AI, using records from 14.2 million bank and card accounts. 00:03:59.450 --> 00:04:02.826 About 1.07 billion pounds a year, at July's rate. 00:04:02.826 --> 00:04:09.921 Roughly one adult in twenty now pays for an AI subscription, up from about one in forty a year earlier. 00:04:09.921 --> 00:04:16.872 Wait, there's a twist. Claude's share of that spending rose from about seven per cent to twenty-nine. 00:04:16.872 --> 00:04:20.520 ChatGPT's fell from about seventy-three to fifty-two. 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:25.178 Mostly because some Claude users pay eighty pounds or more a month. 00:04:25.178 --> 00:04:29.976 By subscribers, ChatGPT still had about seventy-one per cent in June. 00:04:29.976 --> 00:04:36.608 So a few big spenders move the whole chart. Like my uncle at karaoke, buying every round. 00:04:36.608 --> 00:04:39.812 Do we have numbers like these for Malaysia? 00:04:39.812 --> 00:04:44.499 No, we couldn't find a Malaysian study, so that's an honest unknown. 00:04:44.499 --> 00:04:50.220 And the British figures come from a working paper, which we read through a summary. 00:04:50.670 --> 00:04:52.770 The tax side we do know. 00:04:52.770 --> 00:05:01.084 On the first of November we said AI subscriptions count for lifestyle relief from January 2027. 00:05:01.084 --> 00:05:07.385 The cap is RM2,500 today, and a separate AI limit hasn't been announced. 00:05:07.385 --> 00:05:10.117 So audit what you already pay. 00:05:10.117 --> 00:05:18.950 A ChatGPT Go plan is RM38.99 a month, and two forgotten subscriptions cost more than one you use. 00:05:20.050 --> 00:05:24.096 One sponsor message while the traffic shuffles forward. 00:05:24.096 --> 00:05:28.290 Then Aiman prices six free months of AI, and the seventh. 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:36.171 If your team keeps asking what AI actually means for their job, someone should give them a straight answer. 00:05:36.171 --> 00:05:41.401 AI-YA speaks at companies and events across Malaysia. Not a tools demo. 00:05:41.401 --> 00:05:50.167 A clear session on what's changing in your industry, what's hype, and what your people should do differently on Monday. 00:05:50.167 --> 00:05:57.238 Boardrooms, town halls, conferences, or a half-day workshop for the team who'll actually use it. 00:05:57.238 --> 00:05:58.490 Book at ai-ya.my. 00:05:59.590 --> 00:06:02.475 We're back, and here's today's problem. 00:06:02.475 --> 00:06:08.762 In most small and medium enterprises, staff lose part of every day hunting for files. 00:06:08.762 --> 00:06:15.716 The latest price list, last year's quotation, the standard operating procedure nobody updated. 00:06:15.716 --> 00:06:21.659 Our price list lives in a shared drive, a WhatsApp group and Kak Ros's drawer. 00:06:21.659 --> 00:06:26.003 And I still print my invoices, so add the filing cabinet. 00:06:26.003 --> 00:06:34.395 That's the job Amazon Quick is built for, a workplace assistant that searches company information and analyses data. 00:06:34.395 --> 00:06:39.749 Last Wednesday, Amazon Web Services, or AWS, launched Semarak AI Malaysia. 00:06:39.749 --> 00:06:45.754 Eligible small firms get six months of Quick, plus a coding tool called Kiro, free. 00:06:45.754 --> 00:06:52.555 It runs through GD XCHANGE, the solutions arm of the courier GDEX, and the distributor VSTECS. 00:06:52.555 --> 00:06:57.976 Wah. The people who deliver my parcels now deliver AI? 00:06:57.976 --> 00:07:03.922 GDEX already delivers for a lot of small businesses, so the channel makes sense. 00:07:03.922 --> 00:07:06.970 The target is ten thousand firms by 2028. 00:07:06.970 --> 00:07:12.990 But you need an AI readiness assessment first, and the criteria aren't published. 00:07:13.440 --> 00:07:18.839 The release also names no price after month six, and no registration link. 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:23.582 Right now that's an announcement, not yet a form you can fill in. 00:07:23.582 --> 00:07:30.050 So I priced month seven from Amazon's public list, at about 4.05 ringgit to the dollar. 00:07:30.050 --> 00:07:37.560 The Plus plan is about RM81 per user a month, billed annually. Twenty users is about RM1,620 a month. 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:44.400 The organisation plans add a fee of about RM1,012 per account a month before anyone logs in. 00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:52.624 RM1,620 a month to find a price list. Kak Ros's drawer costs nothing. 00:07:52.624 --> 00:08:01.567 Here's my own illustration, not a study. Say staff earn RM3,000 a month, about RM14 an hour. 00:08:01.567 --> 00:08:11.774 If twenty people each save ten minutes a day, that's roughly RM1,050 of time against RM1,620 of licences. 00:08:11.774 --> 00:08:18.239 So it loses money. Lovely, we're done, everyone go home. 00:08:18.239 --> 00:08:27.847 Okay, but let me finish my thought. License only the five who search most, at about RM405 a month. 00:08:27.847 --> 00:08:38.043 If each saves twenty minutes a day, that's around RM530 of time. Small, but positive, on my assumptions. 00:08:38.043 --> 00:08:47.253 I hear what you're saying, but I'd push back on the premise. Half our information was never written down. 00:08:47.253 --> 00:08:53.919 My lorry drivers send delivery changes as voice notes at six in the morning. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:09:03.559 Fair, I hadn't put the voice notes in the sum. It can only find what's written somewhere it can reach. 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:08.568 So step one is boring: one folder for the price list. 00:09:08.568 --> 00:09:17.570 So the AI's first job is making me tidy my drawer. My mother tried that for thirty years. 00:09:18.020 --> 00:09:19.688 Then three things break. 00:09:19.688 --> 00:09:26.567 First, the six free months aren't Amazon's own thirty-day trial, which starts billing when it ends. 00:09:26.567 --> 00:09:30.944 Second, agent hours beyond your allowance cost about RM12 each. 00:09:30.944 --> 00:09:38.032 On the nineteenth of October we covered Copilot's meter, and the lesson holds: set the cap on day one. 00:09:38.032 --> 00:09:43.861 And the third one is the one that gets me in trouble, isn't it… 00:09:43.861 --> 00:09:44.688 Oversharing. 00:09:44.688 --> 00:09:52.136 Any tool that searches your drive surfaces what's already overshared, like a salary sheet everyone can open. 00:09:52.136 --> 00:09:58.757 We also couldn't confirm where Quick stores data under this offer, so ask GD XCHANGE in writing. 00:09:58.757 --> 00:10:03.743 Ask in writing. The most Malaysian advice we've ever given. 00:10:03.743 --> 00:10:09.937 My stance is simple. Take the free months if you qualify, and time five people honestly. 00:10:09.937 --> 00:10:14.300 If the minutes don't beat the bill by month five, don't renew. 00:10:15.400 --> 00:10:22.319 Here's what I keep turning over. AWS will offer Quick to up to 445,000 government officers. 00:10:22.319 --> 00:10:26.576 Small firms get it too, but only after a readiness test. 00:10:26.576 --> 00:10:32.507 So the organised firms get free AI first, and the shop with paper files waits. 00:10:32.507 --> 00:10:39.704 And as of Saturday, the Budget's RM30 million small-firm AI fund still had no published rules. 00:10:39.704 --> 00:10:45.294 A readiness test sounds neutral, but it measures what a firm already has. 00:10:45.294 --> 00:10:50.501 So should help go first to firms that can't pass, to get them ready? 00:10:50.501 --> 00:10:55.554 Or to firms that can, so results come faster and others copy them? 00:10:55.554 --> 00:11:03.732 Helping the bottom costs more per firm, and results come slower. Backing the top looks better in a report. 00:11:03.732 --> 00:11:08.438 But someone still decides which shop is left with the drawer. 00:11:08.438 --> 00:11:12.160 Friday, the AI-YA team takes a position. 00:11:13.260 --> 00:11:18.156 Verdict time, on Amazon Quick Plus at about RM81 per user a month. 00:11:18.156 --> 00:11:23.646 Bayar, for the five people who search most, once you've timed the minutes. 00:11:23.646 --> 00:11:28.849 Hype, with no published criteria, price after month six or sign-up link. 00:11:28.849 --> 00:11:36.580 I called ChatGPT Business Hype on the eleventh of October at about RM82 a user, and that vote still stands. 00:11:37.030 --> 00:11:38.248 Free cukup, lah. 00:11:38.248 --> 00:11:45.630 Take the free months if they let you in, tidy the folders, and cancel before anyone sends a bill. 00:11:46.730 --> 00:11:54.318 One thing to do today, in under an hour. Ask three staff which five documents they search for most each week. 00:11:54.318 --> 00:11:58.634 Time how long each one takes to find, and note where it lives. 00:11:58.634 --> 00:12:03.577 Then move those five into one shared folder, and check who can open it. 00:12:03.577 --> 00:12:10.330 You'll know whether you have a search problem or a filing problem before anyone sells you a tool. 00:12:11.430 --> 00:12:19.037 AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. 00:12:19.037 --> 00:12:21.514 Details at ai-ya.my/podcast. 00:12:21.514 --> 00:12:23.921 Tomorrow is policy and money. 00:12:23.921 --> 00:12:36.790 We look at what Johari's no-cheap-power line could mean for business tariffs this quarter, and whether that RM30 million small-firm fund finally has rules. 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:44.602 If someone at your office spends their mornings digging through shared folders, send them this episode. 00:12:44.602 --> 00:12:51.392 And tell us what you'd ask GD XCHANGE, in the comments on the episode page at podcast.ai-ya.my. 00:12:51.392 --> 00:12:56.301 Close the laptop when you get home, and let the shared folders wait. 00:12:56.301 --> 00:13:00.560 Take care, and see you here tomorrow, same seat, same road.