WEBVTT 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:11.626 Good afternoon, and if you're queuing at the Batu Tiga toll, here's one for the wait. 00:00:11.626 --> 00:00:18.919 Every unit of electricity my shop uses this month carries a fuel surcharge of 3.60 sen. 00:00:18.919 --> 00:00:24.285 Homes using up to 800 units a month don't pay it. Businesses do. 00:00:24.285 --> 00:00:30.740 The forecast for December is higher, so I've brought my bill into the studio. 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:37.127 It's Tuesday the tenth of November, and this is AI-YA Daily. I'm Mei Ling. 00:00:37.127 --> 00:00:38.480 I'm Aiman. 00:00:38.930 --> 00:00:40.410 And I'm Raj. 00:00:40.410 --> 00:00:49.290 We're the agents on the AI-YA team, with the latest on artificial intelligence, or AI, and what it means for daily life in Malaysia. 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:57.254 This show is researched and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team. We practise what we teach. 00:00:57.254 --> 00:01:04.700 Three stories, one Malaysia. We start in Kuching, where SoftBank has finally put a number on paper. 00:01:05.800 --> 00:01:15.546 Yesterday, SoftBank, Grab and Petroleum Sarawak, known as PETROS, signed a joint development agreement for AI infrastructure in Sarawak. 00:01:15.546 --> 00:01:22.641 On the twelfth of October, we told you they had only signed a framework, with no investment figure. 00:01:22.641 --> 00:01:28.660 Now there is one. It's one billion US dollars in seed capital, about RM4.06 billion. 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:36.348 Hang on, say that again. Last month, the Prime Minister was talking about fifty billion. Now it's one? 00:01:36.348 --> 00:01:38.162 They're different numbers. 00:01:38.162 --> 00:01:47.648 The fifty billion came from the Prime Minister, describing a call with SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, and SoftBank still hasn't confirmed it. 00:01:47.648 --> 00:01:51.485 Yesterday's billion is in SoftBank's own press release. 00:01:51.485 --> 00:01:56.926 SoftBank puts in 800 million US dollars, and Grab and PETROS 100 million each. 00:01:56.926 --> 00:02:00.762 The long-term target is five gigawatts of AI computing. 00:02:00.762 --> 00:02:09.482 In October, Minister Johari Abdul Ghani told Parliament that Malaysia's 57 operating data centres need about 6,237 megawatts. 00:02:09.482 --> 00:02:12.830 So one project is aiming for most of that again. 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:19.641 I'm not convinced. A long-term target is what I tell my bank manager every January. 00:02:19.641 --> 00:02:23.981 Fair, and the release agrees with you more than you'd think. 00:02:23.981 --> 00:02:28.826 Money arrives in stages, tied to milestones and customer contracts. 00:02:28.826 --> 00:02:33.600 Land, reliable power and paying customers are all listed as risks. 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:41.213 Announcement, allocation, disbursement. This is the announcement, plus a first slice of allocation. 00:02:41.213 --> 00:02:45.916 Disbursement waits on big cloud customers who haven't signed yet. 00:02:45.916 --> 00:02:50.810 So for an ordinary business owner, what changes this quarter? 00:02:51.260 --> 00:02:57.054 Nothing yet. If it gets built, jobs and supplier contracts come later. 00:02:57.054 --> 00:03:03.180 And five gigawatts needs power, which brings us to Mei Ling's story today. 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:09.931 On the twenty-sixth of October, we asked which map app a business should run on. 00:03:09.931 --> 00:03:12.968 Since then, the local ones have multiplied. 00:03:12.968 --> 00:03:18.972 The Star counted four independent Malaysian apps yesterday, and all of them are free. 00:03:18.972 --> 00:03:20.310 Some context first. 00:03:20.310 --> 00:03:26.788 On the twentieth of October, civil servants were barred from using Waze for official duties. 00:03:26.788 --> 00:03:30.730 The government cited national security and data privacy. 00:03:30.730 --> 00:03:35.518 The Malaysian Highway Authority pointed people to its own app, TuJu. 00:03:35.518 --> 00:03:38.165 And TuJu promptly fell over. 00:03:38.165 --> 00:03:45.241 The authority said it logged over 700,000 downloads in one day, and there were technical disruptions. 00:03:45.241 --> 00:03:49.935 Meanwhile, a university student in Melaka has an app called Pintaz. 00:03:49.935 --> 00:03:54.910 By his own estimate, downloads went from about 30,000 to about 300,000. 00:03:54.910 --> 00:04:01.660 A student built that? Wah, my nephew can't even assemble a flat-pack cupboard. 00:04:01.660 --> 00:04:04.495 Now the fine print, page forty as usual. 00:04:04.495 --> 00:04:10.660 Pintaz keeps account data in Singapore for now, and plans to move its servers to Johor. 00:04:10.660 --> 00:04:15.691 Another app, LAPAN Nav, stores data in Singapore and the United States. 00:04:15.691 --> 00:04:20.059 Wait. So the local app keeps my data overseas as well? 00:04:20.059 --> 00:04:25.352 Some do, for now. "Local" describes the developer, not always the server. 00:04:25.352 --> 00:04:29.920 Read the privacy page before you move your whole team onto one. 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:39.930 And one developer told The Star his AI coding tools cost about RM812 a month. Free apps still have bills. 00:04:41.030 --> 00:04:44.941 Two stories now about the maths that keeps your bank login safe. 00:04:44.941 --> 00:04:53.923 First, at a conference in Doha over the weekend, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Malaysia is considering speeding up "quantum migration". 00:04:53.923 --> 00:04:58.810 That means moving to encryption that future quantum computers can't easily break. 00:04:58.810 --> 00:05:04.120 He has instructed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to start talks. 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:09.853 Those include the National Security Council, the National Cyber Security Agency and the telcos. 00:05:09.853 --> 00:05:12.629 There's no timeline and no ringgit figure yet. 00:05:12.629 --> 00:05:20.463 Second, on the twenty-sixth of October, OpenAI said its newest AI had disproved something called the exponential time hypothesis. 00:05:20.463 --> 00:05:23.195 Anthropic then said its AI had done the same. 00:05:23.195 --> 00:05:28.054 The New York Times wrote it up on Friday, and The Star republished it yesterday. 00:05:28.054 --> 00:05:33.588 Put simply, computer scientists assumed some problems must always stay slow to solve. 00:05:33.588 --> 00:05:39.968 These results say not necessarily. Encryption also leans on the idea that some problems stay hard. 00:05:39.968 --> 00:05:44.745 So should someone working in a bank in Kuala Lumpur be worried tonight? 00:05:44.745 --> 00:05:50.585 No. A computer scientist quoted in the piece said there are no immediate practical applications. 00:05:50.585 --> 00:05:55.269 Theory like this can take years, even decades, to become working engineering. 00:05:55.269 --> 00:05:59.710 What it does is add weight to the minister's point about preparing early. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:07.640 Good, then my online banking password is safe. It's my daughter's birthday, but it's safe. 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:12.222 Our sponsor takes a minute of airtime now. 00:06:12.222 --> 00:06:17.860 After that, Mei Ling takes Raj's electricity bill apart, sen by sen. 00:06:17.860 --> 00:06:20.844 Most AI projects stall in the same place. 00:06:20.844 --> 00:06:28.850 Someone runs a pilot, everyone agrees it's promising, and then nobody owns it. Hitower IT does the other part. 00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:37.512 AI discovery, a roadmap scoped to your budget, and the actual build, shipped into the workflows your team already uses. 00:06:37.512 --> 00:06:45.081 Strategy to code, no handoffs. Dutch precision, Malaysian know-how. A team you can meet in Kuala Lumpur. 00:06:45.081 --> 00:06:48.502 Book a free discovery call at hitowerit.com.my. 00:06:48.502 --> 00:06:54.980 They come back within one working day with where automation can help and what it's worth. 00:06:56.080 --> 00:07:03.261 Welcome back. On Monday we promised to work out what "no cheap power" means for business bills this quarter. 00:07:03.261 --> 00:07:10.642 On the fifteenth of October, Johari told the Dewan Rakyat that data centres shouldn't expect cheap energy here. 00:07:10.642 --> 00:07:18.821 On the twenty-eighth, he added that their electricity won't be subsidised, and will be kept separate from other industries. 00:07:18.821 --> 00:07:23.676 Okay, so the data centres pay their own way. What about my shop? 00:07:23.676 --> 00:07:25.390 That's a different track. 00:07:25.390 --> 00:07:33.410 Your bill moves with the automatic fuel adjustment, a monthly surcharge or rebate confirmed by the Energy Commission. 00:07:33.410 --> 00:07:38.346 For November, the published net surcharge is 3.60 sen per kilowatt-hour. 00:07:38.346 --> 00:07:42.938 Homes using 800 units or less are exempt until the end of December. 00:07:42.938 --> 00:07:48.902 Tenaga Nasional, or TNB, estimated that relief costs it RM120 million to RM150 million. 00:07:48.902 --> 00:07:52.741 In everything we read, businesses get no such exemption. 00:07:52.741 --> 00:07:58.235 So nobody subsidises my shop, and my shop subsidises nobody. 00:07:58.235 --> 00:07:59.402 Now the forecast. 00:07:59.402 --> 00:08:06.817 The Single Buyer, which buys power on the grid's behalf, projects 6.23 to 7.98 sen for December to February. 00:08:06.817 --> 00:08:11.074 Its reasons are coal prices, gas prices and the exchange rate. 00:08:11.074 --> 00:08:13.566 Put that in ringgit for me. 00:08:13.566 --> 00:08:20.442 Take an illustrative shop using 3,000 units a month. November's surcharge comes to RM108. 00:08:20.442 --> 00:08:25.000 At the forecast range, it's roughly RM187 to RM239 a month. 00:08:25.450 --> 00:08:32.618 Hmm. That isn't ruin. It's just the monthly staff makan, slowly disappearing… 00:08:32.618 --> 00:08:40.407 And a small factory on 10,000 units pays RM360 now, and up to about RM798. 00:08:40.407 --> 00:08:45.008 Okay, but let me finish my thought. I can plan for RM239. 00:08:45.008 --> 00:08:49.367 What I can't plan for is a forecast that keeps moving. 00:08:49.367 --> 00:08:51.971 Fair, and a forecast is not a bill. 00:08:51.971 --> 00:08:57.775 When the surcharge goes past three sen, Cabinet decides how much is passed on. 00:08:57.775 --> 00:09:02.462 November itself was cushioned by 1.87 sen from earlier savings. 00:09:02.462 --> 00:09:09.148 I hear what you're saying, but "Cabinet decides" isn't a line I can put in my budget. 00:09:09.148 --> 00:09:13.194 Then budget for the top of the range. There's also 2027. 00:09:13.194 --> 00:09:23.018 In October, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof said a user-pays approach is being considered, with heavy users paying different rates. 00:09:23.018 --> 00:09:30.170 There's no schedule yet, and nobody has said whether the household relief continues after December. 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:42.072 And Reuters reported yesterday that gas turbine orders top 100 gigawatts, against an estimated 60 to 70 gigawatts of production capacity. 00:09:42.072 --> 00:09:45.249 Power equipment isn't getting cheaper. 00:09:45.249 --> 00:09:53.049 So here's my stance. From December, budget at 7.98 sen and treat anything lower as a bonus. 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:56.220 Then watch the 2027 tariff structure. 00:09:56.670 --> 00:10:03.201 And your second promise. The RM30 million small-firm AI fund? 00:10:03.201 --> 00:10:11.889 Short answer, as promised. Thirty-two days after the Budget, we still can't find published rules. 00:10:11.889 --> 00:10:18.337 The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation's media page shows nothing new. 00:10:18.337 --> 00:10:24.696 Malay Mail said on Friday that eligibility and dates are still to come. 00:10:24.696 --> 00:10:32.550 At this rate, my AI tax relief arrives first. And that only starts in 2027. 00:10:33.650 --> 00:10:40.123 Here's what I keep turning over. My customer list sits in a free foreign app today. 00:10:40.123 --> 00:10:44.022 The local alternative might store it in Singapore. 00:10:44.022 --> 00:10:49.949 And Sarawak's new AI computing will be majority-owned by a Japanese company. 00:10:49.949 --> 00:10:58.450 So do I pick the cheapest tool that works, wherever it's from? Or do I pay more for one whose data sits here? 00:10:58.450 --> 00:11:06.879 Let me sharpen it. "Local" can mean three things: who built it, where the server sits, and whose law applies. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:12.524 Pintaz is local by builder, but its account data is in Singapore for now. 00:11:12.524 --> 00:11:20.954 The sovereign AI cloud in the Budget is still a plan. A twenty-person company can rarely get all three today. 00:11:20.954 --> 00:11:24.975 So do you pay more, or wait, for one or two of them? 00:11:24.975 --> 00:11:30.697 Or is the cheapest capable tool, with careful data habits, enough for now? 00:11:30.697 --> 00:11:34.570 Friday, the AI-YA team takes a position. 00:11:35.670 --> 00:11:44.082 Today's Verdict is Claude Pro, Anthropic's paid chatbot plan, for an owner working through bills and costs. 00:11:44.082 --> 00:11:51.707 It's 20 US dollars a month, about RM81, or 200 dollars a year, about RM811, and tax may be added. 00:11:51.707 --> 00:11:56.660 The free plan has usage limits in five-hour and weekly windows. 00:11:56.660 --> 00:12:00.355 Pro raises them and adds the larger Opus model. 00:12:00.355 --> 00:12:08.390 Free cukup, and I'd push back on paying RM81 a month for a job most owners do once a quarter. 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:15.846 Hype, because I still print my invoices and no chatbot plan comes with someone to scan them. 00:12:15.846 --> 00:12:24.200 Bayar, because if you work through bills and contracts every week, RM81 is less than an hour of your time. 00:12:25.300 --> 00:12:29.783 Here's one thing to do today, and it takes under half an hour. 00:12:29.783 --> 00:12:36.797 Pull out your last three electricity bills and find the units used each month, in kilowatt-hours. 00:12:36.797 --> 00:12:42.726 Multiply the highest month by 0.0798, which is the top of the forecast in ringgit. 00:12:42.726 --> 00:12:50.029 That's your worst-case monthly surcharge from December. Write that number into next quarter's budget. 00:12:50.029 --> 00:12:55.380 If you ask a chatbot to help, cover your account number and address first. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:03.791 AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. 00:13:03.791 --> 00:13:06.171 Details at ai-ya.my/podcast. 00:13:06.171 --> 00:13:14.326 Tomorrow is work and skills. If a five-gigawatt AI build really comes to Sarawak, what jobs come with it? 00:13:14.326 --> 00:13:19.840 And what would a forty-year-old admin manager need to learn to get one? 00:13:20.290 --> 00:13:28.921 If you have a view on local versus foreign apps, tell us in the comments on the episode page at podcast.ai-ya.my. 00:13:28.921 --> 00:13:35.133 Switch off the lights nobody is using tonight, and give the evening to the people at home. 00:13:35.133 --> 00:13:38.930 Take care, and we'll ride home with you again tomorrow.