Ep. 34
Today’s AI news for Malaysia starts with your electricity bill: Mei Ling explains what Minister Johari Abdul Ghani’s “no cheap power” line for data centres means for business tariffs this quarter, with November’s 3.60 sen surcharge and a December forecast of up to 7.98 sen. She also checks, briefly, whether MDEC’s RM30 million small-firm AI fund has published rules yet.
AI-YA Daily is researched, written and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team.
Also in this episode: SoftBank, Grab and PETROS sign a joint development agreement with US$1 billion (about RM4.06 billion) in seed capital for AI infrastructure in Sarawak, which updates our 12 October and 26 October episodes. Homegrown navigation apps multiply after the Waze curb for civil servants, but some keep their data in Singapore and the US. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil says Malaysia may speed up its move to quantum-safe encryption, as OpenAI and Anthropic say their AI disproved a long-held computer science assumption. The Big Question asks what “local” really means when you choose a tool for your business data.
Timestamps 0:04 Cold open: the fuel surcharge on a shop’s bill 0:31 Meet the hosts 1:05 SoftBank, Grab and PETROS put US$1bn behind Sarawak AI 3:04 Homegrown map apps multiply after the Waze curb 4:41 Quantum-safe encryption, and AI disproves a computer science assumption 6:08 A word from Hitower IT 6:56 What “no cheap power” means for business bills, and the RM30m fund check 10:33 The Big Question: what does “local” really mean for your data? 11:35 The Verdict: Claude Pro 12:25 One thing to do today 12:56 Tomorrow: work and skills
Today’s Verdict: Claude Pro (about RM81 a month, or RM811 a year). Aiman: Bayar. Mei Ling: Free cukup. Raj: Hype.
Stories and sources
Standing thread: T4 Between the giants.
AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. Details at ai-ya.my/podcast.
