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Tuesday, 10 February 2026

3Before9

3 must-know AI stories before your 9am coffee

Who should pay attention

AI founders | Investors | Regulators | Infrastructure developers

What changes next

Debate is likely to intensify for AI shopping trust and transparency.

1

South Korea AI startup Wrtn plans U.S. expansion and IPO

South Korean AI entertainment startup Wrtn, known for its interactive storytelling service, is expanding into the U.S. market and targeting an IPO as early as 2028, after achieving strong revenue growth from South Korea and Japan.

Why it matters for Asia

an Asia-born AI startup planning an international expansion and IPO highlights regional innovation strength and shows Asian AI companies can scale beyond home markets.

2

Visa survey finds 74 % of Asia-Pacific consumers use AI for shopping

A new survey shows 74 % of Asia-Pacific consumers already use AI tools for shopping activities, but concerns about trust and transparency at checkout remain significant, with 26 % unsure whether AI recommendations align with their interests.

Why it matters for Asia

as AI becomes a mainstream part of consumer experiences, trust and transparency issues could shape regulatory priorities and platform design requirements across Asia.

3

Asia AI Infrastructure Malaysia Summit 2026 highlights regional AI build-out

The Asia AI Infrastructure Malaysia Summit 2026 will bring together industry, government, and tech leaders to shape the future of regional AI infrastructure, focusing on cloud, data centres, connectivity, and sustainable compute capacity.

Why it matters for Asia

infrastructure, not just models, underpins AI growth. Regional coordination and investment in physical AI foundations can speed adoption and competitiveness in Asia.

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Recent Editions

Friday

6 March 2026

1.GPT-5.4 offers native computer use, achieving 75% on the OSWorld-Verified benchmark, surpassing human performance.
2.It boasts a 1 million token context window, direct integrations with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, and a 47% reduction in token usage for specific agentic tasks.
3.OpenAI’s new model matches or exceeds human professionals in 83% of 44 evaluated occupations, according to their GDPval benchmark.

Thursday

5 March 2026

1.Apple launched the MacBook Neo, a new budget-friendly laptop priced from $599, featuring the A18 Pro chip and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display.
2.OpenAI released GPT-5.3 Instant, an updated ChatGPT model designed to be less preachy, with reduced moralising and fewer conversational preambles.
3.This update also reportedly decreased hallucinations by 26.8% when utilising web search, suggesting an improvement in model accuracy and user experience.

Wednesday

4 March 2026

1.Anthropic's refusal to allow military use of its AI led to a US government ban, prompting industry-wide calls for ethical AI limits and boosting consumer support for Claude.
2.Apple is launching its most affordable Mac to date, powered by an A18 Pro chip, targeting students and emerging markets with a competitive price point and colourful designs.
3.NVIDIA invested $4 billion in photonics companies Lumentum and Coherent, securing critical supply for its next-generation data centre interconnects.

Tuesday

3 March 2026

1.Claude experienced a significant global outage yesterday, affecting various services including its app, Code, console, and government platforms.
2.Anthropic attributed the outage to "unprecedented demand" and confirmed that while the core enterprise API was mostly stable, some methods malfunctioned.
3.This incident highlights the critical need for enterprise AI buyers to implement robust failover strategies and consider multi-provider fallbacks to mitigate supply-side reliability risks.

Monday

2 March 2026

1.Vietnam has implemented a new AI Act, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation with a comprehensive regulatory framework for artificial intelligence.
2.The legislation, closely mirroring the EU AI Act, mandates human oversight for generative AI, requires deepfake labelling, and supports national AI infrastructure development.
3.Businesses operating in Vietnam must now comply with these new legal obligations, setting a potential precedent for other ASEAN countries to follow.

Friday

27 February 2026

1.Anthropic has refused the Pentagon's ultimatum to remove AI safeguards, citing concerns over autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
2.The Pentagon threatens to use the Defense Production Act or blacklist Anthropic, while xAI has agreed to the government's terms.
3.Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S26, promoted as the first agentic AI smartphone, integrating three AI engines for autonomous multi-step task execution.