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Monday, 23 February 2026

3Before9

3 must-know AI stories before your 9am coffee

Who should pay attention

Economists | Technologists | Policymakers | Investors

What changes next

Investment in AI infrastructure and governance frameworks will likely intensify globally.

1

Taiwan lifts 2026 growth forecast driven by AI demand

Taiwan’s government raised its full-year 2026 economic growth forecast to around 7.7 per cent, citing strong demand for technology and artificial intelligence-related products as a key driver.

Why it matters for Asia

stronger growth tied to AI demand reinforces Taiwan’s central role in semiconductor manufacturing and compute infrastructure, which sit underneath Asia’s AI economy.^

2

India hosts major global AI summit with OpenAI and Google leaders attending

India is hosting a large international AI summit in New Delhi, positioning it as a platform to shape global AI governance and attract investment, with senior leaders from major AI companies attending.

Why it matters for Asia

India is making a deliberate play to influence rules, standards, and investment flows for AI across the Global South, which will affect Asia’s policy direction and partnerships.

3

ASEAN report highlights eagerness for AI but lack of guidance frameworks

A report finds that while youth and institutions across Southeast Asia are keen to adopt AI, they often lack coherent policy guidance and governance expertise to manage risks and opportunities effectively.

Why it matters for Asia

gaps in governance and guidance risk slowing responsible and equitable AI adoption across ASEAN economies, even as interest and demand accelerate.^

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Recent Editions

Monday

9 March 2026

1.OpenAI's head of robotics resigned due to the company's decision to deploy its AI models on the Pentagon's classified cloud networks, citing a lack of clear guardrails for domestic surveillance and lethal autonomy.
2.This high-profile departure highlights growing internal dissent within OpenAI regarding ethical governance and the rapid implementation of AI technologies in sensitive sectors.
3.The incident underscores that governance concerns are not merely external criticism but represent a significant internal operational risk for AI vendors and enterprise buyers alike.

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.