1Highlight: U Mobile opens its 5G-A sandbox to Cradle startups for AI tests
2Cult.fit and Greenlight share how AI agents cut support and security workload
3Kimi leads open-source AI spend; Gemini Omni 1.2 makes 15-second clips cheaper
Highlight of the day
Southeast Asia
5G-A
sandbox U Mobile is opening to Cradle-linked startups
Merged from 2 sources
★ Highlight of the day
U Mobile opens its 5G-A sandbox to Cradle startups for AI tests
Malaysia's U Mobile is deepening work with Cradle Fund A Malaysian government-linked fund that runs programmes to help local startups grow. so local startups can try 5G-Advanced An upgrade to 5G mobile networks that adds faster links and features used to test new apps such as AI tools. and AI ideas on a real Network sandbox A controlled test environment where companies try network services and connected tools before wider use.. The pair held demo days and roadshows, including one at U Mobile's Enterprise Innovation Platform U Mobile's programme and hub where startups can test new network and AI ideas with businesses. Hub on 28 October. Funding and commercial deals are not part of the offer.
What we learned
What is on offer: U Mobile's Enterprise Innovation Platform gives eligible startups a place to test and show 5G-A and AI tools to businesses. Cradle brings programs, ecosystem links and possible later funding paths. Access still depends on technical fit.
Recent events: Since September 2026 the partners ran a Cradle roadshow in Sarawak and the MYStartup Pre-Accelerator Demo Day at the EIP Hub. U Mobile's network ratings (Ookla, Opensignal) are company-cited speed and reliability claims.
What is not promised: TechNode Global and e27 both stress that cheques and paid contracts are not automatic. Startups get Sandbox A walled-off space on a computer where an AI or program can run without touching anything outside it. time and industry meetings first.
Why now: U Mobile's CTO Woon Ooi Yuen said startups need a place to test against real business needs. Cradle's CEO Norman Vanhaecke said the goal is helping Malaysian firms grow beyond the home market.
Why it matters: Local builders get a rare chance to try AI on a live 5G-A network without buying one. Treat it as a test bed, not free funding.
U Mobile, Cradle step up support for Malaysian startups in 5G-A, AI · TechNode GlobalRead ↗
U Mobile opens its 5G-Advanced sandbox to Cradle's startups, but the cheques are not part of the deal · e27Read ↗
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More stories today
How companies use AI
50%+
drop in support costs cult.fit reports after AI agents
How companies use AI
India's cult.fit says Codex cut support costs by more than half
Fitness chain cult.fit standardised on OpenAI's Codex OpenAI's coding agent that can write, change and test software from written instructions. coding AI agent An AI program that can take actions for you, like writing code, filling forms or moving items, not just answering questions., then let non-engineers build tools with it. The company's own figures in an OpenAI customer story claim big savings and many new internal apps. Numbers below are vendor case study claims.
Key learnings
Company: cult.fit, India, about 708 gyms in 77 cities and nearly one million paid members. Industry: fitness and consumer products.
What they built: one shared Codex setup for engineering (including SRE and security agents), then office hours so HR and other teams could ship apps. One engineer rebuilt an internal dashboard over a weekend after a software price jump.
Measured results (company's own figures via OpenAI): more than 20 internal apps from non-engineers; over about RM405,000 (US$100,000) a year saved on that dashboard; more than 50% lower customer support costs; a social feed shipped in two months versus an earlier estimate of more than a year.
Lesson for smaller teams: pick one coding agent and train people around it, then measure support and software bills before and after. Treat the savings as company claims until you see your own numbers.
Why it matters: A large Asia fitness firm is using the same coding agent for engineers and office staff. The savings are company claims, but the pattern of standardising on one tool is easy to copy.
Cult.fit builds operational muscle with Codex · OpenAIRead ↗
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How companies use AI
90%+
of monthly security cases Greenlight says Luna closes alone
How companies use AI
Greenlight's Luna clears over 90% of security cases on its own
US family-finance firm Greenlight built Luna, a Multi-agent system A setup where several AI agents each do one part of a job and pass work between them. security helper on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore AWS tools that host and connect AI agents so companies do not build that plumbing themselves.. AWS says Luna resolves more than 90% of up to 4,000 security and risk cases a month without a person. Figures are from an AWS customer post.
Key learnings
Problem: 3,000 to 4,000 alerts a month from dark-web card leaks, odd logins, infrastructure tools and fraud signals. A human case could take 15 to 30 minutes.
What they built: a Tier-1 supervisor that calls more than 30 specialist AI agent An AI program that can take actions for you, like writing code, filling forms or moving items, not just answering questions., plus a Tier-2 deep dive. It runs on Bedrock AgentCore runtime and memory inside a private network.
Result (AWS / company claims): more than 90% of cases closed without a human; routine Incident triage The first step after something breaks: working out what went wrong, how serious it is and who should fix it. in single-digit seconds. Complex cases still go to analysts with full Context window How much text an AI can keep in mind at once, like the size of its short-term memory..
Lesson: agent stacks help when the work is high volume and rule-heavy. Keep a human path for the hard cases, especially in finance.
Why it matters: Banks and fintechs face the same alert flood. An autonomous first line only works if someone still owns the tricky calls.
How Greenlight Financial built an autonomous SOC solution on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore · AWS Machine Learning BlogRead ↗
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China AI
89%
of open-source AI company spend Menlo says went to Chinese models
Merged from 3 sources
China AI
Kimi leads 89% of open-source AI spend by companies, study says
A Menlo Ventures A Silicon Valley venture firm that published a study on how companies spend on open AI models. study, reported by SCMP, says Chinese open models took about 89% of global enterprise spending on Open-source Software, or an AI model, whose code or files are published so anyone can use and change them. AI. Moonshot's Kimi led with 61%, ahead of DeepSeek and Z.ai. Proprietary US models still take most overall AI revenue.
Key learnings
Shares (Menlo Ventures via SCMP): Kimi 61%, DeepSeek 15%, Z.ai GLM 11%, Meta's Llama about 7% of open-source enterprise spend.
Caveat: open-source is still a small slice next to paid closed models. The ranking is about that niche, not the whole AI market.
Related money: Beijing video startup Sand.ai closed about RM809 million (US$200 million) Series A+ A large early funding round after a first Series A, used to grow a startup further. led by CoStone and Wangsu, taking 10-month fundraising to about RM1.21 billion (US$300 million) and a company-claimed Valuation How much investors think a whole company is worth. above about RM4.05 billion (US$1 billion). Its MAGI-2 Preview is a 114-billion-Parameters The internal numbers a model learns during training; more parameters usually means a bigger, more capable but costlier model.Mixture-of-experts A model design that turns on only some of its parts for each answer, which can cut cost. video model, the company says.
Also at Wuzhen: China showed an AI agent An AI program that can take actions for you, like writing code, filling forms or moving items, not just answering questions.Identity registry A shared list that gives each AI agent a code so other systems can check who it is. still in pilot, and about 20 firms including Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent signed an agent Self-discipline pact A voluntary promise by companies to follow shared rules, not a law by itself..
Why it matters: Chinese open models are cheap for companies to try. Closed US tools still take most of the money, so both tracks matter.
China's AI models, led by Kimi, dominate open-source enterprise spending · SCMP TechRead ↗
Sand.ai closes $200 million Series A+ for video AI · TechNode GlobalRead ↗
China Unveils an AI Agent Identity Registry at Wuzhen as 20 Organizations Sign Self-Discipline Pact · PandailyRead ↗
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AI video tools
15s
maximum native clip length in Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash
Merged from 2 sources
AI video tools
Google's Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash makes 15-second clips cheaper
Google launched Gemini Omni Google's video-making AI that turns text and reference images into short clips. 1.2 Flash for the Gemini API Application programming interface: a door that lets one piece of software ask another for data or actions. and business plans. Clips can run up to 15 seconds, up from 10, and the price falls about 30% to about RM0.28 (US$0.07) per second at 720p. You can draft cheap, then upscale the keepers.
Key learnings
New limits: native video up to 15 seconds, with length set in one-second steps from 3 to 15. Multi-turn edits let you fix one detail without remaking the whole clip.
Price: about RM0.28 (US$0.07) per second at 720p, Google says 30% less than Omni 1.1. Draft at 360p or 720p, then upscale to 1080p or 4K.
Consistency: you can mix character, product or style stills, short motion clips and audio so faces, packaging and brand colours stay steadier across angles.
Related: Anthropic started a US beta of Claude Personal Finance, which links bank accounts through Plaid A US service that lets apps connect to bank accounts after the user logs in at their bank. in read-only mode. It answers money questions but cannot move funds.
Why it matters: Shorter, cheaper video tools help small shops make product clips. Check the final cut yourself before you pay to run ads.
Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash: Fast and cost-effective with longer clips · Google AI BlogRead ↗
Anthropic adds Claude Personal Finance bank linking in the US · ITmedia AI+Read ↗
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Southeast Asia
77.6
Singapore's Ayre Index score out of 100 for youth AI readiness
Merged from 2 sources
Southeast Asia
Singapore leads Commonwealth youth AI readiness at 77.6
The new Ayre Index A 2026 score that ranks Commonwealth countries on how ready young people are to use AI at work and in life. ranks Singapore first among 56 Commonwealth countries for how ready young people aged 15 to 29 are for AI, with a score of 77.6 out of 100. Australia is third. e27 says the harder gap is jobs and rights, not gadgets.
Key learnings
What it measures: technology access, digital skills, education, employment and safeguards for youth across the Commonwealth.
Singapore's mix: strong digital skill and confidence scores; weaker on employment/enterprise and rights, safety and participation, according to secondary coverage of the index.
Regional read: e27 argues Australia's third place shows that owning the tech is easier than building fair work and safety rules around it.
Also in the region: AMD, FuriosaAI and MangoBoost said they plan a Seoul AI cluster, a nearby Northeast Asia build-out that SEA buyers may watch for hardware supply.
Why it matters: Scores help governments compare homework. Young workers still need jobs and clear rules after the ranking photo is taken.
Southeast Asia
