🧋 Hello human and artificial friends,

Schools are back to doing what they’ve always done best — preparing kids for everything except real life.

While teachers are trying hard to stop students from using AI for their homework, the real world looks very different.

KPMG will now rate its employees based on how they use AI in their annual performance reviews. The firm is already tracking data from Microsoft’s Copilot and wants every employee, from interns to executives, to integrate AI into their work.

Welcome to the new homework of adulthood. 🎓

Asia is where AI moves fastest. Every day, new tools drop. Most vanish overnight, but a few redefine how people live and work. We find those gems so you can watch, learn, and build your own.

Today’s idea

Asia is where AI moves fastest. Every day, new tools drop. Most vanish overnight, but a few redefine how people live and work. We find those gems so you can watch, learn, and build your own.

Today’s idea

Shopping agents are changing how people buy online. In the US, Amazon’s Rufus already drives billions in extra sales by helping customers decide what to buy rather than just showing results.

Across Asia, shopping is becoming conversational. Instead of typing keywords or clicking filters, people now describe what they want — “a jacket that works for office and travel” — and get a short, clear list that makes sense.

Chinese platforms already run these systems at scale. They don’t look like Western chatbots. They’re built directly into search bars, video feeds, and payment flows.

👉🏻 Watch: the best agent is invisible. It doesn’t feel like AI. It just helps you decide faster.

You tell the agent what you want:
“Here are the results from my skin checkup. I’m allergic to fragrance and parabens. Find me a moisturizer that’s safe for me and not greasy.”

The system scans product ingredients, filters out allergens, checks recent reviews for sensitivity feedback, and shows three options that fit your budget and skin type — ready to buy with one tap.

In China, this runs inside the apps everybody already uses:

✅ It fixes the hardest part of e-commerce: choice
Most users don’t know what to buy. They scroll endlessly and give up. A good assistant removes the long decision process. That’s what drives conversion.

✅ It uses the data shoppers already create
Every search, click, and return tells a story. By combining those signals, these systems quietly learn what matters: comfort, price, delivery speed, or look. They use that to show better suggestions next time.

✅ It turns routine browsing into real insight
When millions of people describe what they want in their own words, you start to see gaps in the market — products nobody makes yet, problems nobody has solved. That’s information a new startup can build on.

✅ It fits naturally into habits
People are already chatting, scrolling videos, or comparing products on the same screen. The assistant just joins that moment instead of asking them to open another app.

👉🏻 Help small brands act big: Big platforms already use these tools. Small shops don’t. Create simple plug-ins that help them guide customers, compare options, or check compatibility without building their own system.

🤖 Baidu’s AI brain joins the rival he helped create: The AI startup is reshaping its leadership as former Baidu AI Cloud VP Shen Pengfei joins as co-founder to head its B2B and government AI divisions. With over two decades of experience in China’s tech and enterprise sectors, Shen brings deep expertise in cloud, cybersecurity, and large-scale government projects. Imagine someone like Google Cloud’s VP of AI leaving to co-found Anthropic — that’s the scale of this move.

🇰🇷 South Korea turns AI into a growth manifesto: At the APEC summit in Gyeongju, President Lee Jae Myung urged member nations to see AI as a driver of economic growth rather than disruption. Launching his “AI-Based Society for All” initiative, Lee outlined plans to expand data centers, reform regulations, and foster global AI innovation. He also called for joint forces on aging populations and falling birth rates, positioning AI and creative industries as new engines for regional growth.

⚡ Big Tech backs Singapore’s new green AI lab: A new collaboration between the National University of Singapore, Microsoft, and AMD will develop AI tools to cut energy use and carbon emissions across key industries. Supported by Singapore’s digital authority and sustainability firm Univers, the lab combines cloud, chip, and research expertise to build practical, ethical AI systems. It will also train students in real-world applications, strengthening Singapore’s position as a hub for sustainable innovation.

The dramatic forecast: The CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) predicts that AI will reduce the need for call centers to a "minimum" within one year. Agentic AI will replace classic bots.

As of today, 85% of companies are piloting AI service agents, but only ~20% meet expectations. By 2029, Gartner expects AI agents to resolve approximately 80% of routine issues.

The new AI generation will no longer just respond to calls, but will, for example, identify weather and aircraft/crew rotation data and flag a high delay risk.

It pushes you 2–3 rebooking options (plus voucher info) before you dial support; one tap confirms, and your itinerary updates automatically.

Over 5 million people work in India alone in IT and Business Process Outsourcing.

🤖 The Transformation:

The reality: No job cuts so far, but the broader adoption of generative AI among multinational clients will fundamentally transform the industry.

That’s how many monthly active overseas API users China’s leading large-model startup Zhipu AI has right now.

🧑‍💻 10x surge: The number of paying overseas users has increased tenfold in the past two months. An additional 3 million people use the free chatbot.

💸 Cheap, fast, compatible: GLM-4.6 is now integrated into coding tools like Claude Code and Kilo Code. At Kilo Code, token usage rose 94× within 12 days, driven by clear price-performance advantages over U.S. alternatives.

Watch: Chinese models are gaining ground globally when cost, quality, and integration align. For teams, this means multi-model stacks and closer scrutiny of total cost, latency, and compliance in each market.

🖌️ Nijijourney is an anime-focused version of Midjourney, which shares its account system and infrastructure on discord.

🎥 Hailuo 2.3 is MiniMax’s upgraded AI video model, with sharper realism and smoother motion.

🌄 Dreamina turns a few words into striking and artful images and videos—perfect for posters, logos, and avatars.

⚡️FlashCut 闪剪 makes promo clips and “digital human” videos from text or templates, including auto edit, add voiceovers and subtitles.

🍜 ROLO Robotics teaches robots to cook your lunch: The Singapore startup raised 3.45 million USD to scale its autonomous micro-kitchens. Its robot MAYA 3.0 chops, fries, and serves meals without humans, cutting labor costs by 80%.

🎓 VideoTutor makes studying feel like scrolling TikTok: At 22, Zhao Kai built an app turning math problems into short animated clips. In 20 days, 30,000 students watched 100 000 videos. Backed by 11 million USD, Zhao aims to make tutoring as easy as watching videos.

🎬 Videotto turns teenage frustration into startup magic: Two 18-year-olds from Singapore built an AI editing tool that auto-creates captioned clips. Funded by East Ventures, the team aims to make video creation as simple as upload.

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🌏 NVIDIA: 2026 Internships - Autonomous Vehicles and Robotics, China

🌏 Ekimetrics: Junior Consultant in Strategy & Data Science, China

🌏 LINE Plus: AI Product Manager, South Korea

🌏 Persly: AI Engineer (LLM, RAG), South Korea

🌏 Daangn: Data Analytics Engineer, South Korea

🌏 Sixertech: STEM Experts - Global Resources (Live), APAC

🌏 Geniee (JAPAN AI): AI Consultant, Japan

🌏 DataAnnotation: Bilingual AI Trainer, Hong Kong

🌏 Cummins: AI Intern (LLM), China

🌏 Hyphenconnect: AI - Leveraged Product Development Generalist, China

Yeah, we know we’re too obsessed with humanlike robots…

…but we’re not alone! In Shenzhen, they showcased their robotics ambitions at the Chinese National Games, where the humanoid robot Kuavo ran 100 meters in the torch relay.