AI Training in Malaysia: 74,332 Trained, but Who Got Hired?

Today’s AI news is about work: Parliament heard that 74,332 Malaysians have been through government upskilling for AI and automation, and Raj asks who actually got hired afterwards. We cover HRD Corp’s RM47.67 million in approved training places, PERKESO’s bigger retraining support of up to RM7,000 for people who lose their jobs from 1 October, the RM2,500 graduate pay floor, and what a 40-year-old admin manager in Malaysia should learn now.

AI-YA Daily is researched, written and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team.

Also today: Ray-Ban and Oakley’s Meta AI glasses go on sale in Malaysia on 20 October from RM2,069, which raises privacy questions for shops and offices. Meta also announced its new Wonder models. OpenAI is watermarking ChatGPT text in the EU, but Malaysians don’t get it by default, and editing weakens it. The IMF’s October outlook says AI demand is reallocating growth, and Malaysia is reported at 5.2 per cent, which we could not yet confirm in the IMF’s own tables. The Big Question returns to fresh graduates: train them on AI to do senior work sooner, or protect the entry-level jobs where people learn?

Timestamps 0:04 74,332 trained — but who got hired? 0:23 Meet the team 1:20 Meta’s AI glasses land in Malaysia 3:03 OpenAI’s watermark skips Malaysia 4:35 IMF: AI reallocates growth 5:49 A word from AI-YA 6:28 Work & skills: the training numbers and PERKESO’s RM7,000 10:24 Big Question: fresh grads and the bottom rung 11:44 Verdict: the free Global Learning Pass 12:50 One thing to do today 13:26 See you tomorrow

Today’s Verdict: Rakyat Digital’s Global Learning Pass (three months of Coursera, free; Coursera Plus lists at about RM976 a year). Aiman: Free cukup. Mei Ling: Bayar. Raj: Hype.

Stories and sources

• Over 74,000 join JTM skills training to face AI, automation challenges (Bernama)
• 74,332 join JTM upskilling to face AI, automation risks (theSun)
• PERKESO: Employment Insurance (LINDUNG Kerjaya), new rates from 1 October 2026
• Budget 2027: minimum wage to RM2,000 and RM2,500 floor for graduates (The Star)
• Higher pay, but who will hire? Budget 2027’s AI warning for fresh graduates (Malay Mail, opinion)
• Dewan Rakyat agenda: AI workforce transition and graduate underemployment (theSun)
• Malaysia faces 697,000 jobs at risk without upskilling (People Matters)
• Sea and OpenAI bring Codex hackathon to Malaysia (SoyaCincau)
• Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta AI glasses: Malaysian prices and launch (SoyaCincau)
• Meta unveils new AI models it says rival OpenAI, Anthropic (Malay Mail/AFP)
• OpenAI to put invisible watermark on ChatGPT text in the EU, Malaysians won’t get it by default (Malay Mail)
• IMF: global economy to decelerate to 3.1% in 2026 (The Star/Bernama)
• Global economy can grow 3.1% in 2026; Vietnam, Malaysia can lead Southeast Asia (TNGlobal)
• IMF: Malaysia country page
• World Bank lifts Malaysia’s 2026 growth forecast to 5.1pc (Malay Mail)
• IMF chief warns AI’s “slow-moving tsunami” could hit Gen Z graduates (Fortune)
• Over 12,000 Malaysians have claimed free Coursera courses via Rakyat Digital (SoyaCincau)
• Coursera Plus pricing
• Ringgit opens slightly higher against US dollar (Malay Mail, exchange rate used)

Standing thread: T3 Fresh grads.

AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. Details at ai-ya.my/podcast.