Regional

AI news flash: Japan’s three megabanks are speeding up the handoff of AI and other tech tool development to India, hoping to roll out services faster as competition in digital finance heats up. According to Nikkei Asia, PayPay Bank has joined the trend too, outsourcing more system development and operations work to Indian teams just like Japan’s major banks. As the headline suggests, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is bringing AI into back-office work while also expanding its IT team in India…

AI news flash: According to the e-Conomy SEA 2026 report, AI use in e-commerce keeps expanding, mainly for product recommendations and content creation, and this trend should support Southeast Asia’s digital economy growth even as the broader economic outlook stays uncertain. The report was released jointly by Bain & Company, Google, and Temasek Holdings in Singapore on Wednesday, October 21, and it projects the region’s digital economy to reach…

AI news flash: Cybersecurity companies in Indonesia are urging the country to rapidly expand the number of AI experts in its workforce to protect Southeast Asia’s largest economy from cyberattacks and online fraud, and they’re calling on the government to step up support for the AI industry. The appeal came at a cybersecurity conference held in Bali on October 20, where security experts discussed the challenges Indonesia faces as AI-driven cyberattacks rise worldwide…

AI news flash: Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has asked Samsung Electronics to work with it in three areas: chips for security equipment, AI for analyzing files, and biometric software. The request shows this powerful police agency is expanding its tech footprint and ambitions. Going by what the original summary confirms, the ministry wants to tap Samsung’s semiconductor capabilities to build chips for security devices, bring in AI to process and analyze file data, and adopt biometric software for identity recognition…

AI news flash: Japan’s 20-year government bond auction on Tuesday drew strong demand, reflecting investors moving into relatively safe assets as uncertainty over France’s bond market grows and concerns about AI-related financial risks surface. The auction’s bid-to-cover ratio hit a record high, showing eager buying of ultra-long JGBs and easing worries about Japan’s fiscal health. In France, political turmoil, street unrest, and public finance concerns have pushed bond yields higher, sending money looking for a safe haven…

AI news flash: Asia’s AI investment boom is lifting exports and economic growth, but economists say the benefits aren’t reaching ordinary consumers. The view came out of the Business of Luxury Summit held in Bangkok on Tuesday (October 20), where the panelists included Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, Managing Director and Chief Economist at Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group…

AI news brief: Dan’s Steaks in Singapore, run by former radio DJ Daniel Ong, is a restaurant chain that survived the COVID-19 pandemic and kept serving juicy steaks to hungry Singaporean diners. Now it has been brought down by another force beyond its control: inflation. The owner says rising operating costs are the reason for closing, and the chain is expected to shut down in the coming months…

AI news flash: In this episode of the Tech Latest Podcast, host Brian Chapman talks with Japan tech correspondent Tsubasa Suruga about SoftBank’s high-stakes bet on AI infrastructure. The discussion focuses on SB Energy, SoftBank’s energy arm, turning to renewable energy to power large-scale data center projects with a ‘power first’ approach…

AI news brief: Japanese adult English learners widely believe human teachers remain irreplaceable, even though many of them already use generative AI themselves, according to a Nikkei poll. The survey targeted adult English learners in Japan, many of whom use generative AI tools at least part of the time to support their studies, but most still feel the role of human teachers can’t be replaced by AI. The report cites online English teaching platform RareJob, noting that many students who study with AI materials are actually more eager to seek out opportunities to learn from human teachers.

AI news flash: DeepSeek just rolled out an updated AI model, with the Chinese AI startup claiming the new version beats out US rivals from OpenAI and Anthropic on some benchmarks while still keeping costs low. This update builds on the model it released back in September, and DeepSeek says the improved version outperforms its American competitors across multiple performance metrics.