☕️ Anwar says stop using Waze - gunalah TuJu

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Spotlight: Anthropic

>80% – An internal poll of 1,334 Anthropic employees revealed that most of the staff polled believed AI will handle that proportion of their jobs by 2030, a belief that only 5% of US workers shared. These numbers are according to research published by the AI firm, titled “The AI expectations gap”. Some Anthropic employees even expect AI to handle 95% of the work of building a new AI model by the end of 2030. The AI firm’s chief economist, Peter McCrory, said that the firm published the research as what happens at Anthropic “could be a leading indicator for the broader world”, since the company “runs roughly a year and a half ahead of the economy on AI adoption”. Notably, most Anthropic employees surveyed believed that the unemployment rate will top 12% in 2030, following the lead of the firm’s CEO, Dario Amodei, who has been vocal about labour upheaval. Earlier this year, he said he expected AI to “write all of the code” within the year, and that AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, lifting unemployment to 10% or 20%.

USD16.8 bil (RM68.59 bil) – Anthropic recorded that much in revenue for its recently ended Q3, disappointing some investors as this marked a slower revenue growth compared to earlier this year. Not great when the firm is preparing to go public. However, the slowdown is attributed to Anthropic getting better at stopping rivals from stealing its AI secrets. It was revealed that between 5% and 7% of the firm’s revenue came from something called “distillation”, where rival AI developers use the firm’s Claude models to help train their own competing systems. By asking Claude carefully chosen questions, rivals can use the answers gathered to train their own AI models. These questions, asked by thousands of accounts specifically made for this distillation process, generate revenue for Anthropic, even though the customers are effectively trying to copy its technology. By being better at protecting its technology, Anthropic inadvertently hurt its own revenue growth. The firm also warned investors that revenue from distillation is expected to decline further moving forward.

USD80.7 bil - Anthropic’s massive losses with a but. In a draft prospectus sighted by Reuters, Anthropic reported that its net loss widened to USD80.7 bil in 1H 2026 from USD13 bil in 1H 2025. However, this is a ‘paper loss’ as it reflects a USD72 bil accounting charge related to an increase in the estimated value of bonds that could eventually convert into Anthropic shares. As Anthropic’s valuation climbs, the estimated fair value of these bonds will also rise. And because these bonds sit on the liability side of the balance sheet, they are recorded as losses to Anthropic. In 2025, Anthropic declared a net loss of USD42 bil, with most of that coming from this accounting charge. Excluding that, Anthropic had an operating loss of about USD8.1 bil on USD4.6 bil in revenue for 2025. Still, burn baby burn.

RM9 - Support The Coffee Break monthly. Nothing staggering, small small number. Haze so bad even our mascot wears a mask.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Border chief faces court and civil action
Shuhaily claims trial: Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency Director-General Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain has claimed trial to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt to two lower-ranking officers. The 54-year-old is accused of injuring Mohamad Faiz Saman, 40, and Muhammad Ekmal Sofwan, 25, during an incident at KLIA Terminal 1 on Sept 28 during an enforcement operation targeting foreign tout syndicates and illegal drug smuggling. Shuhaily pleaded not guilty before the Sepang Magistrates’ Court. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail, a maximum RM2,000 fine, or both. The court granted him RM3,000 bail with one surety and fixed Nov 25 for the next mention. He must also attend future pre-trial proceedings after the court rejected a request to excuse him from attending.

Nine lawyers step in: Shuhaily is being represented by a team of nine lawyers, including former appellate court judge Yaacob Md Sam. Members of the legal team said they were long-time friends from school, university and professional circles who wanted to support his right to defend himself. His lawyers are waiting for documents under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code before deciding on their next steps, including whether to make further representations. Shuhaily also thanked those who had sent messages of support and said his lawyers would handle public comments on the case from now on.

Officers plan civil suit: The two officers are also preparing a civil suit against Shuhaily over alleged physical injuries and trauma. Their lawyers said the claim would be filed within seven days, although the amount sought has not been decided because medical reports are still pending. One of the officers is said to require follow-up psychiatric treatment. Their lawyers, who are acting pro bono, said the claim would cover physical and mental effects linked to the incident. The alleged assault was captured on CCTV, and the footage later circulated on social media (watch the footage here - thoughts?). AKPS confirmed that the footage was genuine.

Little context known so far. We hope whatever triggered Shuhaily, it was in the name of protecting our country.

Malaysia moves away from Waze
Anwar raises data security concerns: PM Anwar Ibrahim has advised Malaysians against using Waze, citing concerns over the security of users’ personal information and movement data. The issue was discussed at the National Cyber Security Committee (JKSN) meeting on Oct 20, where the government reviewed cyber threats and Malaysia’s digital preparedness. Anwar said Waze is subject to Israeli law, and suggested Malaysians use the locally developed TuJu navigation app instead. After so long, only they realised this? Google acquired Waze for USD1.15 bil back in 2013.

The meeting also covered the Cyber Security Act 2024, MyDigital ID security, threats from autonomous artificial intelligence and preparations for post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The government said it is strengthening its digital identity system, with MyKad used as a physical credential and MyDigital ID for online transactions.

Civil servants told to stop using Waze: The government then went a step further by banning civil servants from using Waze with immediate effect. The directive applies to ministries, federal departments, statutory bodies, state governments and local authorities.

TuJu was developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) with Prosignal Consortium and launched in Nov 2025. The app provides route planning, estimated arrival times, toll and real-time traffic information, rest area details, live CCTV access and emergency assistance. We are more curious, was it outsourced to a third party? How much was spent? Sape dapat kontrak?

Kuching student attack leaves teacher injured
A 16-year-old student at an international school in Kuching injured a teacher with reportedly a penknife before being subdued and taken to the principal’s office. The teacher was treated at the scene and later sent to hospital, while other students were evacuated as a safety precaution. A video of the incident later went viral on social media (not linking it here - you can search it online). Some accounts claimed the student had livestreamed the attack before the footage was deleted, although this has not been officially confirmed.

Sarawak Acting Police Commissioner Deputy Commissioner Saifullizan Ishak confirmed that a penknife was involved and denied reports that an axe had been used. No other injuries were reported. Police arrived shortly after the incident and the student’s parents were contacted. The school temporarily closed its premises and asked parents to collect their children early.

Shorts:

1. Renting out MyKad could mean jail
   Malaysians who rent out or hand their MyKad to foreigners could face up to three years in jail, a RM20,000 fine, or both. The warning follows an operation in Pasir Gudang where 36 foreign factory workers were detained for allegedly using fake MyKads or cards belonging to others. Since 2022, the National Registration Department has carried out 4,174 operations and made 1,868 arrests.

2. Perlis MB suspended by Bersatu
   Bersatu has suspended Perlis Menteri Besar Abu Bakar Hamzah for two party election terms, effective Oct 13. The move followed allegations that he breached the party constitution and its code of conduct. Abu Bakar has also been stripped of all party posts and cannot speak on behalf of Bersatu during the suspension. He has 14 days to appeal the decision.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

SpaceX and Tesla exploring multi-trillion dollar merger
“Because I am a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussion of the special committees,” said Elon Musk at the latest SpaceX conference call. He was referring to the special committees that have been set up to discuss a merger between SpaceX and Tesla. Of course, he thinks that ‘it’s a good idea’, as he has talked about the possibility before. Things are progressing well for SpaceX, with its latest financial results.

1. Revenue is up by 161% to USD14.6 bil (RM59.59 bil) for Q3 2026

2. Generated its first quarterly profit of USD4.4 bil as a public company.

This was mainly driven by its AI division, where its revenue surged by almost 10 times to USD7.6 bil, and now makes up the bulk of its total revenue. However, this was mostly due to SpaceX renting out its data centre capacity to Anthropic, Alphabet, and Reflection AI, rather than from its own models. Elon thinks that the company could achieve an annual recurring revenue of USD500 bil to USD1 tril by the end of 2027, but SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen tempered expectations to say that the company expects annual recurring revenue of about USD100 bil by the end of 2026.

If SpaceX and Tesla merge, this could potentially form a USD3.5 tril company in market capitalisation, putting it on par with Microsoft (USD3.9 tril) and Alphabet (USD4.1 tril).

Setlog is coming for the social media throne
Setlog has taken South Korea and Japan by storm. The ‘private social media’ app lets groups of friends take two-second clips every waking hour and export them into a collective day-in-the-life video or vlog. Roughly 10 mil global users send some 60 mil videos on the app every day. Setlog has no algorithmic feed, and vlogs are capped at groups of 20 viewers, but exported videos to other social media platforms have racked up millions of views. Visit site here.

Setlog was launched by New York startup New Chat Inc. in Dec 2025, initially targeting the South Korean market. Its users say the main appeal of the app comes from its privacy, as it doesn’t collect data on age or gender, and allows an unvarnished snapshot of a person’s day. The big question now is how it would proceed with monetisation and its expansion plans in the US.

Here’s a popular setlog from the K-pop group Seventeen:

Taiwan blocks Grab’s purchase of Foodpanda
Taiwan’s regulators took a look at Grab’s purchase of Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan and decided to block it. The commission said the deal’s harm to competition from the proposed deal outweighed its overall economic benefits and that the ‘commitments offered by the companies were insufficient to eliminate the competition concerns’. In Mar 2026, Grab said that it would pay USD600 mil (RM2.4 bil) in cash for the Foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan. Ultimately, it was disappointed by the decision and reaffirmed that ‘Grab’s core business across Southeast Asia remains robust’.

From the A to the I
Trump says data centres should pay dividends to communities
Well, we are not sure how this will work. But that’s the Trump world that we live in. A lot of words, with scarce details on implementation. This time, Trump says that companies building data centres should pay a ‘dividend’ to the communities where they are sited if they want to make the development popular. Data centres are now the dirty word in cities, towns and communities in the US as they consume high quantities of water and power. Trump also said that major tech companies must build their own power plants for their data centres in order to protect consumers from rising bills.
According to Annenberg Public Policy Centre, three in five adults oppose the construction of new data centres in their area. As the Republicans head into the Nov mid-term elections, this issue has become a political flashpoint for many US communities.

Shorts:

1. UN says the world needs to cut 18% emissions in four years
   The United Nations was clear. “The window has closed” on holding temperature rise to 1.5C. Now, it wants to limit the overshoot of that target. To do that, the world needs to cut emissions by 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035 to avoid overshooting climate targets by a disastrous margin. Cutting greenhouse gases by these targets would yield a good chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.7C above preindustrial levels. Even though renewable energy has been growing rapidly, the world still relies heavily on fossil fuels. And Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate agreement led to weaker commitments from other countries.

2. Novo’s Cagrisema shows 25% weight loss in women
   Novo Nordisk, the maker of popular GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, might have another cash cow in the pipeline. CagriSema, its next-generation obesity drug showed 25% weight loss on average among adult women after 68 weeks in a post hoc analysis of a phase 3 trial. It was linked to reductions in abdominal fat, based on waist circumference, among women and across menopause stages. While this was good news, analysts expected more from it, and are now projecting that it could generate USD11.8 bil (RM48.16 bil) in sales for obesity specifically in 2028.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Experience

1. Experience earthquake. The world moving under your feet - literally.

2. Experience zombies at USJ - Universal Studios Japan. I initially thought it was our USJ…

3. Experience shooting - not the school type at Combat Shooting Club @ Jalan Chan Sow Lin.