Articles — IMA AI

AI & Operations June 2026

Prompts Still Matter. The Formula Course Still Doesn't.

The prompt-engineering gurus are right that wording still matters — research shows up to 76-point swings. That same research says results come from clarity, not magic formulas. Why you don't need the formula course.

AI & Operations June 2026

My AI Skipped the Rules This Morning. I Fixed the Instruction, Not the AI.

One of our AI agents jumped straight to execution and declared a file "missing" — it just hadn't synced. The easy move is to blame the AI. The real fix is making the instruction self-sufficient. A first-person operating lesson.

AI & Business June 2026

That 'AI Growth System' Isn't an Invention. It's a Repackage.

A friend forwarded me a three-day "AI growth" course and asked if I could run one. Most of these sell repackaged common knowledge with branded acronyms and an inflated value stack — here's how to tell packaging from invention, and how to value one before you pay.

Job Market June 2026

The Shopee Layoffs Aren't the Story. The Queue Under the Sun Is.

Shopee cut hundreds of engineers as Sea pivots to AI. The real danger isn't the layoff — it's where those professionals go next. They cut their price and cascade downward, squeezing blue-collar workers from above. 1,000 people, a 2km queue, a few hundred jobs.

AI Strategy June 2026

Is a 10% Edge Worth 57 Times the Cost?

Microsoft is weighing self-hosted DeepSeek to cut Copilot costs — we made the same call first. Strip the politics off the model and one question remains: is a single-digit performance edge worth paying 57x more? Cost vs performance vs data security.

AI & Work June 2026

Everyone Wants AI-Ready Workers. Nobody Wants to Pay to Train Them.

A huge PwC analysis says employers want entry-level workers with senior-level skills. But who pays to train them? Universities are too slow, businesses won't, government has budget but no expertise — so the cost lands on the individual.

AI & Education June 2026

China Is Ditching Degrees for the AI Era. Who Teaches the New Ones?

China is dropping "obsolete" degrees for the AI era. The real question isn't which degrees — it's who's qualified to teach the new ones. Most universities lack the expertise; the market's full of AI gurus. Here's the test that tells them apart.

Malaysian Business June 2026

China Didn't Take Your Business. Your Mindset Did.

Malaysian SMEs keep asking the government to block China. I have no sympathy. The complaint hides two broken beliefs — that being the local player should last forever, and that you can sell to their country but they can't compete in yours.

AI Tools June 2026

Generation or Editing? I Was Asking the Wrong Question.

Every AI image tool asks you to choose: generate or edit? I spent weeks confused by that question. The answer: it is always generation. The only thing changing is a constraint dial. Once you see that, every tool decision becomes obvious.

AI Operations June 2026

Why We Stopped Prompting and Started Building — The Story Behind Ultra Studio

Five AI subscriptions. Five separate memories. A human manually carrying work between every tool. This is the internal problem IMA AI decided to solve — what we built, what works today, and what we are still figuring out.

AI Operations June 2026

API Is the Right Model. But You Are Not a Developer. Here Is the Honest Answer.

The fair objection to moving off AI subscriptions: "I cannot build what you built." That is a legitimate constraint. But the barrier is not where most people think it is — and the ceiling you hit by never building anything is real.

AI Operations June 2026

AI Gets Better. Humans Still Sleep. That Is Why I Moved My Team to API.

I was paying USD 65 per staff per month for three AI subscriptions — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini. Then a month packed with public holidays made me run the numbers. Subscriptions assume full utilisation. Most teams do not reach it.

AI Commerce June 2026

TikTok Wants You to Lower Your ROI Target to 1.2. Do You Know What That Actually Costs You?

TikTok's GMV Max recommends ROI 1.2 — and tells you to lower it further when performance drops. Most sellers follow without question. At 20% total platform fees, even ROI 2.6 is a loss. Here is the math.

AI in Business June 2026

Malaysia Lost 31,000 Jobs in 4 Months. AI Wasn't the Cause. That's What Should Scare You.

Malaysia recorded 31,082 retrenchments in the first four months of 2026 — a 47% surge. Most of it had nothing to do with AI. That's the part nobody is talking about. Because AI hasn't even started yet.

AI Commerce June 2026

They Think It's an Opportunity. I Think They're Working for TikTok. For Free.

Malaysian traders flood creators with free collab requests. TikTok's affiliate model created this illusion. Run the margin math — with platform fees hitting 20% — and the only party getting paid is the platform. China's listed companies prove it.

AI in Business May 2026

I Researched the Full Cost of Real AI Avatar Livestream. Nobody Is Actually Building It.

TikTok bans AI avatar livestream. Then ByteDance introduced one. I researched the full infrastructure and token cost of what real AI avatar livestream would actually require. The math makes it impossible today — and what everyone is selling is not AI.

AI in Business May 2026

TikTok's AI Briefing: Lumina AI Is Real. The AI Avatar Could Get You Permanently Banned.

I attended TikTok Malaysia's AI briefing. ByteDance introduced two new products. One is going into our workflow immediately. The other could get your TikTok Shop account permanently banned — and the way they described the risk told me everything.

AI Commerce May 2026

Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop Are All Raising Fees. That's Not a Coincidence.

Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop are all raising fees at the same time. Almost nobody is asking why. The answer tells you everything about what's coming — and which brands will win.

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