06/07/2026

LYFE MONDAY | JULY 6, 2026

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Malaysian Paper

/thesundaily /

A BOUT 24% of Malaysian workers are already emerging as “Frontier Professionals”, the most advanced AI users, outpacing the global average of 16% in advanced artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. However, as it turns out, employees are moving so fast forward that their organisations are struggling to keep up. Essentially, Malaysian workers are adopting it in more advanced ways, producing higher value work and reshaping how work gets done as leadership alignment and workplace systems struggle to keep pace, according to Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index. It further highlights the fundamental shift that when AI agents take on more execution, human agency expands with it, giving people more room to direct work, make judgments and own outcomes. The constraint then is not incumbent on individual capability, but rather how work is designed around people, teams and systems. AI lifts the ceiling The study was conducted by analysing trillions of anonymised Microsoft 365 productivity signals and surveyed 2,000 full-time employed and self-employed knowledge workers in Malaysia, and it revealed Malaysian workers are showing a more mature relationship with AI, one where productivity gains are balanced with accountability, capability-building and judgement. Rather than replacing human judgment, it is reshaping it. 92% of AI users in Malaysia said they treat its output as a starting point instead of the final answer and they still stay responsible for the thinking. These workers are not only adopting it quickly but also using it in more sophisticated ways to analyse information, solve problems, evaluate and think creatively. That capability is translating into WIKIPEDIA does not trust artificial intelligence (AI) enough to let it play a direct role in editing articles on its platform, co-founder Jimmy Wales told AFP recently. The problem of AI “hallucinations” – in which fabricated output is confidently presented – has been reduced with newer AI models but remains “very, very bad”, Wales said on the sidelines of a climate action week event in London. He added, however, AI agents could prove useful in alerting Wikipedia’s community of millions of editors to certain niche news that would otherwise be missed. “We would not let it edit directly because you can’t really trust it enough,” he said. AI platforms, meanwhile, rely on Wikipedia’s content to answer users’ questions. That has contributed to an overall growth in visitors to the site from AI bots, while human traffic has dropped 8%. Wales, who sits on the board of trustees at the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, described the fall in human traffic as “meaningful” but “not a disaster” for the online

browse and no suggestions, so people need to know your exact username to contact you,” Meta said. As with other social media services, the sheer number of people – Meta claims over three billion – using WhatsApp means many may not get their first choice of handle. The company said it would gradually roll out username reservations worldwide “over the coming months”, notifying users in each country when they open there. Meanwhile “creators, small businesses and organisations” will be allowed to claim WhatsApp usernames they already use on fellow Meta products Facebook or Instagram. – AFP rewarded for reinventing how work gets done when those efforts do not immediately produce results. This creates something Microsoft calls “Transformation Paradox”, where employees feel pressure to adopt the growing tech quickly to keep up but the systems around them in terms of metrics, incentives and norms continue to reinforce the old way of working. Every firm is a learning system The strongest signal from the 2026 Work Trend Index is that organisational factors matter more than individual behaviour. Culture, manager support and talent practices account for more than twice the AI impact of individual mindset and usage. Frontier Firms do this by focusing on their absorption, and not just adoption by redesigning how work gets done and turning output into insight. When those insights are captured, shared and embedded into everyday operations, they become Owned Intelligence: Irreplicable institutional knowledge, processes and standards that compound over time. This is where Frontier Professionals stand out. They are more likely to report that agent workflows, human handoffs and quality standards are documented and repeatable compared with non Frontier Professionals (26% vs 18%). By turning individual progress into shared practice, Frontier Firms build learning systems that scale and gain a competitive advantage. As AI becomes an execution layer across work, competitive advantage will belong to leaders who redesign how work gets done and to organisations that empower people to learn, adapt and lead alongside it. Turning that shift into sustained impact requires systems that bring people and AI agents into the same flow of work, supported by connected data and clear governance.

Malaysia’s workforce falls into the Frontier zone, while organisations do not. – HANDOUT PIC

Workers embrace tech o Malaysian employees adopt AI faster than own organisations

capability organisational readiness are high. Meanwhile, the majority of organisations sit in an “emergent” stage, where the tech adoption is underway but individual capability and organisational conditions are still taking shape. In Malaysia, the gap is particularly visible. Only 32% of users in Malaysia said their leadership is clearly and consistently aligned on AI. Even fewer, just 19%, said they are and

and more likely to pause before starting work to decide what should be done by a human versus an AI (57% vs 39%). Leaders to rearchitect work While employees are moving quickly, the research showed leadership and organisational systems are struggling to keep pace. Globally, only 19% of organisations fall into the Frontier category, where individual AI

tangible outcomes: 69% of Malaysian users said they are producing work they could not have created a year ago, rising to 80% among Frontier Professionals. However, Frontier Professionals in Malaysia also refuse to outsource their thinking to the machines. Compared with non-Frontier Professionals, they are more likely to deliberately do some work without it to keep their skills sharp (42% vs 33%)

Wikipedia articles must be edited by humans only for now, co-founder says

WhatsApp messenger to begin offering usernames worldwide

THE hundreds of millions who use Meta-owned messenger WhatsApp to chat with family, friends or businesses will no longer need to share phone numbers under a coming update, the company said recently. Instead, people will be able to pick unique usernames to share with others, in a move “designed to protect the privacy of your phone number”, WhatsApp said in a statement. Restricting access to phone numbers would mean they are not shared automatically in cases such as being added to a large group chat or messaging person or business for the first time, the company added. What’s more,“there’s no directory to

WhatsApp will roll out its new username feature over the next few months. – 123RFPIC

Wikipedia is among the world’s top 10 visited websites. – 123RFPIC

millions of requests costs real money” in the cost of running servers. Wikipedia has already been “very successful” in signing agreements with several tech giants, the founder said. “We’re starting to block the ones who aren’t behaving themselves, but we’ll see how that goes.”

encyclopaedia, which ranks among the 10 most visited websites in the world. The site, created in 2001, depends on donations from users so its business model does not directly rely on traffic. Wales encouraged AI companies to “pay their fair share”, because “hammering us with