Stripe's Asia layer, Thailand's government test, and who owns GEO

This Week's Analysis

Can Stripe make Asia's complexity disappear for global businesses?

Short Reads

1. Thailand is using AI to test whether its government can work as one

   Thailand has opened a public prototype, Pathumma Connect, that sends a citizen's question to five government agency chatbots and returns one cited answer. The harder work is underneath: keeping public information current, compatible and accountable when different agencies say different things. This Short Read looks at what the prototype is really testing: whether government information can work across agencies, not just whether AI can answer a question.

   Read on Relay Asia →
2. AI search visibility is becoming a PR question, not just an SEO task

   Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is how teams track whether a brand appears when an AI model answers a question about their category. Structured data can help a model understand what a company says about itself. It does not determine what the model ultimately cites. Much of that information still comes from journalism and other third-party sources, which means communications and search are increasingly dealing with the same visibility problem. This Short Read looks at who should own that work.

   Read on Relay Asia →

Suggested Reads

• Singapore is asking whether its IP rules still work when AI is the default tool. MinLaw and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore have opened a consultation on whether the country's IP rules still work when AI becomes a default tool. Three areas stand out: what the 2021 computational data analysis exception actually covers, who is liable when AI output infringes copyright, and what counts as human contribution in AI-assisted work. The consultation closes on 22 October 2026.
• Thailand puts productivity at the centre of its industrial AI roadmap. If you read this week's Short Read on Thailand's government prototype, this is the industrial counterpart. The Thailand Productivity Institute and Asian Productivity Organization have given the Ministry of Industry a roadmap that treats AI as a productivity tool, with recommended 2030 goals including a 15% lift in specified sectors and certification for 50,000 industrial workers. APO's secretary-general put it simply: "AI is not the objective. Productivity is."
• DBS and Citi completed a weekend US Dollar payment. DBS and Citi used tokenised deposits to move US Dollars between Singapore and New York on a Saturday (5 September 2026), taking minutes rather than waiting for normal banking hours. DBS says it was the first weekend payment between the two markets. Cross-border payments have traditionally depended on banking systems that operate around business hours. This shows tokenised money can move across markets outside those windows, potentially making international payments faster and more flexible.
• Sakana AI is using Sumitomo's network to reach Japanese companies. The Asia Business Daily reports that Sumitomo Corporation and its systems arm, SCSK, have teamed up with Sakana AI to sell Japanese-made generative AI into the trading house's network of around 100,000 corporate customers. Sakana is bringing the model work, while SCSK connects it to existing systems. This is an example of how a Japanese AI lab actually gets its technology in front of mid-sized companies.
• Ashe Magalhaes used GPT-6 Astra to ship a 3D Human Atlas. OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra on 3 September 2026, selling it as a model that can build working software and use a computer, not just answer a prompt. For an example of what the model can be used to create, Ashe Magalhaes created something cool. Human Atlas is a 3D site that pulls the male anatomy apart into 2,234 modelled parts. The meshes come from an existing anatomy library.
• Launch of a brand strategy tool, Narratist. One for the people building companies: Ee Rong, a former boss of mine, and Dani Comar have just launched Narratist, a brand strategy tool built from three decades of agency experience. It's designed to help founders and teams get to the heart of what they stand for and how to say it, without having to wait months for an agency process. I like the premise: take something agencies have traditionally done with you, and make it something you can work through yourself. If you're building, fundraising or simply wondering why your brand story no longer quite fits, have a look at Narratist.