Work & Skills / AI news for Malaysia
Grab and OpenAI to train 30,000 partners in AI, with Malaysia not yet listed
The programme teaches drivers, riders and merchants to hand real tasks to ChatGPT. It starts in Singapore and names three more markets, but Grab's Malaysian partners have no date yet.
In brief
- Grab and OpenAI announced GO Forward with AI on 23 September 2026, aiming to give 30,000 driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners in Southeast Asia practical AI skills over two years.[1][2]
- The programme starts in Singapore and is due to expand to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines later this year. Malaysia is not named.[1]
- Half-day in-person masterclasses use OpenAI Academy material, introduce ChatGPT Work, and come with three months of free ChatGPT Plus for every participant.[1]
What Grab and OpenAI announced
Grab and OpenAI on 23 September 2026 launched GO Forward with AI, a regional programme to teach 30,000 of Grab's driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners how to use AI in their daily work over the next two years. It runs under GrabAcademy, Grab's training arm.[1][2]
The programme starts in Singapore. Grab says it will expand to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines later this year. Malaysia, where Grab also operates, is not among the markets named so far.[1]
What the training covers
OpenAI and Grab teams will visit each market to run half-day, in-person masterclasses based on OpenAI Academy's curriculum and adapted for Grab's partner groups. A train-the-trainer model will then equip GrabAcademy's regional trainers to carry the material to more partners over time.[1]
Participants will be introduced to ChatGPT Work, which Grab describes as agentic capabilities that let users delegate multi-step tasks. Examples given include drafting and executing a business expansion plan, turning sales data into a tracking dashboard, building a simple product website and setting up repeatable inventory workflows.[1]
Different lessons for drivers and merchants
In Singapore, driver- and delivery-partners are taught entrepreneurship: using ChatGPT to shape and test business ideas, sharpen value propositions, explore pricing and create simple marketing plans. Grab presents this as a way to explore additional pathways for income and growth.[1]
Merchant-partners are taught to analyse point-of-sale data, spot trends and plan promotions, with workflows for menu engineering, demand forecasting, inventory and waste reduction. One Singapore business owner quoted by Grab said a payroll task that normally takes two hours took 20 minutes after the training.[1]
Why Grab says partners need it
Grab cites its own Singapore survey figures. It says only 50 per cent of driver- and delivery-partners there currently use AI tools, and 87 per cent of those not yet using them say they are open to it. Among merchant-partners, 33 per cent use AI at work and 25 per cent say their staff can apply it effectively.[1]
The partnership builds on earlier work. Grab says its Driver AI Assistant, powered by OpenAI models and in place since the two firms began working together in May 2024, has reached close to 500,000 drivers. Every participant in the new programme also receives three months of complimentary ChatGPT Plus.[1]
What the announcement does not say
The release gives no split of the 30,000 places by country and no dates for the Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines rounds. It does not say how the training will be judged, whether completion is tracked, or what happens once the free ChatGPT Plus period ends.[1]
The survey figures are Grab's own and cover Singapore only, so they say little about partners elsewhere. OpenAI calls this its first regional AI-skilling programme in Southeast Asia with Grab. In our reading, the free ChatGPT Plus period also gives OpenAI a route to paying small-business users.[1][2]
Why Malaysia should care
Grab operates in Malaysia, yet the country is absent from the four countries named for GO Forward with AI. Malaysian drivers and merchants who want similar help must, for now, rely on the government's own AI learning routes on Rakyat Digital.
Malaysian SME owners
The merchant lessons on sales data, menus and stock are practical, but not yet offered here.[1]
Practical move: Try the same tasks with your own sales exports while you wait.
Grab drivers and riders in Malaysia
No local sessions or free ChatGPT Plus access have been announced.[1]
Practical move: Check the Grab driver app and GrabAcademy for any Malaysian round.
Young Malaysians
Government AI learning is available now through Rakyat Digital.[3]
Practical move: Use Rakyat Digital's free modules rather than waiting for a platform scheme.
What Malaysians can do now
- If you run a food business, export a month of point-of-sale data and ask an AI tool to find your slowest items and busiest hours.
- If you drive or deliver for Grab in Malaysia, watch GrabAcademy for any announcement of a Malaysian round.
- If you are 18 to 30, check Rakyat Digital for the government's free AI tool access and learning modules.
What we still do not know
What we still do not know
- Whether and when Malaysia will join the programme.
- How the 30,000 places will be split between countries and partner groups.
- How Grab and OpenAI will measure whether the training changes partners' earnings.
Sources
- 1.Grab and OpenAI partnership expands access to practical AI skills across SEA Grab, 23 September 2026
- 2.Grab and OpenAI bring practical AI skills to Southeast Asia OpenAI, 23 September 2026
- 3.AI Malaysia Takeover 2026: Launch Of Rakyat Digital Ministry of Digital, Malaysia, 11 August 2026
- 4.File:Grab Delivery Driver on Bangkok Road.jpg Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2020
- 5.File:Grab HQ at one-north, Singapore (2025) - img 04.jpg Wikimedia Commons, 17 March 2025
- 6.File:Satay stall at East Coast Lagoon Food Village.jpg Wikimedia Commons, 7 April 2023
- 7.File:Char Koay Kak, Hawker Stall, Georgetown, Penang.jpg Wikimedia Commons, 25 March 2022
