KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Driven by pressure for higher traffic numbers, four of Malaysia’s most established content sites have joined forces to build a new social content site, with the help of AI.

The shift in Malaysian online media consumption and advertiser priorities towards websites that focus on fast viral content has resulted in an unexpected partnership — online portals RojakDaily, Cilisos, SoyaCincau, Soscili, and Asklegal are excited to announce the launch of ambikkau.com, a new social content aggregator news site.

In just three days after a soft launch on 28th March 2019, the site has already garnered 40,000 pageviews, as a dual-language social news site for Malaysians to get their daily fill of:

• lifestyle news
• current trends
• tech news & insights
• sociopolitical insights
• legal info & education

A few short years ago, Cilisos, SoyaCincau, RojakDaily and AskLegal were trailblazers in the "new wave” of online media, gaining a following for their unique approaches to content in their respective areas of focus. However, in the past year, they’ve noticed a trend of traffic moving towards fast, sensationalist articles.

Advertisers have followed suit, looking for ever more highly trafficked sites, to post their ads to the widest audiences.

AmbikKau was idealised as a solution to the problems above, leveraging on our existing strengths with a focus on fast turnaround and guaranteed virality. In three days since launch, the site has already garnered 40,000 views.

Existing writers are being used from each parent site have been trained to focus on speed and efficiency in writing — maximising reach at any cost. Soon though, AmbikKau might not even need writers, with SoyaCincau’s proprietary AI-based writing technology, CV Control, which finds content online, and instantly writes an article with minimal human intervention.

SoyaCincau.com co-founder Amin Ashaari explains how it all came about, "It’s a numbers game, high traffic wins quality. And clients are ok with that too, all they want is numbers, so we’re seeing if CV Control can generate results faster than any real journalist.”

The name Ambik Kau was coined by Cilisos editor-in-chief Chak Onn Lau who describes the inspiration as, "We wanted our readers back, so we have to ambik your attention, ambik your time, ambik your loyalty, and most importantly, we have to ambik kau.”

Soscili’s editor, Iqbal Fathki, echoed his sentiments, saying "Tak ingat senang camne. Entah ngapa kerja cam bangang sebelum ni nak tulis panjang panjang.”

UiHua Cheah, editor of Asklegal.my, emphasises the importance of adapting to change: "Cockroaches and dinosaurs once existed together, but only one survived extinction through adaptation and evolution. If we hold on to traditional definitions of ‘fluff content’ and ‘journalism’, what we’re really asking ourselves is…do we want to be a dinosaur, or a cockroach?”

RojakDaily head Amresh Jessey sees Ambik Kau as the new future of Malaysian media, "It’s like Captain Planet. In the darkest hour, five separate elements that combine to create something new, powerful, and exciting. But you always gotta have Heart.”

For more of the coverage that sets the world abuzz, visit ambikkau.com or facebook.com/ambik99. — SoyaCincau