NajibAI, a Malaysian chat-based financial tracker on WhatsApp

With the New Yr quick approaching, it bought me fascinated by annual resolutions once more. Some folks purpose to eat more healthy and work out extra, however for me, it’s about managing my funds higher.

A method I’ve been making an attempt to attain that is by monitoring my spending. The one drawback? Manually logging within the knowledge will get too tedious, and I find yourself giving up. I’ve tried apps, sheets, and even jotting it down in bodily notebooks—nothing works.

However I just lately got here throughout NajibAI, which may very well be a recreation changer for struggling people like me.

Utilizing AI to maintain your spending habits in test

Created by Malaysian founder Dylan Tan, NajibAI is a chat-based WhatsApp synthetic intelligence (AI) to file your receipts and monitor your spending.

It’s one of many few free instruments that Dylan’s firm, Replyr.ai (a agency that helps flip WhatsApp chats into paying clients utilizing AI), makes.

“As a enjoyable facet venture, I created NajibAI, a free WhatsApp device that helps Malaysians handle their bills,” Dylan shared with us. “It’s a device for Malaysians, by a Malaysian, to make monitoring spending simple, sensible, and a bit extra enjoyable.”

Anybody can strive it so long as you will have a WhatsApp account. All you must do is snap an image of your receipt, ship it to your chat with NajibAI, and he’ll enthusiastically assist retailer your information for you.

At the moment, NajibAI solely tracks just a few key parts within the receipt:

Enterprise identify
Date of transaction
Whole quantity spent
Kind of transaction (e.g. meals, buying, and many others.)

Upon receiving the photograph, NajibAI will extract these particulars from the receipt and share them with you for double-checking. This can then be saved in NajibAI’s reminiscence financial institution when you’ve confirmed the small print.

You can too add notes to the receipt’s file on your future reference. Based mostly on the important thing parts, you’ll be able to request a rundown of your spending habits, which is what I personally discover probably the most helpful.

For instance, if you wish to learn the way a lot you’ve already spent on meals this month, you’ll be able to simply ask NajibAI.

One other nifty factor about this WhatsApp-based AI device is that it really works for receipts in any language and any forex. This makes it handy for while you’re travelling overseas and wish to persist with a set trip funds.

I used to be initially sceptical about this declare, however I’ve tried it with just a few overseas receipts on-line in languages like Mandarin, Russian, and even Greek. NajibAI was capable of extract all the important thing data with out a hitch, for probably the most half, but it surely doesn’t essentially localise the enterprise’s identify or forex used within the receipt.

Because the tracker continues to be in Beta testing, it’s not all the time good. Some occasional hiccups I’ve observed are issues in extracting the enterprise identify (particularly if it’s in a non-Latin language) and getting the overall quantity spent confused.

The response time of the chat-based device can be barely slower than what I’m used to, usually averaging 5 to 10 seconds earlier than replying. Nonetheless, these are simply minor points that may be improved with tweaks.

Is knowledge and privateness one thing to fret about?

An even bigger, extra urgent concern would truly be about knowledge and privateness because it’s a WhatsApp-based device.

To this, Dylan reassured that interacting with NajibAI isn’t any completely different from messaging some other enterprise on WhatsApp. “Every little thing occurs inside WhatsApp’s safe atmosphere. We don’t hyperlink receipt knowledge again to non-public identities, and the system operates inside WhatsApp’s privateness pointers.”

That mentioned, he’s actively engaged on including extra transparency options to provide customers higher visibility and management over their knowledge. Simply at the moment, he rolled out a brand new function permitting customers to request their knowledge to be deleted by merely asking NajibAI.

“I don’t foresee vital authorized points since NajibAI operates inside WhatsApp’s phrases of service. Nonetheless, I’m conserving a detailed watch on suggestions and I’m able to adapt if customers or different stakeholders elevate issues. The purpose is to take care of belief and function responsibly whereas conserving this useful device free for customers,” Dylan acknowledged.

As for why he selected WhatsApp, it comes right down to consumer comfort. It’s no secret that WhatsApp is a platform that many Malaysians use each day, so Dylan figured it might take advantage of sensible sense.

He believes managing bills can really feel extra pure when performed in an area that folks already affiliate with communication and sharing photos.

That mentioned, NajibAI is a glimpse into what’s potential with AI and performs a job in what Replyr.ai is constructing. Its foremost enterprise focuses on automating gross sales on WhatsApp for companies, utilizing AI brokers to carry out actions like gathering funds, updating CRMs, and scheduling appointments.

Hopping on the “Bossku” prepare

Now let’s deal with the elephant within the room… Why the identify Najib?

“I selected the identify as a playful nod to Malaysian popular culture. Bossku has develop into a part of our on a regular basis slang, and I wished NajibAI to really feel approachable and native,” Dylan defined. “It’s only a enjoyable, relatable strategy to make expense monitoring extra fascinating.”

Whilst you might imagine it’s referring to a sure somebody, the founder reaffirmed that there’s no specific reference to anybody.

As for authorized issues, he’s performed his due diligence to make sure there’s no defamatory content material or specific affiliation. “It’s actually simply [about] making a light-hearted interplay [more] than the rest. Managing bills is boring, however NajibAI provides a little bit of Malaysian humour into the combo,” he mentioned.

Picture Credit score: Dylan Tan / AhBengGPT

That is truly one of many key classes he learnt along with his earlier creation referred to as AhBengGPT, a chat-based recreation powered by ChatGPT, the place gamers attempt to negotiate for an iPhone from a Malaysian Ah Beng cellphone vendor.

“AhBengGPT taught me the significance of conserving interactions enjoyable, participating, and uniquely native. Malaysians recognize humour and relatable touches, which is why NajibAI leans into the ‘Bossku’ time period, similar to how AhBengGPT would communicate with actually sturdy Malaysian slang,” he shared.

To assist extra Malaysians handle their bills higher, Dylan intends to maintain NajibAI free for everybody to make use of. It comes at a small price for Replyr.ai, however he’s extra fascinated about offering its bigger profit to extra folks.

For now, he’s targeted on studying how customers work together with the AI and refining the consumer expertise from there.