AD Tech Watch #7: Cheaper AI Chatbots, Google’s AI Fake Checker, AEDC’s MyPower App

AD Tech Watch is our short, selected roundup of the AI, search and software news that matters to businesses in Nigeria, explained in plain English. In this issue: Anthropic’s new Claude Haiku 5.5 makes AI customer support much cheaper to run, Google opens its AI-content checker to everyone, Google Ads lets advertisers preview AI-written ad copy before switching it on, and AEDC launches the MyPower app for customers in the FCT and three nearby states.

Issue #7 · 9 October 2026 · By AD Technologies Limited, an AI technology company in Lagos

1. Claude Haiku 5.5 Makes AI Customer Support Much Cheaper to Run

What happened: On 7 October, Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5, which it calls the cheapest, fastest and most capable small model it has released. It is aimed at high-volume work such as live customer support, summaries, sorting and classifying messages, database queries and browser use. For prompts up to 100,000 tokens it costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, against $1 and $5 for Haiku 4.5; Anthropic says it costs about 75% less to run than Haiku 4.5 on average. It is the first Haiku model with an adjustable effort setting, so you can trade cost against intelligence. It is available now through the Claude API and on Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Anthropic says its larger Sonnet 5.5 and Opus 5.5 models remain better for complex agentic coding. Nigeria is on Anthropic’s list of supported countries.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: If you run, or have been pricing, an AI assistant that answers customer questions on your website or WhatsApp, sorts enquiries or summarises orders, the cost of a capable model has just dropped sharply. Ask your developer or software vendor which AI model your tools use and whether a switch would lower your monthly bill. Test it on 20 to 30 of your real customer questions before you switch, and keep sensitive data such as BVNs, NINs and card details out of what you send to any AI tool. If you want a custom assistant built around your own products and prices, see our AI and software services.

Sources: Anthropic, Anthropic supported countries.

2. Google Opens Its AI-Content Checker, SynthID Detector, to Everyone

What happened: On 7 October, Google DeepMind opened SynthID Detector to the public, globally and in English, at synthid.com. It was previously limited to journalists, media professionals and researchers. You upload an image, video or audio file and it checks whether the file was made with AI from Google or its partners, by looking for SynthID’s invisible watermark. Google names OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao as partners using the watermark, with Apple coming soon, and says it has watermarked more than 180 billion images and videos since 2023. As BusinessDay reported on 8 October, the tool can only spot content that carries a compatible watermark, so it cannot confirm that unwatermarked media is genuine.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: Fake product photos, made-up videos about your brand and cloned voice notes asking staff to send money are getting easier to produce. When an image, video or voice note looks suspicious, you can now run it through SynthID Detector in a minute. Treat a positive result as a strong warning, but do not treat a clean result as proof that something is real, because content from other AI tools may carry no watermark. For any payment or bank-detail change, always confirm by calling the person on a number you already have.

Sources: Google, BusinessDay.

3. Google Ads Now Shows You AI-Written Ad Copy Before You Switch It On

What happened: Google Ads advertisers can now preview up to 10 AI-generated headlines and descriptions, based on their landing page, before turning on AI Max text customisation, Search Engine Land reported on 8 October. Google’s AI reads the page and produces the samples in about 30 seconds. The preview sits in the Asset optimisation section when you create a Search campaign or edit an existing one, and it supports all languages currently available for text customisation and most business categories, excluding adult content. The samples are examples, not necessarily the exact text Google will serve. Google’s help page notes that text customisation requires opting in to AI Max, and that you can monitor the generated text in the asset details report after switching it on.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: Before you let Google’s AI write your ads, you can now see what it would say about you. If the previews mention a service you no longer offer, an old price or the wrong location, the problem is on your landing page, so fix the page first. If the previews read well, text customisation can save time writing ads. Either way, keep checking the asset details report after switching it on, because the live text can differ from the preview.

Sources: Search Engine Land, Google Ads Help.

4. AEDC Launches MyPower App to Buy Tokens, Track Outages and Verify Its Staff

What happened: Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) has launched the MyPower mobile app and MyPower web app as part of its Customer Service Week, BusinessDay reported on 8 October. Customers can buy electricity tokens, pay postpaid bills, track outages, follow complaints in real time, view past energy use, manage several meter accounts, update their details and verify the identity of AEDC field staff before letting them onto their premises. The mobile app is on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, and the web app is at crm.abujaelectricity.com. AEDC serves customers in the FCT, Kogi, Niger and Nasarawa states.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: If your shop, office or factory is in AEDC’s area, you can now manage power from your phone instead of queueing or calling. Managing several meters in one account is useful if you run more than one branch, and your usage history helps you budget for power alongside diesel. The staff check matters too: before anyone claiming to be from AEDC disconnects, replaces or inspects your meter, verify them in the app.

Sources: BusinessDay.

Also This Week: 30-Day Petrol Discount at NNPC Stations, With Transporters First

On 8 October in Abuja, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele announced that NNPC Limited will sell petrol at cost for 30 days “in the first instance”, with public transporters nationwide given priority. He said it is not a subsidy. The discount amount, start date and how transporters prove eligibility were not stated. The government is also negotiating a ₦1,350 per litre ceiling on the landing cost of petrol, which is not a pump price, to be reviewed monthly. BusinessDay puts the average petrol price at about ₦1,400 per litre. If your business relies on deliveries or staff transport, ask your logistics partners whether they will pass on any savings. Sources: BusinessDay, Nairametrics, Channels Television.

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