The Future of Artificial Intelligence Conference Chapter 2, organized by Launch JDI, wrapped up in HCMC on July 12, after a full day of discussions, exhibitions and networking activities that opened a wider window into how artificial intelligence (AI) will transform life and business for the better. The Saigon Times sat back for an interview with Daryl Chung, Co-founder and Business Director of JDI, and Frank Lee, Founder and Managing Director of JDI.
The Saigon Times: Around one year ago the Future of Artificial Intelligence Conference Chapter 1 was held in HCMC. What are the key takeaways from that special event?
Daryl Chung: I think there are three very simple takeaways that I want to share. Firstly, there is good cross-border collaboration between Vietnam and Singapore, which gave us the confidence to come back with Chapter 2 this year.
Number two is that we have to embrace the future of AI. There are significant synergies between Singapore and Vietnam, which is why we have Chapter 2 this year.
The third and most important thing is that our platform actually creates value. All the stakeholders involved, be it our sponsors, speakers, exhibitors, or attendees, have told us they would like to see Chapter 2.
So these are the three simple lessons that we have learned.
Looking at the sneak peek of Chapter 2, it appears to me that certain new topics related to AI have been added compared to Chapter 1 last year, including how AI drives sustainable development, how AI-driven technologies enhance consumer experiences in the retail industry, and how AI impacts healthcare, among others. Could you please elaborate on such additions, do they reflect a changing business landscape regarding AI?
Daryl Chung: Right, so the reason for the new topics is not because this has just come about, but really it’s an extension of Chapter 1 where we have triply scaled or even quadruply scaled our event in terms of size. So we are able to fit in more conference topics in this year’s agenda.
But more importantly, I think we were very careful and very deliberate in selecting topics that were pertinent not just for the Vietnam ecosystem, but for Singapore and Southeast Asia as well.
We wanted to pick out key topics where there is a very obvious influence in terms of AI. There might be a lot of excitement, but there are a lot of questions that are yet to be answered, and we want to use our event as a platform to do so.
As Director of Business Development at JDI with a strong belief in innovation for a better world, how do you anticipate the extent of AI impacts on the global and regional economies? What economic sector(s) will likely see more drastic changes ushered in by AI?
Daryl Chung: AI has been around for quite some time now, right? It’s just that it’s gotten very exciting again with the recent breakthroughs. I think that some of us are excited, some of us are fearful, and some of us do not know what to think about it yet. Again, the reason we have taken it upon ourselves to organize such events is for two main reasons.
Number one is we want to constantly inform and educate the ecosystem on how to embrace AI, despite the excitement and the challenges.
Number two, we are not doing this alone. We are bringing the ecosystem together, not just within Vietnam, but also with Singapore, to foster synergies between both markets.
So this is what we feel about AI: it’s time to embrace the change. I really think that in Singapore and Vietnam, AI is not just going to be led by the private sector, but it’s increasingly becoming a national interest.
For Vietnam and Singapore, the sectors likely to be impacted are going to be the key sectors important for the nation’s economy and sovereignty.
Additionally, I think there will be low-hanging fruits where there are obvious use cases for AI in sectors where it cannot be ignored and becomes a no-brainer. However, there might be missing pieces such as policy, funding, and other factors that will need to be addressed. Those are the sectors where we will see AI blossoming in the near future.
You have had more than a decade actively contributing to the region’s tech/startup ecosystem. From your rich experiences in this sphere, how have you seen the evolution/revolution of that ecosystem, and how do you anticipate future development?
Frank Lee: Ten years is a long time, and ten years have flown by very quickly for Vietnam. When I bring people who were previously familiar with Vietnam into the market ten years later, they come in and realize, wow, things have changed so much.
We have witnessed the evolution. Ten years ago, when we came here, we were focused on very simple software development at an early stage, creating small software products. But over the past ten years, we have seen the growth of the tech ecosystem, and the rise of data scientists and analysts, making this ecosystem much bigger, more comprehensive, and more complex, ready to take on AI.
AI certainly has a lot of programming behind it, a lot of LRM, data science, and analytics. I think Singapore and Vietnam can work together to accelerate this scene even further as we progress along the super scale of AI.
Vietnam’s Government has pledged to prioritize digital transformation, and in reality, the country’s digital economy is said to have grown by some 14.26% in 2023, while its compounded annual growth rate for 2022-2026 is put at 8.9%, as estimated in the FT-Omdia report. Do you see the digital environment in Vietnam conducive for AI, and what are your recommendations for further accelerating AI technologies in Vietnam?
Frank Lee: From what we see now, the industries in Vietnam are undergoing a period of digital transformation, and AI is a complementary factor in this process. Digital transformation and AI are evolving together within the ecosystem. As companies advance on the digitization roadmap, they will face numerous questions about how to integrate AI into their strategies.
We will definitely see AI impacting many of the verticals important to the industry, including educational technologies, smart nation initiatives, property development, and more. All of these areas can leverage AI to enhance efficiency in various ways.
Vietnam’s semiconductor industry is poised for strong growth in the coming time, given the diversification of investment and supply chain from China by Semicon giants and the country’s proven reserves of rare earths as materials for the industry. Is this industry also fertile soil for AI technologies?
Frank Lee: AI and semiconductors are closely linked. We have seen the rise of companies like Intel and NVIDIA, along with many other chipset manufacturers. Essentially, a significant amount of computing power is required for the development and advancement of AI.
As a result, the semiconductor industry is expected to flourish. There will be increasing demand for the establishment of semiconductor factories, including those focused on chipset manufacturing, to support the global progression of AI.
Vietnam plays a significant role in this entire AI journey.
How do you rate the potential for AI-related cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore, especially given the availability of a connectivity framework agreement signed between the two countries in 2005?
Daryl Chung: I think that currently a lot of efforts are private sector-led. However, what we showed at the conference is that there are many opportunities and synergies for collaboration. For example, Dr. Leslie Teo and his team at AI Singapore are working on building a Southeast Asia LLM, “Sea Lion.” This is one example of how cooperation can work.
At present, it is mostly private sector-led, but we are working to bring together different stakeholders, including big companies, fast-growing startups, the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Vietnam, and various associations, along with some government agencies or organizations that report directly to government agencies. Our goal is to explore what we can achieve together.
Frank Lee: I was recently with the Minister of Education in Singapore, Mr. Chan Chun Sing. He is also concerned about how the next generation can be exposed to AI and how education can be supported by AI.
Mr. Chan Chun Sing talks about the “pedagogy of one.” The pedagogy of one means that everybody can use and advance their learning according to their own speed. The fast learner can move faster, while the slow learner can progress more gradually as they learn.
So all of this requires AI to guide the person and allow them to move at their own pace. We will see a lot of such implementations of AI through the hands of government, pushing it down to the industries so that it benefits everybody.
Apart from undeniable values brought about by AI, there have also been outcries from businesses as well as employees over the flashy development of AI technologies. Traditional businesses find it tough to adapt to rapid sci-tech changes, while employees including new graduates find their job opportunities replaced by technologies. In your opinion, what are the key pros and cons of AI technologies, and how to reconciliate the conflicts?
Daryl Chung: I think we have to adopt a mentality that can drive us towards an environment where there are more pros than cons. AI is here to stay; AI is not going away.
It is perfectly normal for individuals, companies, business owners, and different types of organizations—public and private—to feel this way.
But I think we have to step beyond it. We have to find a way to collectively progress and move forward, using AI for the right reasons and for a better tomorrow.
Frank Lee: JDI focuses on disruptive innovations. What we see and identify is that AI is a disruptive innovation that will change the world for the better. So we are all here to try and adopt it more effectively.
Of course, AI can be a double-edged sword. If used for the wrong reasons, it can also be very powerful in negative ways. This raises important topics on ethics and how we can use AI for the betterment of mankind.
These are the issues that we also need to seriously address as we continue this AI journey, focusing on how to drive AI responsibly.
As JDI is a venture catalyst driving innovations forward, do you foresee the development of tech powerhouses in the region?
Frank Lee: Yes, definitely. So as we all know, AI involves not only programming but also the potential to simplify programming tasks. For example, one of our business units, Tech JDI, is also looking at how we can use AI to make our software development much easier.
How can we embrace this technology to make everybody’s work easier? Making everybody’s work easier—that is what we need to focus on. Rather than focusing on how AI will disrupt us, it is for us to see how we can use AI to make ourselves 2 times, 5 times, or 10 times more efficient. So we can all progress mankind together at a faster speed.
Are there other issues related to AI or the conference that you want to convey to our readers?
Daryl Chung: As cliché as it sounds, I think AI will not replace us; it will replace those who don’t use AI. So again, I believe that collectively, we need to drive towards a state where there are more pros than cons. We need to embrace AI for the right reasons, and we need to embrace AI for a better tomorrow.
Frank Lee: I echo the same thing. Basically, AI is here to stay. AI is a strong tool, and we need to use this powerful tool to ensure that all of us can advance ourselves. The thing is, if we don’t focus on the adoption of AI, there will be other elements—bad elements—that will be using AI.
For example, we’ve been talking to cybersecurity experts about hackers using AI to make their work much easier. Over time, we will see a challenge between the black and the white, the legal and the illegal, in terms of how we can use AI for the better.
So instead of us losing the war, we need to come in here to adopt AI first so that we can keep this tool under control.
