It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a transformative force across Southeast Asia, changing industries ranging from e-commerce to healthcare, fintech to manufacturing. We have seen some local strides in AI development, fueled by both public and private sector investments. Southeast Asia’s AI landscape is marked by rapid adoption and growing expertise in areas such as machine learning, generative AI, and foundation models, led by certain individuals that have been instrumental in the industry.
We have embraced AI as a cornerstone of its digital economy. Governments and enterprises across the region are actively implementing AI solutions to drive economic growth, enhance public services, and create a competitive edge in global markets. In countries like Singapore and Malaysia, AI is being integrated into sectors such as smart cities, transportation, and finance, streamlining operations and improving customer experiences. The emergence of AI-driven platforms and solutions tailored to the regionโs needs has spurred the development of new business models and innovation ecosystems.
How will the rise of Chinaโs new GenAI tools impact AI adoption in Southeast Asia?
In addition to government initiatives, the region’s tech startup ecosystem has played a significant role in advancing AI research and application. Startups in the region are leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to address local challenges, such as language processing for regional dialects, or developing AI-powered solutions for agriculture and logistics. Many of these companies are also tapping into generative AI to enhance creativity and automate tasks in industries like content creation, marketing, and design. These advancements have sparked interest in AI from investors and global tech giants looking to tap into the regionโs growing talent pool and market potential.
Education and research also remain crucial to the development of Southeast Asiaโs AI industry. Universities, research institutions, and corporate labs are focusing on the development of next-generation AI technologies and expanding the pool of AI talent. The regionโs emphasis on cultivating skilled professionals ensures a continuous pipeline of innovators and thought leaders who are advancing AI across various sectors.
We have identified five major influences in the AI landscape in Southeast Asia through their research, product development and leadership of major AI businesses.
Chen Change Loy, Presidentโs Chair Professor, NTU (Singapore)
Chen Change Loy is a Presidentโs Chair Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, where he directs the MMLab@NTU and co-leads NTUโs S-Lab for advanced intelligenceโ. He earned his Ph.D. from Queen Mary University of London and was previously a Research Assistant Professor at CUHK.
Prof. Loyโs research centers on computer vision and deep learning, with a focus on image/video restoration and enhancement and generative tasksโ. He has contributed to high-impact generative models in vision; for example, he co-authored ESRGAN (Enhanced Super-Resolution GAN), a model for super-resolving images that is widely cited in the fieldโ. His work on generative adversarial networks and image restoration has advanced state-of-the-art techniques for creating and improving visual content.
While primarily academic, Loyโs research outputs are influential in industry applications like photo editing, surveillance, and graphics. He collaborates with industry through NTUโs partnerships and S-Lab projects to translate deep learning research into real-world uses (e.g., low-light image enhancement and video super-resolution tools). By training PhD students and postdocs who move into AI roles, he indirectly contributes skilled talent to the AI industry.
Prof. Loy has published over 100 papers in top-tier conferences (CVPR, ICCV, NeurIPS, etc.) and serves on the editorial boards of leading journals. He has received prestigious honors, including the Chinese Computer Federation (CCF) Computer Vision Test of Time Award, the Nanyang Research Award, and the Singapore Open Research Awardโ
Steven C. H. Hoi, AI Vice-President at Alibaba, former Professor (Singapore)
Steven Hoi is a Singaporean AI expert who bridges academia and industry. He was an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University before moving to industry leadership. In early 2025, he joined Alibaba as a vice president to lead its AI-to-Consumer initiative, heading R&D for multimodal foundation modelsโ. He also co-founded HyperGAI, a startup focused on generative AI, and previously served as Managing Director of Salesforce Research Asia. He has emphasized advancing large language models (LLMs) and generative image/video models for consumer applications and founded HyperGAI in 2023 to build multimodal generative models for image and video generationโ
Dr. Hoi has an extensive research background in machine learning, information retrieval, and data mining. He has published over 300 academic papers and was elected an IEEE Fellow in 2019 for his contributionsโ. In his current role at Alibaba, he is spearheading the development of large-scale multimodal foundation models (spanning language, vision, etc.) and AI agentsโ
showcasing his hands-on work in generative AI. His dual experience in research and product development enables him to design cutting-edge generative AI systems that power chatbots, content creation tools, and recommendation engines in the industry.
Steven Hoi has taken on major leadership roles that influence AI strategy in Southeast Asia. As Salesforce Research Asiaโs managing director, he established and led a team in Singapore that worked on NLP and deep learning innovations for enterprise use. Now at Alibaba, he is focusing on consumer-facing AI โ integrating foundation models like Alibabaโs Tongyi Qianwen LLM into products (e-commerce, enterprise apps, etc.)โ
His role involves both guiding research and overseeing the deployment of generative AI solutions at scale. Hoi also frequently advises AI startups and mentors young AI researchers in the region, given his experience in both worlds.
In addition to being an IEEE Fellow, he is highly cited in the academic community and has served as an adjunct professor to continue nurturing research talent. His appointment at Alibaba to helm foundation model research underscores his reputation โ Alibaba recruited him amid a global race for top AI talentโ
By leading the development of multimodal AI in a major tech company and founding a generative AI startup, Hoi has significantly impacted the AI ecosystem in Southeast Asia, fostering innovation and the application of generative AI technologies in both local and international contexts.
Bui Hai Hung (Hung Bui) โ CEO of VinAI Research (Vietnam)
Dr. Bui Hai Hung, commonly known as Hung Bui, is a Vietnamese AI scientist and the CEO of VinAI Research, one of Southeast Asiaโs premier AI research companies. Before joining VinAI (the AI arm of Vietnamโs Vingroup) in 2018, Hung Bui was a research scientist at Google DeepMindโ and held research positions in the US. He leads VinAIโs team of nearly 200 AI experts, many recruited from global tech firms and universitiesโ. Under his leadership, VinAI has rapidly risen into the top ranks of global AI labs, with a mission to make AI accessible and tailored to regional needs.
As CEO of VinAI, Dr. Hung has driven the development of large-scale generative AI projects in Southeast Asia. Notably, in 2023, his team introduced Phแป-GPT, an open-source Vietnamese large language model with 7.5 billion parametersโ. Phแป-GPT is designed to understand and generate Vietnamese text fluently, demonstrating Vietnamโs capability in developing foundation models for local languages. Hung Bui highlighted that generative AI and LLMs are pivotal for the future of content creation and AI-powered dialogue, and VinAIโs work on Phแป-GPT exemplifies this regional innovationโ. In addition to language models, VinAIโs research portfolio includes generative models in vision and speech aimed at Southeast Asian applications (e.g., AI for autonomous vehicles and image recognition under VinAIโs Smart Mobility and Smart Edge initiativesโ.
Hung Buiโs research background includes probabilistic generative models and Bayesian deep learning, contributing to foundational techniques that underlie modern generative AI.
His move back to Vietnam to establish VinAI has significantly boosted the regionโs AI industry. He has built VinAI into a world-class research lab (ranked among the worldโs top 20 AI research companies) with over 150 publications at top conferences and dozens of patentsโ. Under his stewardship, VinAI develops commercial AI productsโsuch as facial recognition, driver monitoring systems, and natural language understanding toolsโembedding generative AI components to adapt to Vietnamese and ASEAN market needs. Hung also launched an AI residency programme at VinAI to mentor young Southeast Asian researchersโ thus nurturing local talent. He frequently speaks at global and regional forums about AIโs impact on economies, advocating for Southeast Asiaโs active role in the AI revolution. For instance, at Bloombergโs โThe Year Ahead 2024โ event, he emphasized that Vietnam should lead (not just follow) in adopting new AI technologies and showcased VinAIโs success with Phแป-GPT as a milestoneโ.
Dr. Hung Bui is widely regarded as a pioneer in Vietnamโs AI scene. His leadership in creating a Vietnamese LLM (Phแป-GPT) has been a breakthrough for AI localization, earning VinAI international attention. VinAIโs inclusion in global benchmarks and partnerships with companies like Nvidia reflect its influence. Hungโs efforts have positioned Vietnam as an emerging hub for AI research on generative models, inspiring other Southeast Asian nations to invest in foundation AI. By coupling global experience (DeepMind) with local vision, he has had a transformative impact on the AI community in Southeast Asia, proving that world-class generative AI models can be developed in the region for regional languages and use cases.
Yan Shuicheng โ Director of Sea AI Lab (SAIL), Group Chief Scientist of Sea Ltd. (Singapore)
Prof. Yan Shuicheng is a prominent AI researcher who leads the Sea AI Lab (SAIL) in Singapore and serves as Group Chief Scientist of Sea Ltd., the tech company behind Garena and Shopee. Before joining Sea in 2019, he was a professor and head of the Learning and Vision lab at the National University of Singapore (NUS). At Sea, Yan spearheads fundamental AI research and the development of large-scale AI models for the companyโs products. He is also known for co-founding ViSenze, a successful AI startup in visual search technology that spun off from his NUS research.
Dr. Yan is one of the most prolific researchers in computer vision and machine learning globally, with over 600 publications in top international journals and conferencesโ. His research spans multimedia analysis, deep learning, and generative models in vision. For example, his team has worked on perceptual generative adversarial networks to improve small-object detection and image generationโ.
Many of his projects involve generating or enhancing visual content (images or video) via AI โ important aspects of generative AI. At Sea AI Lab, Yan guides research on multimodal foundation models, combining NLP and CV, to power features like e-commerce image search, game content generation, and virtual assistants for Southeast Asian users. His work on representation learning and neural network architectures has laid the groundwork for efficient generative modeling used in industry (such as Shopeeโs recommendation systems and content moderation tools).
As the director of SAIL, Yan Shuicheng has built a research unit that contributes to Seaโs competitive edge through AI. He leads teams working on advanced projects like large language models adapted for Southeast Asian languages and generative AI for gaming (Garena) and retail (Shopee). This involves both high-level strategy and hands-on R&D to develop foundation models internally. His prior entrepreneurial stint with ViSenze brought AI-powered visual shopping to many retailers, showcasing his ability to translate research into products. Furthermore, Yan mentors Seaโs data science teams and collaborates with regional universities, acting as a bridge between academic research and the industrial deployment of generative AI. His guidance has helped Sea launch features like image-based product recommendations and automated content creation for sellers, leveraging generative vision algorithms.
Prof. Yanโs accomplishments have earned him international and regional recognition. He has been elected Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore and is a Fellow of AAAI, ACM, IEEE, and IAPR โ a rare distinction of multiple top-tier fellowshipsโ. With an H-index over 130, he was listed among the Highly Cited Researchers globally for multiple yearsโ, reflecting the influence of his work. His teams have won numerous awards, including victories in prestigious vision competitions (Pascal VOC and ImageNet challenges) and Best Paper awards at conferencesโ
In Singapore, Yan received the Presidentโs Science Award (one of the highest honors for scientists) for his contributions to AI. His leadership at Sea has elevated Southeast Asiaโs presence on the AI research map โ SAIL regularly publishes in top conferences, making Sea one of the few Southeast Asian companies at the forefront of foundation AI research. By combining academic excellence with industry application, Yan Shuicheng has had a profound impact on advancing generative AI capabilities in the region and demonstrating how local talent can drive global AI innovation.
Dr. Ayesha Khanna โ Co-Founder & CEO of Addo AI (Singapore)
Ayesha Khanna is a Singapore-based AI entrepreneur, consultant, and futurist known for her work in promoting AI adoption in Southeast Asia. She co-founded Addo AI in 2017, an artificial intelligence solutions firm and incubator, where she is CEOโ
Addo AI advises companies and governments on how to leverage AI (including data analytics and generative AI) to transform their operations. Khanna holds a Ph.D. in information systems and has a strong academic foundation, but her career has been focused on industry impact โ including over a decade on Wall Street applying analytics and subsequent roles advising on smart city projects and fintech in Asia.
While not a researcher developing models from scratch, Dr. Khanna is a key AI strategist in the region, helping organizations implement and benefit from the latest AI technologies, such as generative AI. She has spoken extensively about the potential of large language models and generative AI in business, and her company, Addo AI works on integrating foundation models (like GPT-based solutions) into enterprise products. For instance, Addo AI has consulted on projects involving AI-driven customer service chatbots, predictive analytics, and content generation tools for industries like banking and telecom. Khanna also created courses and writes about Generative AI for business executives, bridging the gap between complex AI models and practical business use cases. Her role often involves demystifying technologies like LLMs for decision-makers and ensuring that deployments are responsible and aligned with organizational strategy.
As the CEO of Addo AI, Ayesha Khanna has led AI strategy projects across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Under her leadership, Addo AI was recognized by Forbes as one of Asiaโs top four AI companiesโ, highlighting its impact on advancing AI solutions in the region. She has served as a strategic advisor on AI to various governments and enterprises โ for example, she has been an advisor to the Singapore governmentโs Smart Nation initiative and was on the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) board, contributing to national AI policy and governance. Khanna is also deeply involved in consulting roles; she has worked with clients like SMRT (Singaporeโs public transport) to implement AI for operations and with banks to adopt AI in customer personalization. Additionally, she champions AI education and inclusivity: she founded 21st Century Girls, a charity to teach young girls coding and AI, reflecting her commitment to building an inclusive AI talent pipeline.
Dr. Ayesha Khanna is widely recognized as a leading AI voice in Asia. Forbes named her among Southeast Asiaโs groundbreaking female entrepreneursโ and she has been honored as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology for her thought leadershipโ. Her inclusion in these lists underscores her influence in shaping the AI narrative and ecosystem in the region. Through frequent keynote speeches and media appearances, she has brought attention to the power of generative AI and the need for ethical AI deployment. By advising both startups and conglomerates, Khanna has helped accelerate AI adoption in sectors like finance, healthcare, and smart cities across Southeast Asia. Her work ensures that advanced AI (like foundation models) is not confined to tech labs but is translated into strategies that drive digital transformation in the regionโs economies. In essence, her impact lies in building bridges: between cutting-edge AI technologies and real-world applications and between the global AI advancements and Southeast Asian stakeholders. This has made her a pivotal figure in the regionโs AI community.