Tech giants and startups in Vietnam are intensifying AI investments, fostering innovative business models to benefit user significantly.

Cho Tot representative attends the Google Gen Al Cloud Summit 2023. Photos: Phi Nhat

Cho Tot, a part of the Carousell Group and a multi-category platform for secondhand goods in Greater Southeast Asia, is among the technology companies in Vietnam that are currently experimenting with and applying AI to develop their products and services, aiming to provide users with convenience quickly and effectively.

Thien Pham, Cho Tot’s Senior Data Manager, introduced the "Smart Listing" feature powered by Generative AI technology for the car listing website at the Google Gen AI Cloud Summit 2023 event held last week in Singapore. Thanks to the support of Google Cloud's enterprise AI platform, this new feature allows sellers to complete a listing in less than 1 minute, as opposed to the previous 15 minutes. Sellers simply need to take photos of the car, upload the images, and post the listing after verifying the automatically generated information.

Thien explained that selling used cars on online platforms is typically a complex and time-consuming process. Sellers usually spend 10 to 15 minutes filling in-vehicle information and specifications, pricing the car compared to the market, and creating compelling sales content, including headlines and detailed descriptions to attract buyers.

With the new feature, users can simply take photos of the car and upload them to the Cho Tot platform. The feature scans the images and automatically populates all the fields, eliminating the need for manual data input. This is made possible through the application of AI technology combined with data from Cho Tot's extensive data repository.

Thien mentioned that Vietnam is currently Carousell Group's strategic automobile market, with a growth rate of 35% from 2019 to 2022. The growing new automobile market has led to a used car market with over 10 million users nationwide during this growth phase.

The potential for development in the market is enormous, as the ratio of used cars to new cars sold in Vietnam is only about 0.5, much lower than the 1.2 figure for the entire Southeast Asia region, according to Mordor Intelligence.

"These efforts aim to improve the experience of listing cars and increase liquidity in the secondary automobile market. Buyers have more quality options with complete and accurate information, thereby enhancing Cho Tot’s competitive advantage in the market," Thien emphasized.

"Cho Tot, as a pioneer in applying technology and AI, has been collaborating with Google Cloud to test the application of Gen AI models in the development of its products." Thien mentioned that the strong support from companies like Google, which provides AI application development platforms, encourages businesses to quickly adopt AI applications and expand globally.

Nguyen Duc Toan, Country Manager of Google Cloud in Vietnam, who is directly involved in projects supporting businesses like Cho Tot, shared that Google aims to contribute to and support the development of AI applications in Vietnam.

"AI, and Gen AI in particular, will have a profound impact on communities and commerce," he said. "By offering our latest skills development training options, AI models, developer-friendly tools, and startup support in Vietnam, Google Cloud is reinforcing our commitment to empowering organizations of all sizes to build and deploy their own enterprise-grade Gen AI applications with ease and speed, all while safeguarding their data and users."

"At this time, I don't see any difficulties with the policy mechanism; instead, any challenges mainly arise from enterprises actively embracing change and implementation. Those who swiftly adopt this technology are the ones experiencing its effectiveness, leading to increased productivity and rapid integration into their business processes," he told The Hanoi Times.

He underlined that Vietnam is embracing the direction of national digital transformation, focusing on Industry 4.0, which encompasses big data and AI. Google plays a key role in supporting AI development in Vietnam by offering cutting-edge technologies and prioritizing businesses and the government.

Vietnamese is a preferred language for Google's research and product development. Additionally, the Google for AI Startups Cloud program supports businesses with AI-first products to bring their products to the market, he said.

There is a team directly supporting the Vietnamese market, building various programs for Vietnamese customers who have a demand for applying generative AI in company development, such as human training and process transformation to apply generative AI in e-commerce and retail sectors, according to Toan.

As a partner of Google, Cho Tot will continue to enhance its features to better suit users, expecting a 15-20% increase in the number of listings in the first month after launch. Thien affirmed that Cho Tot will continue to seek solutions to reshape the used car market, aiming for a future where users can transact conveniently, securely, and with satisfaction.

In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has shown a specific orientation in promoting the development of AI applications, including the issuance of the National AI Strategy on research, development, and application of AI until 2030, with the goal of gradually making Vietnam a center of innovation and AI, ranking among the top four in ASEAN and the top 50 in the world.

The guiding perspective of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, presented in early October at the National Digital Transformation Day 2023 with the theme of exploiting digital data to create value, highlights the active support for Vietnamese businesses in transitioning their production and business activities to the digital environment, enhancing international cooperation, seeking and adopting suitable modern models, technologies, and solutions in Vietnam.