The business world has transformed drastically amid the fourth digital revolution (4IR) as stakeholders seek to utilize smart technology tools in their strategies. Specifically, artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a critical tool in Asia’s business landscape.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Asia
Although accelerated adoption of AI at a larger scale has only been trending recently, it is essential to highlight that the region has long recognized the value it can bring to a business. In 2020, Singapore released the Model AI Governance Framework to guide AI deployment in the private sector.
Regional statistics also reveal that AI in Asia will continue to grow, as evidenced by a report from market intelligence provider International Data Corporation, wherein data revealed AI spending in the Asia Pacific region is expected to increase from 20.6 billion USD in 2022 to 46.6 billion USD in 2025. The same report forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~23% from 2021 to 2026, making Asia Pacific one of the fastest-growing regions for AI.
In 2023 and beyond, parties considering investments in Asia should expect businesses in the region to continue to leverage AI-enabled approaches.
AI-powered Business Models
Generally, AI in business reduces costs, increases efficiency, and helps owners gain a competitive advantage, especially in evolving markets. Given how flexible AI can be in its application, several industries in Asia are leveraging it.
For instance, the China-based multinational tech company Alibaba developed EasyDispatch. This AI-driven logistics solution improves supply chain management by providing real-time service dispatching and vehicle route planning. This indicates an emerging trend to utilize AI in data and automation. AI’s ability to gather, recognize and analyze big data can enable companies to make split-second, value-adding decisions at an almost-instantaneous rate that humans cannot replicate.
Meanwhile, AI is also gaining traction in content creation, primarily due to the emergence of popular AI-enabled platforms like the language-based model ChatGPT. Providing information at such a quick rate is invaluable to professionals regardless of industry, with large corporations even providing AI to employees. Per a March 2023 Nikkei Asia report, the system development branch of Panasonic Holdings recently made AI assistants available to its employees in Japan for menial tasks, such as automated document drafting.
Project management is another exciting application of AI emerging as an attractive business investment. Per a report by the Harvard Business Review, data reveals that AI, in combination with other smart technologies like machine learning (ML), will likely dominate the project management field by 2030. These tools can eventually be fine-tuned to perform more complex functions relevant to project management, such as project selection, prioritization, monitoring, reporting, and testing. This will change how project management offices (PMOs) interact with their clients, how employees perform their duties, and in what capacity managers will function.
As early as now, businesses interested in leveraging AI should identify how to adopt AI tools and the areas of operation such technology can transform. For business investors wanting to enter Asia, the interested parties should actively pursue opportunities as businesses in the region quickly adapt and recognize the benefit of AI.
Moving forward, stakeholders should expect AI to be used as a tool and a guiding concept around which businesses are willing to build strategies and models.
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