How key sectors in ASEAN countries are gaining from AI?

Here, we take a look at the influence artificial intelligence is having across key sectors in the ASEAN region.

  • Published On Jun 3, 2019 at 07:51 PM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
Reader Image Read by 100 Industry Professionals

In recent years, different industries around the world have seen an increase in artificial intelligence (AI) utilisation. The influence of the technology is so prominent that it’s drastically changing the way we work, communicate and even live.

AI has the potential to create large productivity gains, including in low-skilled sectors, which could improve the work and lives of people in developing regions across Southeast Asia.

Throughout the ASEAN region, apart from Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia where some progress has been made, adoption rates have thus far been slow. Many countries realise the potential the technology has to offer but lack the important infrastructure to properly capitalise on the benefits.

Advt
But, with startups continuing to flock to the region, a large millennial population and regional-wide commitments from governments to invest in and legislate for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0); real change is on the horizon.

According to an IDC report, adoption rates for AI have already grown from 8% to 14% in 2017. Here, we take a look at the influence artificial intelligence is having across key sectors in the ASEAN region.

Agriculture
Increasing consumption and rising requirement of better crop yields are estimated to be one of the major factors driving the demand for robots in agriculture.

AI in agriculture is essentially used for precision farming, livestock monitoring, drone analytics and agriculture robots. Precision farming was the most widely used application in 2018, taking up about 35.6% of the global total. However, agriculture robots are expected to have a bigger share in the future.

Speaking at a recent seminar titled “Connecting Manufacturing Industry with AI Technology”, Dr Siridej Boonsaeng, Dean of the College of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, said that AI is presenting the agricultural sector in Thailand with great opportunities.

Advt
"Self-driving farm vehicles and the process of sorting and grading agricultural products which involve complicated factors of random shape and variation are suitable tasks for AI to replace human when required," he said.

Startups in the region are also developing innovative AI solutions to some of the most imminent issues affecting farmers and other agriculture sector workers, including sustainable crop management and financing.

Retail
E-commerce is big business in Southeast Asia, with Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand generating US$14.8 billion in online sales throughout 2016. In the same year, Lazada Group (a Singaporean online marketplace) reported US$1.36 billion in annual sales and is now the biggest e-commerce player in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

Advt
With 97 million mobile phones in circulation throughout Thailand, it’s unsurprising that consumers are used to turning to their phones for help, instead of seeking out a real person. Smartphones now come fully equipped with AI assistants and every retailer from Starbucks to supermarkets now use chatbots to engage with their customers.

Gartner predicts that 25% of customer questions will be handled by AI by the year 2020, freeing up today’s human sales assistants from the monotony of answering the same query 30 times a day. AI can also be used to predict questions before they’ve been asked and ultimately improve the customer service experience for most shoppers.

Advt
Within the retail sector, AI can personalise purchasing recommendations for customers whilst helping retailers to optimise pricing and discount strategies, alongside demand forecasting.

Financial services
Similar to the retail sector, companies operating within the financial services have been using AI to enhance the customer service experience. One such example is the deployment of IBM Watson in Hong Leong Bank of Malaysia to analyse the emotion of customers by the way they speak on the telephone.

While Singapore is leading the technological charge in this arena, the ASEAN region has been slow on the uptake when it comes to some of the more advanced use cases for artificial intelligence.

Singapore based startup CashShield, uses real-time high-frequency algorithms with biometric analysis and pattern recognition to help companies manage the risk of fraudulent accounts and payments.

Claiming to be the world’s only fully machine automated fraud management system, its algorithm trains itself in real time, functioning without the need for any data scientist or fraud analyst.

However, not every country in the bloc is as technological savvy as Singapore, with most first needing to accelerate basic digitisation efforts; streamlining their data collection, management and analytics processes before than can start feeding the information into complex AI algorithms.

Transport
Last year, ride-hailing startup Grab and the National University of Singapore (NUS) launched an AI laboratory with the aim to develop solutions that can transform urban transport and prepare for “smarter” cities in Southeast Asia.

The ‘Grab-NUS AI Lab’, which has been set up with a joint initial investment of S$6 million, is Grab’s first major AI laboratory and NUS’ first AI laboratory with a commercial partner.

Through the use of AI algorithms, Grab’s is using data from its rides to build richer maps, understand passengers’ preferences, modelling of traffic conditions, analysing driver behaviour and detecting real-time traffic events.

By combining this data with NUS’ research and development (R&D) expertise in the field of AI, and under the supervision of senior Grab research scientists and NUS faculty members, the Grab-NUS AI Lab will map out traffic patterns and identify ways to directly impact mobility and livability of cities across Southeast Asia.

Healthcare
Complex ML algorithms have helped to speed up how long it takes to review data relating to serious illnesses, allowing doctors to diagnose and treat patients more efficiently than ever before.

Healthcare in Southeast Asia varies from country to country but on the whole, combines state-funded care with private, insurance-led options. One of the biggest healthcare insurers in Singapore, NTUC Income, has already deployed IBM Watson to digitally process almost 15,000 monthly claims.

Private medical group Parkway Pantai has been using AI since November 2018 to generate accurate hospital bill estimates. Using AI and machine learning algorithms from Singapore-based startup UCARE.AI, Mount Elizabeth, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway East hospitals are now able to create personalised bill estimates based on parameters such as the patient’s medical condition and medical practices. It also takes into account the patient’s current age, revisit frequency and existing conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.

The uses of AI have also been embraced by the government in Singapore, with one state agency using the technology to analyse patient data that has been inputted from a number of different healthcare systems. The system should help to improve diagnostic outcomes and generate greater insights into potential treatments.

Malaysia is to healthcare startups what Singapore is to fintech, with many of these emerging companies developing AI-based solutions to help improve the access people have to healthcare professionals. Getdoc, Door2Door Doctor, Teleme, HomeGP, Healthmetrics, and BookDoc are all Malaysian healthcare startups that use AI algorithms to help predict your medical needs, customise your healthcare plan and increase your access to medical advice.

Education
While progress is still slow in the education sector, the potential that exists within it for AI is clear. Globally, 5% of GDP is being spent on education and those in the know are already predicting that investment in edtech will reach $250 billion by 2020.

Once again, AI chatbots and even AI-enabled classroom assistants are proving useful in this sector, taking away some of the pressure from teachers and allowing them to focus more on the job of teaching and less on monotonous and repetitive tasks.

In the field of AI analytics, universities in Singapore and Malaysia have started to experiment with predictive algorithms designed to reduce the number of dropouts by allowing for earlier interventions.

Once again, there are only a select few countries throughout the ASEAN region that have started to embrace the potential for AI in the education sector. One of the biggest current barrier is a lack of consistent quality in IT infrastructure throughout the region, with some reports showing that large numbers of the ASEAN population still don’t have access to the internet.

The article first appeared on CIO.com

  • Published On Jun 3, 2019 at 07:51 PM IST
Be the first one to comment.
Comment Now

Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals

Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.

Download ETCIO App

  • Get Realtime updates
  • Save your favourite articles
Scan to download App