Generative AI in Vietnam: From Hype to Practical Business Impact

Introduction: The Rise of Generative AI in Media

AI is everywhere. Open LinkedIn, browse the news, or attend any business event, and you'll hear about ChatGPT, AI copilots, DeepSeek’s emerging AI models, Manus AI’s financial automation, and the rise of Agentic AI—promising to revolutionize everything from business operations to decision-making. From AI-generated content to AI-powered customer interactions, the buzz is massive. Conversations about AI are happening everywhere, from boardrooms to street-side iced tea stalls ("trà đá vỉa hè").

But here’s the real question: Is GenAI just media hype, or is it already transforming businesses—especially in Vietnam?

Figure 1: A futuristic city of Vietnam created by Grok of xAI.

AI is projected to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, reshaping industries and redefining competition (PwC). While global businesses are rapidly integrating AI, Vietnam is still in the early stages of adoption. Many business leaders struggle to define where AI fits into their strategy, which tools to adopt, and how to measure ROI. The gap between curiosity and execution prevents many Vietnamese companies from fully leveraging AI’s potential.

For businesses in Vietnam, the real challenge is not whether AI will have an impact—but how to harness it effectively for measurable business value.

This post explores the realities behind AI’s rise, how Vietnamese businesses are leveraging it today, and the practical steps leaders can take to turn AI potential into real impact.

1. AI Hype vs. Reality – Separating Myths from Real Business Impact

AI’s rapid evolution brings both excitement and confusion for businesses. While cutting-edge innovations—like OpenAI’s Project Stargate, China’s DeepSeek, and Manus AI—dominate headlines, the real question is: how much of this is true transformation, and how much is hype? Businesses in Vietnam need to cut through the noise and focus on AI applications that drive measurable impact instead of chasing trends.

What’s Driving the AI Hype?

The rapid rise of AI is fueled by a mix of breakthrough innovations, aggressive investments, and business adoption trends. Tech giants like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and ByteDance are racing to develop more powerful AI models, while companies worldwide are integrating AI into daily operations.

From generative AI advancements (like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini 1.5, and Grok) to the rise of AI automation and copilots, businesses are bombarded with AI-driven promises of efficiency and transformation. Meanwhile, experts debate whether AI will create more jobs or accelerate workforce disruption.

What’s Overhyped?

AI is often portrayed as a game-changing force that will instantly transform businesses—but reality is more complex. While AI adoption is accelerating, its effectiveness remains limited in areas requiring human judgment, creativity, and strategic decision-making.

Many companies rush into AI expecting overnight success, only to face challenges when models require fine-tuning, integration, and continuous adaptation to deliver results. AI is not a plug-and-play solution—it demands proper training, well-defined use cases, and long-term strategic execution to drive real impact.

Businesses that approach AI with clear objectives and realistic expectations will gain long-term value, while those that fall for the hype without a structured plan risk disappointment.

What’s Real?

Generative AI (GenAI) is already delivering tangible benefits to businesses worldwide, significantly improving productivity, customer engagement, and decision-making. Companies strategically adopting GenAI are reporting notable improvements in efficiency, content personalization, and customer experience.

For example, Morgan Stanley leverages GPT-4-powered AI copilots, enabling financial advisors to rapidly generate personalized client insights and recommendations (openai.com). Salesforce’s Einstein GPT automatically produces tailored marketing and sales content, significantly boosting customer engagement (salesforce.com). Meanwhile, businesses across industries are using synthetic data generated by GenAI to train sophisticated fraud detection models, significantly enhancing their ability to identify and manage financial risks (jpmorgan.com).

A common myth surrounding GenAI is that it will replace human expertise entirely. However, the reality is different—successful GenAI adoption emphasizes human-AI collaboration, not replacement (mitsloan.mit.edu). Businesses that equip employees with the skills to effectively leverage GenAI find that it significantly enhances productivity, allowing them to dedicate more time to high-value, strategic tasks. GenAI-powered copilots help professionals rapidly synthesize insights, automate routine communications, and accelerate complex decision-making processes. Yet, human judgment remains critical to ensuring accuracy, ethical alignment, and strategic direction.

Businesses that move beyond the hype to strategically integrate GenAI into their operations—by identifying clear use cases and aligning AI capabilities with specific business goals—achieve measurable impact. The key to success lies in seamlessly blending human expertise and AI capabilities to amplify business outcomes.

While AI is already delivering business value globally, Vietnam stands at a crucial turning point. Some businesses are actively integrating AI, while others remain hesitant due to cost, talent shortages, and infrastructure challenges. How can Vietnamese companies navigate these barriers and unlock AI’s full potential?

2. Vietnam’s AI Adoption: Where Do We Stand?

Vietnam’s AI journey is evolving as businesses and policymakers navigate the intersection of global innovations and local opportunities. While AI adoption in Vietnam is still in its early stages, growing investments, government initiatives, and increasing demand for AI-driven solutions are driving momentum. The country is positioning itself as a regional AI hub, but businesses still face challenges in adoption and implementation.

Current AI Landscape in Vietnam

Vietnam is emerging as a key player in AI, driven by proactive government policies, rapid market growth, and increasing investments from both global and local technology firms. The government has launched an ambitious AI strategy to position the country as a leader in AI innovation within ASEAN by 2030 (baochinhphu.vn).

Vietnam’s AI market is projected to reach $3.4 billion by 2030, growing at 28.63% annually (jdi.group), positioning it as one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing AI hubs. This growth is fueled by rising adoption of AI-driven automation, personalized customer experiences, and data-driven decision-making, reinforcing Vietnam’s role in Southeast Asia’s digital transformation.

Global tech giants like NVIDIA and Google, alongside Vietnamese AI leaders such as VinAI and FPT AI, are investing heavily in AI research and development, further solidifying Vietnam’s position in the regional AI ecosystem. While regional AI models like DeepSeek are advancing multilingual AI capabilities, Vietnam still requires dedicated AI solutions tailored to its unique language structure and business applications. Localized AI models remain crucial for ensuring better accuracy and relevance in Vietnamese industries.

Challenges to AI Adoption in Vietnam

While Vietnam's AI ecosystem is expanding, several challenges still hinder widespread adoption. To fully leverage AI’s potential, businesses must navigate the following barriers:

Shortage of AI Talent: Vietnam lacks a sufficient number of skilled AI professionals, making it challenging for businesses to develop and maintain in-house AI teams.
High Implementation Costs: The cost of developing, deploying, and maintaining AI solutions remains high, particularly for SMEs with limited budgets.
Regulatory and Compliance Complexities: Vietnam’s evolving data privacy and AI governance regulations create uncertainty, making compliance a challenge for businesses.
Language Barriers: Most AI models are trained on English datasets, requiring significant localization efforts to be effective for Vietnamese business use cases.
Limited Access to High-Performance Infrastructure: AI development requires substantial computing power, yet access to high-performance GPUs, cloud AI services, and advanced infrastructure remains a constraint for many Vietnamese businesses.

Overcoming these challenges through AI upskilling, localized solutions, and strategic roadmaps will be key to unlocking AI’s full potential. While barriers remain, businesses that take proactive steps can position themselves at the forefront of Vietnam’s AI-driven future.

3. How Generative AI is Transforming Businesses

Generative AI is reshaping industries worldwide, helping businesses automate workflows, generate personalized content, and enhance decision-making at scale. Vietnamese businesses can leverage these innovations to unlock new efficiencies, improve customer engagement, and gain a competitive edge in their sectors.

Banking & Finance

GenAI is transforming financial services by automating complex tasks such as compliance reporting, fraud analysis, and risk modeling. Traditional AI has long been used for fraud detection, but GenAI goes a step further by generating synthetic fraud scenarios to train better detection models. AI-powered financial assistants can analyze contracts, summarize key terms, and auto-generate compliance reports, helping banks and financial institutions streamline audits and reduce regulatory risks.

Beyond automating compliance and risk management, GenAI is also transforming customer interactions and financial decision-making. AI-powered financial assistants generate personalized insights, while AI-driven virtual agents enhance customer support and streamline financial operations. This innovation extends to debt collection, where AI-driven personalization is redefining engagement strategies.

Kompato AI, a spin-off from Trusting Social, leverages GenAI and AI Agents to optimize debt collection. Instead of rigid recovery methods, it uses AI-generated behavioral insights to create personalized repayment strategies and automate interactions. This enhances engagement, improves recovery rates, and ensures compliance, offering a more efficient, customer-centric approach to debt resolution.

Beyond transforming financial services, GenAI is also reshaping customer engagement and revenue generation, particularly in sales and marketing.

Sales & Marketing

GenAI is transforming marketing by automating content creation, personalizing outreach, and optimizing sales strategies at scale. Businesses use GenAI-powered tools to auto-generate sales emails, product descriptions, and ad creatives, reducing manual effort while improving engagement.

Platforms like Teampal.ai and Revve.ai are now integrating GenAI to craft AI-personalized marketing campaigns, dynamically adjusting messaging based on customer behavior. Additionally, AI-generated chatbots are handling initial sales interactions, refining pitches, and ensuring prospects receive real-time, tailored responses.

Retail & E-commerce

Retailers are using GenAI to create AI-driven shopping assistants, hyper-personalized recommendations, and dynamic pricing strategies. AI-generated product descriptions and ad creatives ensure a more engaging shopping experience. Instead of relying solely on past sales data, GenAI helps businesses anticipate customer demand and optimize inventory in real time, reducing waste and stock shortages.

E-commerce platforms are also integrating AI-powered visual search tools, where customers can upload images and receive AI-generated product matches. Brands leverage GenAI to generate personalized product descriptions, ad creatives, and even chatbot-based shopping advisors that guide customers through purchases.

Logistics & Manufacturing

GenAI is transforming logistics and manufacturing by optimizing supply chains, automating workflows, and enhancing predictive maintenance. AI-powered assistants process invoices, optimize routes, and automate supply chain responses in real time.

Companies are leveraging GenAI for predictive maintenance and process automation. Aitomatic’s AI-driven solutions optimize cold chain logistics, semiconductor manufacturing, and industrial maintenance, reducing downtime and improving efficiency (aitomatic.com). Their AI-powered predictive maintenance anticipates equipment failures, minimizing disruptions and cutting operational costs.

By integrating AI into operations, businesses can reduce downtime, increase efficiency, and optimize resource allocation in logistics and manufacturing.

With GenAI now integrated into core business operations, the next wave of AI adoption will focus on industry-specific intelligence, autonomous AI agents, and deeper automation—taking businesses beyond routine efficiency gains.

4. What’s Next for AI in Vietnam? Practical Business Applications

AI adoption in Vietnam is shifting beyond generic chatbots and large language models. While tools like ChatGPT and Gemini remain useful, businesses are now exploring AI applications tailored to specific operational challenges, such as business intelligence, workflow automation, and domain-specific AI assistants.

The next phase of AI adoption will be customized and industry-driven, with a strong focus on AI agents—systems that can autonomously execute tasks, make decisions, and continuously learn from interactions.

Localized AI Solutions for the Vietnamese Market

One of the biggest barriers to AI adoption in Vietnam is language. Most AI models are trained in English, making them less effective for Vietnamese business contexts. AI applications that work well in global markets often struggle with Vietnamese syntax, informal speech, and industry-specific terminology.

To bridge this gap, researchers and companies are developing Vietnamese-optimized AI models such as PhoGPT, VinaLLaMA, and Arcee-VyLinh. These models enhance customer service, legal document processing, and financial analysis by offering better language comprehension and contextual accuracy. Meanwhile, regional players like DeepSeek are expanding non-English AI capabilities, signaling a shift toward localized AI adoption across Asia.

Example: A Vietnamese customer service chatbot trained on local language datasets provides more natural and culturally relevant interactions than an AI model trained primarily in English.

AI-Powered Business Intelligence

Vietnamese companies generate vast amounts of data but often struggle to extract real-time, actionable insights. AI-powered business intelligence (BI) solutions help organizations analyze data, identify trends, and support decision-making.

Modern AI copilots in BI—integrated into tools like Power BI or Tableau—allow business users to query data in natural language and receive automated insights. This enhances decision-making, forecasting, and strategic planning.

Example: A retail chain in Vietnam could use AI-powered BI to identify underperforming products, adjust pricing dynamically, and predict customer demand based on historical sales data.

AI Agents and Agentic AI

AI is evolving beyond simple automation into AI agents—autonomous systems that perform tasks, make decisions, and continuously improve. Unlike traditional automation, AI Agents are autonomous systems capable of reasoning, decision-making, and continuous learning, allowing businesses to scale AI-driven workflows with minimal human oversight.

Agentic AI expands this capability by enabling AI systems to refine their own processes, learn from interactions, and collaborate across different functions. Businesses are increasingly deploying AI agents in finance, marketing, customer service, and IT operations to handle repetitive tasks, optimize workflows, and enhance productivity.

Example: A financial AI agent could autonomously monitor transactions for fraud, generate risk reports, and initiate security protocols without human intervention.

Custom AI Assistants for Operations

AI-powered assistants are evolving beyond simple chatbots into AI copilots that integrate directly into business operations. These assistants streamline workflows, retrieve critical data, and automate repetitive processes, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks such as strategic decision-making and customer interactions.

Companies are embedding AI-driven assistants into ERP, CRM, and HR platforms, allowing employees to automate reporting, fetch insights, and execute routine administrative tasks more efficiently. Rather than replacing human roles, these AI copilots act as productivity enhancers, working alongside employees to boost efficiency and reduce manual effort.

Example: An insurance company in Vietnam could deploy an AI-powered assistant to help agents retrieve policy details, generate quotes, and process claims faster—allowing them to focus on building customer relationships instead of navigating complex systems.

AI for Document Automation

Vietnamese businesses, especially in banking, finance, and legal sectors, still rely heavily on manual document processing. AI-powered automation tools can extract data, validate information, and streamline approvals, reducing human effort and improving accuracy.

Example: A bank could use AI to process loan applications automatically, extracting financial details, assessing risks, and flagging potential compliance issues.

AI for Internal Knowledge Management

Many companies lack structured knowledge management, making it hard for employees to find critical information when needed. AI-powered retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems allow employees to access structured and unstructured business data through AI-powered assistants, delivering precise, context-aware answers.

Example: A multinational firm operating in Vietnam could deploy an AI-powered knowledge assistant to help employees quickly find HR policies, contract templates, or compliance guidelines.

5. AI Adoption in Vietnam: A Structured Approach

Successfully adopting AI requires a structured plan that ensures measurable impact and long-term success. Businesses that take deliberate steps can minimize risks and maximize AI’s potential:

Define Clear Objectives AI adoption should begin with well-defined business goals. Companies must identify specific areas where AI can create measurable value—whether improving efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing customer experiences, or unlocking new revenue streams. Setting clear success metrics ensures that AI adoption aligns with tangible business outcomes.
Ensure Data Readiness AI is only as effective as the data it learns from. Businesses must ensure they have high-quality, structured, and secure data before implementing AI. This includes assessing:
- Data availability and collection methods
- Data integration with existing systems
- Security, privacy, and regulatory compliance

For instance, a logistics company using AI for route optimization must ensure its geolocation and traffic data are accurate and updated in real-time.

Integrate AI Seamlessly AI adoption should enhance—not disrupt—business operations. Successful integration involves embedding AI into existing workflows, ERP, CRM, and automation systems while ensuring employees are properly trained to work alongside AI.In customer service, for example, AI-powered chatbots can handle routine inquiries, freeing up human agents for more complex interactions.
Start Small, Then Scale AI adoption works best with an incremental approach. Instead of implementing AI across the entire organization at once, companies should:
- Begin with a pilot project in one department
- Measure its impact and refine implementation
- Expand AI use cases gradually based on proven success

A bank may first introduce AI-driven risk assessment for a specific loan product before expanding it across all financial services.

Establish a Continuous Feedback Loop AI is not a one-time implementation—it requires continuous monitoring and refinement. Businesses should track AI performance, optimize workflows, and use real-world feedback to enhance AI-driven decisions over time. A strong feedback loop allows AI systems to:
- Improve decision-making accuracy
- Reveal inefficiencies in existing processes
- Provide insights for further automation

For example, a retail chain using AI for demand forecasting should regularly compare AI-generated predictions with actual sales trends, refining the model to improve accuracy over time.

By taking a structured, iterative approach, businesses in Vietnam can scale AI adoption effectively and drive long-term success.

AI in Vietnam: Turning Hype into Business Impact

AI is already transforming industries and delivering measurable business value. From banking and retail to marketing and operations, AI is streamlining workflows, enhancing decision-making, and improving efficiency across sectors.

For Vietnamese businesses, the challenge is no longer whether AI is relevant, but rather how to strategically integrate it for maximum impact. Those that embrace AI thoughtfully and systematically will gain a competitive edge, while those that hesitate risk falling behind.

Key Takeaways for Business Leaders

AI is a Competitive Advantage, Not Just a Trend – Businesses that embrace AI early and strategically gain an edge, while those that delay risk losing relevance.
Focus on Business Value, Not Hype – AI adoption should be driven by practical applications that enhance productivity, reduce costs, and optimize decision-making.
Strategic AI Adoption Drives Measurable Impact – Success requires data readiness, seamless integration, pilot testing, and continuous optimization.
Localized AI Solutions Enhance Adoption – AI models optimized for Vietnamese language and business contexts will deliver more relevant and accurate insights for local businesses.
AI is a Tool, Not a Replacement – AI should augment human expertise, not replace it. Companies must invest in AI literacy to drive innovation while maintaining strategic control.

What’s Next for Businesses?

For companies looking to integrate AI, the smartest approach is to start small, measure impact, and scale strategically. Whether leveraging AI for business intelligence, automation, customer engagement, or workflow optimization, those who take a proactive, structured approach will be best positioned for success in Vietnam’s evolving digital economy.

AI is no longer an option—it’s a competitive necessity. The real question is: Will your business lead the AI-driven future, or will you watch your competitors move ahead?