FPT CTO: After Digital Transformation Comes AI Transformation

According to FPT's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Vu Anh Tu, the era of AI transformation is upon us, presenting businesses with unprecedented opportunities for growth.

Speaking at the AI forum during FPT Techday 2024, held on November 13-14 in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Tu highlighted that the demand for lifelong learning and knowledge enhancement will grow as society progresses. At the same time, businesses will seek to boost productivity and operational efficiency while nations work to strengthen their global competitiveness.
As a Vietnamese technology company catering to individuals, organizations, and society, FPT's product ecosystem must constantly evolve, Mr. Tu explained. He outlined four critical phases in this evolution. 

These phases include digitization (computerizing core economic sectors and building Vietnam's internet infrastructure), automation (automating business processes across industries), and digital transformation.

"And now, we're entering the age of AI transformation," he emphasized.

Mr. Vu Anh Tu speaking at the event. Photo: Lam Thao

During the AI transformation phase, FPT's CTO emphasized that businesses face the challenge of understanding their customers, engaging with them intelligently, and harnessing the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI) to forge innovative and breakthrough business strategies.

Tu illustrated this with an example from the journalism industry. Integrating AI into a newsroom creates a "Copilot in the News Room," with AI assistants supporting tasks like proofreading, digitizing news, generating charts, and creating new content, ultimately attracting and growing readership. Furthermore, combining AI with cloud computing creates an "AI Factory," delivering intelligent AI services on the cloud. "Thanks to AI Factory, FPT's AI capabilities have increased 100-fold," he noted.

However, he acknowledged the challenges of AI adoption in Vietnam, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While SMEs are often highly motivated to implement AI, their limited resources can make it challenging to identify specific problems, implement effective management strategies, and measure the impact of AI initiatives.

"Custom-built AI solutions can be prohibitively expensive for SMEs," he admitted. Instead, he recommended "off-the-shelf" solutions designed for specific industries and offered by specialized providers as a more practical approach.

Mr. Tu also highlighted FPT's commitment to "bringing the future to the present" by leveraging a robust computing infrastructure in partnership with Nvidia. This infrastructure boasts exaflops computing capabilities (performing trillions of calculations per second) and is supported by a team of 80,000 (including only the staff of eight subsidiaries and two affiliates), including numerous young professionals trained in AI internationally. FPT also benefits from knowledge transfer from leading global companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Landing AI.

He estimated that by embracing AI transformation, businesses can achieve 50% cost savings, boost productivity by 67%, deliver 24/7 customer service, and unlock significant new value and business opportunities.

Source: VnExpress