FPT CTO: “FPT aims to get Vietnam's AI to world-class”

The core platform AI and the landmark cooperation with a world-leading research faculty in AI technology

From our early days in researching and applying AI, FPT had the ambition to get AI technology in Vietnam to world-class. The collaboration with Mila - a world-leading research faculty in AI technology will be one of its important stepping stones towards this goal.

Mila has 27 years of experience in AI research. At the moment, there are around 500 AI researchers in their league, including Mr.  Yoshua Bengio referred to as the "Godfathers of AI" – one of the three winners of the ACM A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Computing".

Even the most well-known tech giants are partnering or were partnered with Mila, namely Hitachi, Google, Microsoft, and so on. Some of their experts work directly in the many laboratories of the Institute. Following the agreement, FPT would also be named among this list.

It took FPT around 6 months from proposing to succeeding. According to Mila, the two factors that led to their agreement were the company’s AI research and application capability, as well as their similar insights to change Vietnam with this technology.

Even the most well-known tech giants are partnering or were partnered with Mila, namely Hitachi, Google, Microsoft, and so on.

FPT shared its plan to consider AI as the core platform in this digital revolution, by developing AI applications to introduce it to every business. Mila was also pleasantly surprised by FPT’s AI research capability, especially in a nation commonly regarded as underdeveloped in the tech field.

FPT also stands out from other businesses with a university focusing on training talents to realize the dream of an AI Center in Vietnam. These reasons led Mila to believe that this long-term partnership would make huge changes in the future.

A launching pad for Vietnamese young people to reach the world class with AI

Mila is very successful in bringing science to life. Besides basic researches, they also collaborate with partners to run applicable projects with high practicality, such as Machine learning apps for preventing Covid-19, countering climate change etc.

With its ability and passion to absorb the latest AI technologies, FPT expects the partnership with Mila to help build an AI ecosystem in Vietnam, with Binh Dinh as its core, offering the Vietnamese young tech community opportunities to improve their skills, especially allowing Vietnamese students to access state-of-the-arts in AI. Should the student be qualified, FPT may even attempt to arrange internships at international AI centers for them.

FPT expects the partnership with Mila to help build an AI ecosystem in Vietnam

In fact, Binh Dinh has been oriented towards a technology center. This province has been planning and developing AI Center and science city projects. Last year, 14 Nobel Prize winners even went to Binh Dinh to host a conference there. So FPT’s plan for an AI Center was completely supported by the local authority.

The AI Center in Binh Dinh will turn the place into Vietnam’s “AI core”. In 2019, the company started to build an FPT University branch in Quy Nhon focusing on AI training. It is expected to run in the next year and then provide the future job market with thousands of capable IT engineers.

At this university, students will get more chances to attend large conferences, AI research and application programs and solve FPT’s real cases. FPT will also actively invite international AI experts to give lectures and share their knowledge with students. These are extremely helpful for cultivating young human resources.

FPT's AI towards millions of people

According to Mr. Viet, FPT focuses on practicality to bring as many AI researches into reality as possible, instead of doing research for tech articles and papers.

As a proof, over 70 businesses partly in finance-banking, retail, and insurance are using FPT’s AI products, then directly benefiting around 11.5 million people.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more businesses are seeking AI apps and tools to automatize resource-consuming tasks such as call centers. This will result in cutting down costs and increase productivity.

With its particular steps, FPT expects to socialize AI – bringing the benefits of technology to everyone. Tech equality will be prevalent, not only for developed countries but also for others like Vietnam. Over 90% of foreign banks or services/products are estimated to become automatic. So why can’t we do the same? When the technology gap between nations is being narrowed, those who utilize their opportunities better will hit the goal of digital societies soon.