MIT's Project NANDA released findings from a study and validates what we've been hearing from the ecosystem: the vast majority of GenAI pilots are not getting the desired ROI.

Find out more as we dive into the findings of the study and dissect the layers of the insights behind the phenomenon.

Our usual collaborator, Koo Ping Shung, Co-Founder of Project Asia Data joins Seng Woei Yuan from the AIMX Network for the discussion.

Key Highlights

- Report Overview (00:08:10)

- Planning AI Projects for Success (00:13:23)

- How to Measure Impact (00:20:51)

- Enterprise-wide vs Individual Adoption (00:24:08)

- Success & Adoption Varies across Industries (00:30:53), https://koopingshung.substack.com/p/consulting-in-the-age-of-ai

- Why GenAI Pilots Fail (00:38:42)

- Training Matters (00:46:34)

- How Enterprises Make the Decision to Buy GenAI Solutions (00:49:53)

- How the Organisation is Set Up Matters (00:59:52)

Hop on and join us as we bravely face the key issues around AI Adoption by companies and organisations!

What are the uncomfortable - and sometimes ugly - truths that business leaders & owners need to confront before adopting and scaling AI solutions?

On the episode we have three different business leaders who have direct experience with this: Koo Ping Shung from Project Asia Data who companies consult with for their digital, data & AI adoption journeys; Jeslin Bay from BlackStorm Consulting who has helped companies scale in Southeast Asia; and Paddy Tan, serial entrepreneur and business leader.

Inspired by Project Asia Data's LinkedIn posts here, and here. Let's go!

Key Highlights

- AI is NOT a Magic Pill (00:07:38)

- How to Cut the Fat, and Not the Flesh (00:10:16)

- You really need to do your Homework and Plan Ahead (00:12:59)

- It makes a Difference to Try & Trial (00:15:51)

- What Fairy Tale are they trying to Sell You? (00:19:56)

- How do you Differentiate the Truth from the Hype? (00:23:53)

- Pilots are Useless if you Don't have a Plan for Scaling (00:27:15)

- Look at your Business First (00:31:21)

- You're Prioritizing the Wrong Problems (00:35:41)

- Manage your Data First (00:38:51)

When DeepSeek R1 was released in late January of 2025, we held a special AIMX Meetup webinar to discuss its implications with the community in the AIMX Network.

The hour-long discussion was a spirited one and our guests also addressed comments from the community. This episode is the recording of the webinar.

A big shout out to Kai Xin Thia, Head of AI & Analytics at ST Engineering, Andrew Chow, Chief Innovation Officer & Co-Founder of Asia Pro Ventures, and Koo Ping Shung, Managing Director of Project Asia Data, for their time on the AIMX Meetup.

Key Highlights

- DeepSeek is opening up new avenues for AI innovation (00:06:56)

- Enabling Hardware Optimisation (00:08:55)

- Democratisation of AI (00:15:25)

- Impact on Human Talent (00:28:32)

- The West vs the Rest? (00:31:22)

- Governance vs Innovation (00:36:29)

- Do you Grok? (00:39:39)

In this episode, we explore the transformative world of Fractional Leadership and the rise of Agentic AI. We discuss how fractional leaders are reshaping organizational dynamics by providing flexible executive expertise, while agentic AI introduces new possibilities for autonomous decision-making and strategic innovation.

Join our usual collaborators, ⁠⁠Koo Ping Shung⁠⁠ of ⁠⁠Project Asia Data⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Paddy Tan⁠⁠ of ⁠⁠BlackStorm Consulting⁠⁠, as we examine the implications, challenges, and future outlook of these cutting-edge developments in leadership and AI.

Hosted by ⁠⁠Seng⁠⁠ from the ⁠⁠AIMX Network⁠⁠.

Key Highlights

- What is the connection between Fractional Leadership and Agentic AI? (00:05:17)

- Example of an Agentic AI-enabled Workflow (00:07:52)

- How do leaders make use of Agentic AI-enabled Workflows? (00:09:48)

- Taking Advantage of Fractional Leadership to Change the Game (00:12:55)

- How do Companies make use of Data-driven Talent Management and Resources Allocation? (00:19:41)

- The Importance of AI Literacy for Leaders (00:22:33)

- Implementing an AI-led Strategy (00:29:23)

- Contextualising it for non-Digital industries (00:32:31)

- Structuring Fractional Leadership for Success (00:35:06)

- Practical Advice on Corporate Digital Transformation (00:38:04)

This episode of The AIMX Podcast interviews Weiyuan Liu, Senior Engineering Manager at Ascenda. Weiyuan shares his rich experience leading engineering and development teams, and gives some valuable advice for AI engineers and developers.

Key Highlights

- How do engineers & developers strike a balance between growing their careers and pursuing their technical interests? 00:05:44

- Benefits of joining Communities 00:10:16

- Learning from one another in the Team 00:11:37

- How can other teams better make use of the capabilities of development and engineering teams? 00:17:05

- Experiences with Developer Communities 00:23:43

- Archipelago 00:33:02

- Working with Users directly 00:38:55

Dr Wenxuan Zhang shares his perspective why Southeast Asian and multilingual LLMs need to be further developed, and makes a strong case for advancing AI accessibility.

Find out more about Dr Zhang's active contributions to two open-source projects: Babel and SeaLLMs-Audio.

Key Highlights

- The LLM Divide (00:02:00)

- The Large Audio-Language Model (00:08:41)

- Babel: Serving over 90% of Global Speakers (00:15:36)

- How can the LLM Divide be bridged? (00:21:32)

- Education and the advancement of AI accessibility (00:26:20)

We know that LLMs can hallucinate and so prudent users usually corroborate responses with highly reliable sources of truth. Can AI products & solutions claim to be trustable? How does this concept affect the development and use of AI?

Join Koo Ping Shung of Project Asia Data and Seng from the AIMX Network on an unbridled discussion on Trustable AI.

Key Highlights

- What is Trustable AI? (00:04:07)

- Trustable vs Trustworthy AI (00:07:43)

- Ethics in AI? (00:13:19)

- Context is for Kings (00:24:23)

- Let's address Responsible AI (00:26:47)

- The issue of Accountability (00:36:17)

Several Southeast Asia language models have emerged in the burgeoning space of multilingual LLMs. This session from the AIMX Singapore 2024 conference brings together the open-source Southeast Asia LLM projects for a collaborative discussion on unlocking the benefits of LLMs uniquely tailored to Southeast Asia’s diverse cultural context.

Moderator

Prof Simon Chesterman, Senior Director (AI Governance) AI Singapore

Panellists

Dr Leslie Teo, Senior Director (AI Products), AI Singapore

Dr Longxu Dou, Lead Researcher, SEA AI Lab

Dr Wenxuan Zhang, former Lead Researcher, Alibaba DAMO Academy

Key Highlights

- Can local language LLMs compete with the larger English LLMs? (00:02:28)

- Are there benefits with being a smaller local language LLM? (00:06:11)

- Cultural uniqueness and inherent guardrails (00:13:41)

- Training data vs interests of local communities (00:23:49)

- Crystal-ball gazing: what will be the local conversations on LLMs? (00:37:25)

Small businesses know that leveraging new technologies is the way to growth and scale.

With the increasingly crowded space of AI solutions, how do small businesses truly make use of AI in a practical and scalable manner?

Our usual collaborators, Koo Ping Shung of Project Asia Data and Paddy Tan of BlackStorm Consulting, return to contribute their knowledge and an AI Playbook for small businesses. Humbly hosted by Seng from the AIMX Network.

Key Highlights

- Why should small businesses even consider AI? (00:03:30)

- Misconceptions of AI by small business owners (00:08:39)

- Which parts of their businesses can small business owners implement AI tools? (00:13:17)

- How can small businesses prepare themselves for implementing AI? (00:17:56)

- Future Trends in AI and how small businesses can benefit (00:29:39)

- The AI Playbook for Small Businesses (00:36:03)

The entry of DeepSeek-R1 into the LLMs' race has truly changed the global conversation. In this episode we speak to seasoned investor and AI practitioner, Andrew Chow, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder of Asia Pro Ventures. This episode is hosted by Seng from the AIMX Network.

Key Highlights

- How will DeepSeek-R1 Impact Investments in AI? (00:01:22)

- DeepSeek-R1 has Democratized AI (00:05:58)

- Working Around DeepSeek-R1's Impact (00:06:39)

- Changing the Investor's Game (00:09:28)

- Where is the LLM Race Heading? (00:13:31)

- Introducing Capabara (00:19:57)

- Capabara in Action (00:23:54)

- The Next Big Thing (00:33:46)