A wrap on AI Day 2023 – Empower AI: Reality Reimagined! 

We embarked on an exhilarating voyage of artificial intelligence at AI Day 2023, themed “Empower AI – Reality Reimagined” at the Global City, Ho Chi Minh City. The central focus of the event was on the groundbreaking world of Generative AI (GenAI) and featured the esteemed participation of Mr. Tran Duy Dong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology. AI Day 2023 marks the fifth consecutive year of AI Day, firmly establishing itself as the most prestigious AI event in Southeast Asia (SEA). 

Organized annually by VinAI, a proud member of Vingroup, and this year in collaboration with the New Turing Institute, alongside support from Jobhopin and NewNow, endorsed by the Ministry of Science & Technology of Vietnam and the National Innovation Center (NIC), AI Day 2023 successfully attracted over 30 renowned experts, including esteemed professors and top scientists in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Notably, the distinguished presence of Mr. Tran Duy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, added prestige to the event as he extended his congratulations. 

The event boasted a diverse attendance of over 1400 participants, comprising of students, organizations, corporations, entrepreneurs, founders, educators, and experts, all actively engaging in the various event activities. AI Day 2023 showcased the brilliance of 27 world-renowned speakers, who, as professors, doctors, and industry experts, delivered captivating speeches that enriched the intellectual atmosphere of the occasion. The event has captured widespread attention and garnered media coverage across over 300 reputable news, presses, social media channels, and domestic television channels. 

Deputy Minister Tran Duy Dong expressed “I have full confidence that AI is an area where Vietnam has substantial potential for strong growth, and we can quickly keep pace with global innovations. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is dedicated to continuously supporting and standing alongside the AI community, as well as the broader science and technology community, fostering a comprehensive and dynamic innovation ecosystem. This commitment aims to contribute significantly to the overall development of the country”.  

Let’s take a look at some of the many highlights of the event!

Day 1 – A Future with AI Reimagined – LLMs & Vision

Each morning and afternoon of the two-day event delved into distinct themes. Day 1 morning unfolded with the theme ‘A Future with AI Reimagined – LLMs,’ and featured enlightening talks by Dr. Thang Luong (Google DeepMind), Assist. Prof. He He (NYU), and Prof. Chris Manning (Stanford University). The discussions ranged from ‘Large Language Modeling: Past, Present, and Future’ to ‘Challenges in aligning language models’ and ‘Steering Foundation Models.’ Concluding the first morning of AI Day 2023, the audience eagerly engaged in a panel discussion titled ‘LLMs: Unlocking the Potential.’ The panel, which included luminaries Thang Luong, Chris Manning, He He, and Hung Bui (VinAI), was expertly moderated by Dinh Phung (Monash University). The discussion covered a spectrum of topics, from addressing safety and ethics concerns related to LLMs to offering advice for young PhDs and educators in the next 5-10 years. The morning session left audiences buzzing with excitement. 

We then entered Afternoon 1 of AI Day 2023, which was themed ‘A Future with AI Reimagined – Vision.’ The session commenced with a keynote by Prof. Martial Hebert (CMU) on ‘Key challenges toward the next generation of AI systems,’ emphasizing the critical deployment of AI systems. Prof. Simon Lucey (University of Adelaide) then explored the intriguing concept of ‘The Rise of Neural Priors’ and their role in learning systems. Shifting focus to ‘Procedural Activity Understanding,’ Assist. Prof. Angela Yao (NUS) showcased potential applications and rising trends of AI-powered wearables, while Prof. Anton van den Hengel (University of Adelaide) shared transformative concepts of Continual Learning in AI. 

The first day concluded triumphantly with a panel discussion titled ‘Are You Real? Benefits and Dangers in the World of AI-Generated Visuals,’ featuring all speakers from the afternoon session. The discussion, skillfully moderated by VinAI’s Minh Hoai, touched upon the fascinating dynamics of AI-generated visuals, marking a successful close to the day’s events at AI Day 2023. 

 
Day 2 – A Future with AI Reimagined – a Global View & Impact in Asia & GenAI Impact and Potentials in SEA

The final day of AI Day 2023 Empower AI: Reality Reimagined brought attendees the highlight of the event – a live and exclusive fireside chat between Dr. Hung Bui, VinAI’s CEO and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.  

Coming back for the 5th year, AI Day 2023 – Empower AI: Reality Reimagined wouldn’t be able to happen without the support of all our valued sponsors. Our Diamond sponsor, Intel, has never stopped striving for better in researching, developing and introducing new technologies that change the world, so it was fitting that Day 2, under the theme of A Future with AI Reimagined – a Global View & Impact in Asia kicked off with Ayush Batra, the Regional CTO, Sales and Marketing at Intel, presenting an Industry talk on the very important topic of ‘Explore the Sustainable Future of AI’.  

The next keynote, titled ‘GenAI @ VinAI’ was from a very familiar face – the CEO of VinAI, Dr. Hung Bui! Dr Bui walked us through an exciting journey from the birth of VinAI to the current successes in the Generative AI movement. According to Dr. Hung Bui “VinAI have actively contributed to open-sourcing foundation models like BERTweet and XPhoneBERT, alongside the Pho models series tailored for the Vietnamese community, including PhoBERT, BARTPho, and PhoGPT. These models have garnered extensive usage, with 350K+ of downloads in the released month and positive community feedback. PhoGPT, a 7.5 billion parameter Large Language Model (LLM) designed for Vietnamese, stands out for its fluency, insightfulness, and safety mechanisms tailored for Vietnamese users.” 

Next up was a live online fireside chat with Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI and Dr Hung Bui, CEO of VinAI. During the industry talk ‘AI Sovereignty in the $25T Global Industrial Economy—The Leadership Perspective’ Dr. Christopher Nguyen – CEO of Aitomatic, spoke about how Aitomatic is spearheading the AI revolution in the $25 trillion industrial economy.  

One panel ‘Entrepreneurship in Generative AI: Navigating Southeast Asia and Pacific-Rim Opportunities’, was honoured to have an amazing lineup of panelists, each bringing a unique perspective to the table. Joining us were Vy Le (Do Ventures), Tuan Cao (Genetica), Hung Tran (Got It), Inc. and Kai Yong Kang (Startups for AWS). The panel was moderated by Thuc Vu (OhmniLab)  

In the afternoon of Day 2, we covered four industrial talks, including ‘Explosion in AI Training and Inferencing Requirements’ by Mr. Tran Son Binh and Mr. Chris Clarkson from our Platinum Sponsor AMD; ‘Harnessing Proprietary Data in the Era of Generative AI: Insights from AWS’ by Mr. Brian Bae and Dr. Chomchana Trevai from AWS; ‘Improving AI Safety with Red Teaming’ by Mr. Thai Duong, CEO of Calif and ‘South East Asia Languages in One Network’ by Mr. Raymond Ng, Ms. Thanh Ngan Nguyen and Dr. Xian Bin Yong from AI Singapore.  

AI Day 2023 successfully finished with demos from 3 Generative Vietnamese AI Startups: QuickQRart, Eklipse.gg, and Arcanic.ai, all showcased their unique blend of innovation, creativity, and technological prowess to the forefront of the AI landscape. 
AI Day 2023 was a testament to the boundless potential of artificial intelligence and the collaborative spirit that propels it forward. From groundbreaking technological advancements to thought-provoking discussions, AI Day 2023 has offered a glimpse into the future, a future where AI stands as a driving force for positive change in our world.  

The event has garnered support from major sponsors and partners namely Intel, AWS, Elsa Speak, Do Ventures, AMD, Lenovo, Trusting Social, Google, VinFuture Prize, New World Saigon Hotel, NIC, Sovico Group, Vietjet Air, Vietsuccess, VietAI, and The Global City. We would like to thank all the attendees, speakers and sponsors of AI Day 2023. Without their support and participation, this amazing event would not have happened. See you all at AI Day 2024!