Vietnamese AI must address local needs to compete globally: AI Hay COO

AI Hay is an AI-powered research and Q&A platform integrated with social media, built entirely by Vietnamese engineers since 2022. With over 10 million downloads, AI Hay has become one of Vietnam's most popular educational AI applications. In 2024, it was one of just three Southeast Asian tech startups selected for Amazon's startup funding program.

After your recent visit to Nvidia GTC 2025, how do you view Vietnam's AI startup ecosystem in comparison to global trends?

In terms of scale, we're still behind more developed countries. But when it comes to product quality and user experience, Vietnamese AI startups can absolutely hold their own. The growth of AI Hay shows that when startups focus on the right problem with the right product, success follows.

In Vietnam, most AI startups focus on B2B solutions. Consumer-facing (B2C) applications are often overlooked because of their complexity. Despite that, we've chosen this path because we see huge potential—serving 100 million people is not a small opportunity. Our goal is to democratize AI, making it accessible and practical for everyday users.

Nguyen Hoang Hiep, COO of AI Hay. Photo courtesy of Hiep

Developing AI for everyday users means competing with both domestic and global giants. What gives you the confidence to pursue this path?

We began with the belief that everyone—regardless of tech access, income, or education—should benefit from AI. That belief shaped AI Hay. Our founding team previously worked on a top Vietnamese chat app. Today, we are a 40-person engineering team, all Vietnamese.

AI Hay combines AI, search, and social networking. It was built for users who find global AI platforms too foreign or complex. After three years, we have reached over 10 million downloads and serve millions of daily users. While we still have a long journey ahead, we believe this is the right—and necessary—direction for Vietnam.

Some argue that small startups can't survive once tech giants catch up. What's your response?

I'm inspired by Zalo's story. It wasn't more advanced than WeChat or Viber, but it succeeded by understanding and serving Vietnamese users better.

We've embraced that lesson in three ways.

First, in terms of accessibility, AI Hay aims to reach a broad base of Vietnamese users, many of whom may not be tech-savvy or familiar with approaching foreign AIs or even giving commands to AI in Vietnamese. It can understand vague or incomplete Vietnamese queries, and the interface is designed to feel familiar to local users who may struggle with foreign tools.

Second, we focus on social engagement. AI Hay is not just AI-generated answers. It's also a social platform where users share questions and insights. This human layer of knowledge is something we haven't seen in global apps.

Third is affordability. We continue to offer premium features for free and is committed to keeping pricing extremely low to ensure that AI is accessible to as many Vietnamese as possible, regardless of income level or educational background.

Thanks to our proprietary Vietnamese language engine, we're now exploring low-resource Southeast Asian languages. We see an opportunity to scale across the region with solutions built on local understanding.

The user interface of the AI Hay mobile application. Photo courtesy of AI Hay

Securing funding for a "pure Vietnamese" AI platform must have been a challenge. What did you learn from the experience?

The biggest lesson was about alignment. Investors and team members must truly believe in the mission. AI Hay is not a copy of something else—it is a product designed from the ground up for an underserved market: the Vietnamese population.

Without users, you can't iterate or improve. But without early investors, you may never reach those users. We're grateful to have found believers on both ends. Seeing other Vietnamese startups go global gives us confidence we can do the same.

According to COO of AI Hay, both users and investors play crucial roles in AI application. Photo courtesy of AI Hay

What's your view on Vietnam's AI development environment?

Vietnam is laying good policy foundations. The National AI Strategy to 2030 and Resolution 57 reflect strong political will. The challenge is attracting foreign capital and scaling quickly enough to compete globally.

Vietnamese engineers are among the best in the region, but we lack the numbers. That's why I have two hopes. First, we must introduce AI education early. When young people understand what AI is, they'll learn to use it as a tool for study and for coding and eventually become AI engineers themselves. Second, we need to cultivate a strong software development culture, similar to South Korea or Japan. Vietnamese people are quick to adopt trends; with the right policy support and a thriving tech community, I believe we can go far. The key is to dive deep into core technologies—not just stop at applications.