S2E65: Why Grab-type firms are the way for SE Asia to thrive in AI era

S2E65: Why Grab-type firms are the way for SE Asia to thrive in AI era

March 12, 2026 · 22 min · Season 2 · Episode 65

About this episode

The episode discusses how South-east Asia can navigate the age of AI and its economic implications with expert insights from Dr Khor Hoe Ee.

How South-east Asia can navigate the age of AI and its impact on the economy and employment. Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests. Artificial Intelligence is impacting the world at a pace far greater than that of previous general-purpose technologies, such as the steam engine, electricity, and computing. As the world adjusts to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by tremendous advances in automation and robotics, it now faces the Fifth Industrial Revolution, the era of AI and its impressive ability to perform cognitive tasks normally performed by humans. In this episode, host Ravi Velloor speaks with the eminent economist Dr Khor Hoe Ee, who witnessed the Latin American debt crisis and the Asian financial crisis. Dr Khor, formerly Chief Economist at AMRO, has also seen how events like Covid-19 have had a major impact on the economy. They discuss how the US and China dominate the AI space, the speed of disruption, which South-east Asian economies are most exposed and what firms in the region can do to cope with the impact of…

People in this episode

Host: Ravi Velloor

Guest: Dr Khor Hoe Ee

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AMRO

Places: South-east Asia, US, China

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