Southeast Asia is chasing the AI boom, but at what cost?

In a swanky penthouse office outside Kuala Lumpur, tech firm Zetrix AI is putting a grand plan into motion to get 1 million people across Southeast Asia using its artificial intelligence

agent, Avatar, by the end of the year.

Designed as an autonomous alter ego, Avatar is adept at dealing with tasks ranging from the mundane, like filling out forms, to the particular, such as helping influencers reply to thousands of social media messages.

Zetrix hopes that by moving fast it can seize market share in a space that grows more competitive by the day, if not the hour.

“AI will play a very fundamental role in our lives,” said C.Z. Wong, the 23-year-old developer of Avatar and Zetrix’s chief AI officer. “Regardless of whether we want it or not.”

“Everyone has different forecasts, but personally … at the rate things are going, five years is my estimate for when AI becomes mainstream.”