5 AI Startups included AThenaAI, Perceptra, Gowajee, Eidy and Float16 Launch AI Startup Alliance and AI Developer Group.

The AI Startup Alliance is a collaboration between 5 startups, formed in response to the current landscape of the AI industry in Thailand. This initiative recognizes that the AI industry structure in Thailand is less mature and experienced compared to leading countries, particularly in terms of the AI industry value chain structure. Generally, this structure is divided into 5 layers:

1. Infrastructure (Datacenter)
2. Managed Services
3. AI Models
4. Applications (Startups, Software Houses)
5. Services and Solutions (Turnkey Solutions, System Integrators)

A common challenge faced by AI startups is the necessity to manage all aspects from infrastructure to service and solution delivery to provide value propositions to customers independently. This situation often leads to unnecessary team scaling and forces founders to engage in tasks outside their areas of specialization.

The collaboration among these 5 AI startups aims to be a catalyst for transforming the AI value chain in Thailand, aligning it more closely with practices in leading countries. Their objective is to support all players (companies) within the value chain in enhancing AI literacy, gaining fundamental knowledge about AI, and facilitating adaptation to new positions within the evolving value chain.

The ultimate goal of the alliance is to establish a suitable value chain by creating an AI Developer Group. This group will serve as a platform for demonstration, discussion, and exchange of ideas on how to integrate AI into application features through collaboration with government, private, and public sectors.

The 5 AI startups have formalized their agreement to collaborate in 4 key aspects

1. AI Developer Group : Given that the AI industry market requires extensive foundational knowledge and understanding of AI, coupled with the fact that media and technological literacy in Thailand still lag behind leading countries globally,

This results in the consumption of AI software in Thailand being challenging for most entrepreneurs. It necessitates a lengthy pre-sale process and requires additional education for customers to encourage Thai organizations to accept and utilize the technology. Compared to foreign markets, this leads to increased hidden costs.

Therefore, there is a plan to collaboratively establish an AI Developer Group to raise awareness about standardized AI development and appropriate AI implementation.

Furthermore, developers, who are crucial to the AI industry, lack a collaborative work culture. This is evident from the fact that most Thai software companies do not have Developer Advocates or Developer Relationship roles that help connect various services.

There is also a lack of understanding of the overall value chain, such as API-first business models or infrastructure-based businesses. Thus, there is an intention to unite to create knowledge and additional educational resources for developers.

2. Research: There is recognition of the redundancy and opportunities for collaborative research development among startups, especially in acquiring data for AI development. Collaborative research efforts will facilitate knowledge sharing and enable individual developers to advance their technologies more rapidly and cost-effectively.

3. GPUs are another crucial factor indicating startups' ability to scale their businesses. Access to 4,096 H100 GPUs will be a tool that enables the AI Startup Alliance to confidently expand their businesses internationally and support usage coverage for users across Asia and globally.

4. Investor and Founder Community: There is a willingness to support other AI startup founders in accessing global investors or events that will create awareness and growth potential for Thai startups. Information about investors, VCs, and global events will be compiled and shared for easier access, increasing opportunities for Thai startups to consistently appear on the global stage

Our activity

1. Create edutainment content about AI technology and its application in various solutions. Additionally, develop content aimed at helping developers gain a deep understanding of AI, with a focus on fundamental concepts rather than just tools.
2. Share knowledge about AI software standards (ISO) and legal regulations relevant to each country. Provide information on investors, venture capitalists, and event opportunities worldwide.
3. Float16 will represent the alliance in discussions with government and private companies outside Thailand, including participation in summits or discussions with partners.
4. Float16 will also be responsible for building an AI research community in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. This initiative will involve collaboration with the Sailor team and the SeaLLM team to connect AI researchers across SEA, forming the SEA AI Researcher Community.
5. Foster the exchange of in-depth knowledge necessary to enhance the efficiency of the entire value chain.

Collaboration

Developer & Software House

Developers and software houses can utilize developer resources such as developer playlists, tutorials, project examples, and the AI handbook to learn and implement AI APIs as part of their applications.

SI (Systems Integrator)

Systems Integrators can learn more about AI use cases to incorporate into their solutions. They can also ask questions in the AI Developer Group.

Special for SIs: You can request a demo, sell a handbook, and access an app catalog from the alliance.

Startup

Startups can upskill on how to use AI (Speech-to-Text, LLM, Image Recognition) as part of their applications via YouTube playlists. They can also ask questions in the AI Developer Group.

Special for Startups: You can request Developer Training, consultations, and discussions on how to launch products to market.

VC (Venture Capitalists)

Venture Capitalists can suggest "MUST JOIN" AI events and introduce the Alliance to partners who focus on AI via email at [email protected] (Broadcast email).

End of Cooperation Period

6 months, 31 December 2024.

After the end of the cooperation period. We will conclude the result and announce the next step.

List of Startups

• AThenaAI (https://athenaai.co)

• Perceptra (https://perceptra.tech)

• Eidy (https://eidy.cloud)

• Gowajee (https://gowajee.ai)

• Float16 (https://float16.cloud)

List of speakers

• Vip Viprakasit, MD, DPhil CEO AThenaAI

• Dr.Warasinee Chaisangmongkon Co-Founder Perceptra

• Navaporn Nalita, MD CEO Eidy

• Pisuth Huang CEO Gowajee

• Matichon Maneegard CEO Float16.cloud