Thinking Machines, OpenAI to help APAC firms leverage AI adoption

THINKING MACHINES Data Science, Inc., an artificial intelligence (AI) and data science consultancy firm, is collaborating with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to help Asia-Pacific (APAC) organizations in scaling responsible and human-first AI adoption.

“The roadmap that we have envisioned together with OpenAI is to bring this to Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and to the wider APAC region,” Niek van Veen, vice-president for growth at Thinking Machines, said in a virtual briefing last week.

A study by the IBM Institute for Business Value reported that while 55% of Philippine leaders are actively adopting AI agents, only 23% said their AI initiatives have delivered expected returns so far, reflecting a mismatch between companies’ investments and their desired results.

“The bigger problem is that a lot of these companies have launched AI initiatives in the last two years and haven’t yet figured out how to deliver value at scale,” said Thinking Machines Founder and Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Sy.

“For me, software is not just about scaling the technology infrastructure… It’s about redefining how work is being done in an organization.”

Under the partnership, Thinking Machines and OpenAI will provide targeted hands-on training programs, customized implementation frameworks, and the design and deployment of bespoke Agentic AI apps utilizing OpenAI’s application programming interfaces (APIs).

“Enterprises in the region will now have a partner that can take OpenAI’s innovative AI technology and really support them with enablement, helping organizations to maximize AI successfully and responsibly,” Mr. Van Veen said.

Asia-Pacific businesses can now get access to official OpenAI enterprise services via Thinking Machines.

Meanwhile, Thinking Machines’ executive leadership programs aim to provide C-suite leaders and senior managers with tools to implement AI responsibly, establish governance frameworks, and drive productivity gains across their organizations.

Under its Enterprise Transformation Services, Thinking Machines and OpenAI will deliver end-to-end support for ChatGPT Enterprise adoption. These include designing custom workflows and integrating them into their existing systems.

Thinking Machines is also building agentic AI applications for businesses, utilizing OpenAI’s API, it said.

Lastly, the two companies will co-publish white papers and use cases tailored to APAC organizations and conduct executive roundtables and industry fora with regional business leaders, Ms. Sy said.

“This initiative with Thinking Machines will give leaders the know-how and hands-on support to embed our latest GPT-5 model into their daily operations, helping them move from experimentation to impact,” said Andy Brown, OpenAI head of go-to-market for Asia-Pacific. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz