The 20th anniversary of AWS: Vietnam and the next chapter of cloud and AI

Over the past 20 years of operating, what moments stand out most to you personally, and what do you see as the most significant impact AWS has had in the Vietnamese market?

AWS has been delivering cloud services for 20 years globally. One of the things we have learned over and over again is that the innovation of our customers is what drives the innovation of the world, and of the cloud and our services as well.

Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec, vice president of technology (data and analytics) at AWS

Vietnam is a country of entrepreneurs, where entrepreneurship is in their DNA. They are always pushing to develop more businesses, drive more progress, and achieve greater efficiency.

What we do with our Vietnamese customers is level the playing field through technology. In Vietnam today, you no longer need to invest in a large data centre to develop an idea. You can now get started with just creativity, an idea, and AWS services, and build new technologies that not only benefit Vietnamese citizens but also compete globally.

That is what is so exciting for us at AWS. We love building large-scale services, but the reason we do it is to empower entrepreneurs and innovators around the world to take advantage of them. And that is exactly what Vietnamese entrepreneurs are doing today.

In practical terms, what does “democratising intelligence” mean for businesses and developers, and how can Vietnam harness human-AI collaboration?

It is incredibly powerful to give everyone access to the same capabilities that the largest companies in the world have.

Take Stability.AI, for example, a major global player in the AI space. They are using the same services as Eklipse.gg, a Vietnamese start-up, and many other Vietnamese customers.

I believe that individuals who are “AI-first” will always have an advantage, both at home and at work. And I think the innovation we’re seeing in Vietnam strongly supports that.

Another good example is AI Hay, a Vietnamese company that is building AI tailored specifically to the culture and people of Vietnam. Their solutions are optimized for the local environment.

Looking at how users engage with AI Hay, they are leveraging it to tap into deep knowledge of Vietnamese culture and society in their daily lives. The platform has already reached over 20 million downloads in Vietnam and sees more than 250 million interactions per month.

Users report that 85 per cent of the time, AI Hay helps them find the answers they are looking for. So when you think about how AI is changing the way people operate, it’s not just in the workplace, it’s also at home. It becomes an AI companion that understands your culture, your community, and your history, which is incredibly powerful.

At the same time, AI is becoming deeply integrated into the workforce. It acts as a teammate that supports you anytime, is always available, always responsive, and always contributing.

If organisations begin to see AI not as a competitor to human work, but as a complement to human creativity, architectural thinking, and strategic decision-making, the impact becomes very powerful.

For example, Techcombank has deployed Q Developer – AWS’s coding assistant – to more than 600 developers internally. These developers have used it to automatically generate over 135,000 lines of code. These are tasks that humans no longer need to do manually. Instead, they can review, refine, and accelerate their projects.

Ultimately, our ability as humans to leverage this technology, both at home and at work, comes down to our ability to move faster, think smarter, and operate more effectively in our communities and careers.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities, and the key risks for businesses adopting AI at scale?

When thinking about AI adoption, what I always recommend is that businesses begin with one or two areas where AI can deliver the greatest advantage.

In many organisations, that starting point is the customer care centre. Customer care is often a significant cost for businesses, and it plays a critical role. That’s why companies invest heavily in training and monitoring these interactions.

AWS launches Innovation Hub to empower cloud and AI innovation in Asia-Pacific

One of the fastest areas of AI adoption has been providing customer care agents with AI-powered knowledge resources. This allows agents to quickly look up questions and receive accurate, AI-driven answers in real time. That was one of the earliest and most practical implementations of AI.

From there, many organisations have taken the next step: using AI not just to assist customer care agents, but to act as the first-line customer care agent itself. This has proven to be highly effective and is already widely used across industries. In Vietnam, this is also a very relevant and valuable application. Staff can then focus on higher-level or more unique queries with more time for a human touch.

Another major opportunity lies in AI’s strengths in summarisation, analysis, and content creation. Many companies are now building knowledge bases, for example, consolidating all legal contracts into a single repository. This allows them to use AI not only for research and analysis, but also to quickly generate new contracts based on existing data.

However, there are a few key risks to consider. First, companies who are slow to adopt AI risk falling behind. From my experience, I see that most are already moving quickly to adopt AI. But those who delay will miss out on the advantages of one of the most significant technological shifts we’ve seen in recent years.

The second risk is adopting AI without a clear understanding of the value it brings to the business. If companies implement AI simply for the sake of using AI, they are unlikely to see meaningful benefits, and adoption within the organisation may fail.

When AI is applied with a clear focus on business metrics and tangible outcomes, it can deliver real success. But if it is deployed without that clarity, the value will be limited.

As a female leader at a global company like AWS, what bold steps do you believe organisations must take to ensure that the AI revolution becomes a catalyst for gender equity?

I see AI as a powerful democratising force. It allows individuals and organisations to access the same infrastructure and capabilities that large global enterprises use. It creates a more level playing field.

What I find especially exciting about AI for women in tech is its potential to act as a personal coach, a technical coach, a career coach, and a tool to help navigate workplace dynamics.

For example, when I mentor women, one common challenge I hear is that many are highly capable and well-educated, but sometimes hesitate to speak up in meetings. They may not want to interrupt or come across as too assertive, and that can hold them back from sharing valuable ideas.

I often tell them: you likely have a strong idea, and if you don’t find a way to express it, others won’t have the opportunity to engage with it.

The goal is to take that idea, shaped by your experience and creativity, and find a way to express it clearly so it can contribute to innovation within the company.

This is where AI has become very helpful. I’ve seen mentees use AI to prepare for meetings. It outlines what they want to say and ask AI to suggest different ways to present their ideas. It’s important to note that this should be done within a secure, enterprise-approved AI environment, especially when discussing sensitive or proprietary information.

As AI models improve in memory and context, they can continue to support this iterative process, helping individuals refine what I would call their leadership voice. The ideas and intelligence are already there. But being able to frame and communicate those ideas effectively, so organisations can act on them—is critical. And in that sense, AI can be a powerful tool to help develop that voice.