Grab and OpenAI bring practical AI skills to Southeast Asia

Across Southeast Asia, merchants make daily decisions about sales, stock and promotions. Some people who work in the gig economy are exploring business ideas of their own. AI can help people work through these questions, but finding useful ways to apply it takes practice.

That’s why we’re launching GO Forward with AI today with Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading superapp. Over the next two years, the programme will help 30,000 of Grab’s driver-, delivery-, and merchant-partners across Southeast Asia build skills they can use in their work and businesses. It begins in Singapore and will expand to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines later this year, followed by Malaysia and Vietnam in 2027.

The collaboration brings together our mission to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity and Grab’s commitment to expanding economic opportunity across Southeast Asia. It’s also part of OpenAI for Singapore ⁠, our work with local partners here to help more people and businesses here put AI to use.

From curiosity to practical skills

Many Grab partners are already interested in AI. In a Grab survey of its driver-partners in Singapore, half of Grab’s driver and delivery partners said they use AI tools. Among those who do not, 87% said they were open to trying them. ChatGPT was the tool they knew best. Many of them indicated they wanted to grow an existing business or explore starting one.

We’ve designed GO Forward with AI around the decisions many of them face. A driver or delivery partner could use ChatGPT to explore a business idea, think through what would make it stand out and make a plan to get started. A merchant could use it to look for patterns in sales, plan promotions or prepare for changes in demand.

In hands-on workshops, participants will also try ChatGPT Work on larger tasks, such as turning sales data into a dashboard, building a simple website or developing an expansion plan. They’ll review what it produces and make the decisions that follow.

The launch of GO Forward with AI in Singapore, with Minister of State Foo Cexiang, OpenAI’s Managing Director, International, Oliver Jay, Grab’s Chief Organisational Capability Officer, Ong Chin Yin, the Grab team and women driver-partners.

Grab and OpenAI share a common ambition to ensure the benefits of AI are more accessible and meaningful for the communities we serve. Our partners are excited about AI, but many are looking for practical guidance on how to apply it in ways that are relevant to their work, businesses and aspirations. This programme is about building that confidence, whether it's helping a merchant make smarter business decisions or giving a driver-partner the tools to explore a new business idea and create new opportunities for growth.

—Ong Chin Yin, Chief Organisational Capability Officer at Grab

We’ve worked with Grab since 2024 on tools including its Driver AI Assistant. Powered by OpenAI models, it helps drivers find demand, make the most of their time and get answers to everyday questions. It has reached close to 500,000 drivers. GO Forward with AI builds on that work by giving partners the time and guidance to try AI for their own goals.

ChatGPT has seen strong adoption across Southeast Asia, reflecting the region’s openness to new technology, but many are still only scratching the surface of what it can help them achieve. Launching the ‘GO Forward with AI’ programme first in Singapore is part of our OpenAI for Singapore commitment to make AI accessible to all. We’re proud to partner Grab, who share our belief that AI should be practical, accessible and useful for the communities we serve. Together, we want to help merchants and platform workers gain confidence in using agentic AI capabilities like ChatGPT Work to unlock greater efficiency and new opportunities in their work and businesses.

—Oliver Jay, Managing Director, International at OpenAI

We want practical AI skills to help level the playing field. A merchant or platform worker may not have a large team to help analyse information, develop an idea or plan their next step. With the right training, they can use AI to take on more of that work themselves.

As someone who is always keen to pick up new skills and opportunities, AI helps me to explore new ideas and make more informed decisions everyday. The workshops took me from idea to execution, and I’ve been exploring new ways to support our family hawker business, while building projects that could help me generate alternative streams of income. I’m excited to keep learning and building up my ideas.

—Suhada Abdullah, Grab driver-partner

Bringing the programme across Southeast Asia

Together with Grab, we’ll run half-day, in-person workshops over the next few months across the region based on the OpenAI Academy curriculum and adapted to partners’ needs in each country. We’ll also train GrabAcademy trainers so they can bring the programme to more people over time.

As the programme moves beyond Singapore, we’ll shape each workshop around local needs and the work participants do. We look forward to helping more people and businesses across Southeast Asia build the skills to benefit from AI.