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Grab to Spend $150 Million on AI to Build Regional Super App

  • Has already spent $100 million on the tech over past 12 months
  • The Singapore startup wants to offer more tailored service
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Hooi Ling Tan, co-founder of Singapore ride-hailing giant Grab, talks about artificial intelligence.(Source: Bloomberg)
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Southeast Asian ride-hailing startup Grab Holdings Inc. intends to invest $150 million in artificial intelligence and hiring more engineers over the next year, accelerating an expanding business that now includes food delivery, digital payments and digital content.

Grab, in hot competition with local rival Gojek to become Southeast Asia’s do-it-all super app, outlined for the first time a blueprint for its use and deployment of AI. It will build on the $100 million it has previously invested in the technology, said co-founder Tan Hooi Ling, and improve its fraud prevention and natural language processing (NLP) tech.