AI in Asia
3 Before 9: March 24, 2026
3 Before 9

Monday, 23 March 2026

3 Before 9: March 24, 2026

3 daily AI stories and 1 bold opinion before your 9am kopi

Listen to today's 3 Before 9

Who should pay attention

SME founders | Enterprise AI buyers | Health-tech policymakers | Southeast Asia operators

What changes next

China's AI spending war intensifies, agentic commerce platforms multiply across APAC, and health AI governance frameworks begin to standardise regionally.

1

Alibaba Launches Accio Work, an AI Agent Workforce for Small Businesses

Alibaba International unveiled Accio Work on Sunday, a no-code enterprise AI platform that assembles on-demand teams of specialised agents to handle everything from supplier negotiations to VAT filings across more than 100 markets. Upon receiving a business goal, the system deploys a cross-functional squad of analysts, creators and logistics coordinators that work in parallel. The platform draws on Alibaba's live transaction data rather than general web knowledge, which the company says reduces hallucinations and keeps outputs commercially relevant. Accio Work will be publicly available at Accio.com by the end of March.

Why it matters for Asia

This is Alibaba's clearest play yet to bring enterprise-grade AI automation to the millions of SMEs that drive cross-border trade across Asia-Pacific. By bundling sourcing, compliance and marketing agents into a single no-code package, Alibaba is betting it can lock in small exporters before rivals like ByteDance and Tencent build comparable offerings.^

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2

Tencent Doubles AI Product Budget to 36 Billion Yuan as It Races to Catch Up

Tencent reported 13 per cent revenue growth for the fourth quarter of 2025, hitting 194.4 billion yuan, and announced it would double its AI product investment from 18 billion to 36 billion yuan in 2026. The Chinese tech giant also confirmed plans to release Hunyuan 3.0, the next version of its proprietary large language model, and is building a dedicated AI agent for its WeChat super-app. To accelerate development, Tencent recently hired former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu to lead the Hunyuan programme.

Why it matters for Asia

Tencent's spending surge signals that China's AI arms race is intensifying, with direct consequences for enterprise buyers across Asia. A WeChat-native AI agent would instantly reach over a billion users, potentially reshaping how businesses in Southeast Asia, where WeChat Pay is widely used, interact with customers and manage operations.^

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3

WHO and ADB Convene 16-Nation Forum on AI for Health Equity in Asia

The World Health Organisation and the Asian Development Bank are hosting a two-day forum on AI in healthcare at ADB headquarters in Manila starting tomorrow. Senior health officials from 16 developing member countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, will work on identifying evidence-based AI use cases suitable for resource-constrained health systems. The forum aims to secure commitments for a pilot regional data-sharing initiative and produce actionable policy recommendations on AI governance, regulation and financing in healthcare.

Why it matters for Asia

Most AI-in-health investment flows to wealthy markets, leaving developing Asia to figure things out alone. This forum, funded in part by Japan's High-Level Technology Fund, represents the region's most coordinated attempt yet to build shared frameworks that could help smaller nations leapfrog legacy infrastructure and deploy AI diagnostics, triage tools and public health surveillance at scale.^

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That's today's 3 Before 9.

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