Grab and OpenAI bring practical AI skills to Southeast Asia

OpenAI and Grab have launched GO Forward with AI, the first regional skilling programme run by OpenAI, aimed at helping Grab's driver-, delivery- and merchant-partners across Southeast Asia use AI in their daily work and in their own businesses.

30,000 partners over two years

Over the next two years the programme will reach 30,000 Grab partners. It starts in Singapore and will expand to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines later this year, followed by Malaysia and Vietnam in 2027. The collaboration is part of OpenAI for Singapore, OpenAI's work with local partners to help more people and businesses put AI to use.

Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. According to OpenAI, the partnership brings together its mission to ensure that the benefits of artificial general intelligence reach all of humanity with Grab's commitment to expanding economic opportunity across the region.

From curiosity to practical skills

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

The programme is built around the decisions these partners face every day. A driver or delivery partner can use ChatGPT to explore a business idea and put together a plan, while a merchant can 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 — turning sales data into a dashboard, building a simple website or developing an expansion plan — and then review the output and make the decisions that follow themselves.

Bringing the programme across the region

OpenAI and Grab have worked together since 2024 on tools including Grab's Driver AI Assistant. Powered by OpenAI models, the assistant helps drivers find demand, make the most of their time and get answers to everyday questions, and 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.

Over the next few months the two companies will run half-day, in-person workshops across the region, based on the OpenAI Academy curriculum and adapted to the needs of partners in each country. GrabAcademy trainers will also be trained so that they can bring the programme to more people over time.