(June 17): Singapore internet leader Sea Ltd is rolling out a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot in regions including the US, marking its maiden foray into the highly competitive American consumer market and accelerating its AI push.
The AI-powered companion chatbot called Migoo, whose website and app doesn’t mention Sea’s ownership, is already online and may get a bigger launch soon, according to people familiar with the matter. The app integrates directly into platforms like Apple Inc’s iMessage and is designed to act as a hyper-personalised companion that remembers user preferences and quirks.
The project represents one of Sea’s most significant steps into AI thus far. The operator of popular online retailer Shopee and gaming platform Garena has seen its shares decline more than 40% over the past year as it’s trailed Asian peers such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd in the field.
In the US, Sea is going after the lucrative and very competitive Gen-Z AI market dominated by the likes of OpenAI and ByteDance Ltd, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private plans.
A Sea spokesperson declined to comment.
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Sea is making structural shifts after chief executive officer Forrest Li declared that a trillion-dollar market capitalisation was possible if his company doubled down on AI. It joins a growing number of companies like rival Alibaba that are investing in AI to catalyse growth while competition in their core businesses intensifies.
Migoo is spearheaded by Sea president Chris Feng, and managers involved include long-time executive Bingyu Wang, the people said. Migoo’s website is up and running and the app is downloadable, but Sea has yet to publicly claim ownership of the project.
In the US, Migoo operates under Marvelous Technology Inc, an entity registered to a known proxy address in Sacramento, according to California’s company registry. Filings show that the US unit is linked to a Singapore entity that lists Wang as a director.
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Sea’s strategy with Migoo resembles the playbook ByteDance used to launch its viral AI homework app Gauth and Alibaba to introduce its Happy Oyster model. By not publicising the ultimate corporate parent from the start, tech companies are aiming to test the waters for more new-fangled initiatives, affording these projects more freedom to experiment.
Sea’s stock has taken a beating since September — when it was valued at roughly US$116 billion ($149 billion) — after this year’s surge in oil prices dampened consumer sentiment and inflated the cost of operations. Investors are now scrutinizing its growth trajectory. So far, Sea has been embedding AI in small ways like through product recommendations and seller tools.
In February, it said it would work with Alphabet Inc’s Google to integrate AI across its operations — including developing AI shopping agents. It has also set up dedicated teams to scout for new investments in AI as it hunts for its next growth engine beyond e-commerce.
Meanwhile, its online-retail arm Shopee is cutting hundreds of developer jobs globally, or about 8% of the unit’s developer workforce. It is unclear if the move is directly tied to Sea’s forays into AI, but they coincide with a growing debate about the impact of the technology on jobs across the world.
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