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Grab to invest $150M in artificial intelligence to build 'do-it-all' app

GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd. plans to spend $150 million on artificial intelligence to develop a "do-it-all" super app in Southeast Asia, Bloomberg News reported Sept. 5, citing Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling.

The initiative builds upon the company's previous investment of $100 million in the technology, Ling told the news agency in an interview.

She said Grab aims to use the new investment in AI to offer more tailored service across its ride-hailing, food delivery and digital payments offers and align them with emerging consumer trends across various markets in the region. The move comes as Grab faces growing competition from its Indonesian rival PT Go-Jek Indonesia as both companies try to become a one-stop-shop for these services, Bloomberg reported.

In addition, the company intends to hire more engineers over the next year to add to its existing staff of 2,000 engineers globally, including around 300 people working on AI-related areas, Ling said.

According to the report, Grab will also focus on improving fraud prevention and will collaborate with Microsoft Corp. to enhance its natural language processing technology.

Ling also told Bloomberg that the company is "very much on track" to meet or even slightly exceed its $2 billion annual revenue forecast for 2019.

Grab has already laid out plans for a major investment in Vietnam and a capital infusion of $2 billion in Indonesia for growing its business in the countries.