AI: State of Industry and Investment | Aravind Kandiah, Jun Wakabayashi, John Homer Alvero - E717

Everyone has the same access to the same frontier models. So what's actually left to compete on? Jeremy Au moderates a panel at the Crosscurrents Summit in Parañaque on where enterprise AI adoption really stands. Aravind Kandiah is CTO and Co-founder of Bifrost, a robotics infrastructure company that simulates the world to evaluate robots. Its simulations power some of the largest robotics companies, from Mars exploration with NASA to high-risk industrial work. Bifrost is backed by Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital and Airbus Ventures. On the panel he splits enterprises into those running pilots to hit an R&D spend target and those facing a real forcing function, like Korea's birth rate leaving factories unstaffed. Only the second group ships. Jun Wakabayashi is a Venture Principal at AppWorks, one of Asia's leading accelerators and VC firms. He rose from Analyst in 2017 to Principal by 2023 and leads its Beacon Funds arm, a fund-of-funds backing emerging venture managers across Southeast Asia and web3. He holds a B.S. in Finance from NYU Stern and previously worked at PwC. He puts engineering at 60 to 80% of enterprise token spend and tracks teams accidentally burning $5 million a month. John Homer Alvero is Head of AI Engineering at Converge ICT, one of the Philippines' largest fiber broadband and digital infrastructure providers. An AWS architect across fintech, telco and gaming, he was previously Cloud Solutions Architect at SM Investments. His blocker isn't the technology: governance and cybersecurity teams can't write credible guardrails until they're AI-literate themselves. Where they split: Aravind says the moat is everything except the model. Jun says it's distribution, the one thing the labs lack. Crosscurrents Summit, presented by Clouted Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/enterprise-ai  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #EnterpriseAI #AIStrategy #AIAdoption #BuildVsBuy #AIROI #PhysicalAI #Robotics #SoutheastAsia #TechPodcast 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Meet the panel 03:02 Is enterprise AI adoption actually real? 05:34 Engineers have stopped typing code 08:21 What's really holding enterprises back 10:30 How to measure ROI and cap token spend 15:32 Where the returns show up internally 18:36 Build or buy, and why services came back 23:23 Advice to a three-years-younger self 26:02 Model, brand, or distribution?