New APAC AI Outlook 2025 Finds Decisive Shift in AI Use

A new “APAC AI Outlook 2025,” commissioned by IBM, reveals that Asia-Pacific enterprises are moving beyond AI experimentation to maximise the impact of their Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments. More than half (54%) now expect AI to deliver longer-term benefits for their business in areas such as innovation or revenue generation. The game changer lies in developing cost-effective AI solutions, with the flexibility to use custom-built open-source models and seamless integrations between multiple vendors.

Crucially, the APAC AI Outlook 2025 survey found that the pursuit of short-term wins during the initial phase of generative AI projects has given way to a more nuanced understanding of AI’s potential. The focus is also shifting from low-risk, non-core use cases, to deploying Gen AI in core business functions for competitive advantage and improved ROI. According to APAC AI Outlook 2025, conducted by Ecosystm on behalf of IBM, nearly 60% of surveyed organisations across the Asia-Pacific region anticipate realising the benefits of their AI investments within two to five years. Only 11% expect returns within the next two years.

In 2025, the primary focus of AI investments for APAC organisations, according to the APAC AI Outlook 2025 survey, will centre on enhancing customer experience (21%), back-office business process automation (18%) and sales automation and customer lifecycle management (16%). To realise these goals, organisations must address key challenges, including data complexity (39%), high cost of implementation and solution (36%) and limited number of use cases defined (35%).

“AI is fundamentally changing Malaysia’s businesses to a degree never seen before. By 2025, we expect businesses will embrace AI with a strong emphasis on strategies that focus on human-centric innovation and productivity enhancement. This will include utilising flexible, open-source architecture and effectively managing the seamless integration of AI to achieve measurable outcomes,” said Dickson Woo, Managing Director and Technology Leader, at IBM Malaysia. “Strong public-private collaboration within the digital ecosystem will be crucial for this transition, ushering in a new era of technological advancement, positioning AI as a true enabler of sustainable growth and a competitive advantage”

APAC AI Outlook 2025 Finds Five Strategic Trends in APAC’s AI Future

The five strategic trends shaping the region’s AI future identified in the APAC AI Outlook 2025 survey includes:

1. AI-led revenue generation takes centre stage. Organisations will adopt a “Strategic AI” approach in 2025, prioritising projects based on feasibility and business impact. This reflects maturing recognition that early wins to build trust and organisational buy-in must be balanced with longer-term AI strategies. The challenge, as pointed out in the APAC AI Outlook 2025 survey, is how to scale AI through use cases that maximise revenue opportunities and ROI.
2. Smaller specialised open-source models emerge as a powerful alternative for many AI applications. Purpose-built models will be in demand, including those designed for local languages, nuanced regional contexts and simpler computational tasks. The “Rightsizing AI” models, as the APAC AI Outlook 2025 survey explains, require significantly less training data and generate a smaller carbon footprint than the large language models that have so far dominated AI discussions.
3. Enterprises embrace new tools for visibility, governance, and seamless AI integration. Asia-Pacific organisations will increasingly leverage open-source AI models to drive innovation and efficiency. The “Unified AI” with robust orchestration tools will streamline the management around these solutions, offering flexibility, cost-effectiveness, improved security, and seamless integrations between different vendors.
4. AI agents redefine the future of work. Enterprises will increasingly devise agentic workflows, powered by AI agents, to autonomously execute tasks, collaborate with human workers and drive value across the business. The “Agentic AI,” combining AI with automation. has the potential to achieve significant gains in operational efficiency, customer experience and decision-making. However, organisations need to establish internal guardrails, and regularly evaluate underlying models to ensure ethical and responsible use.
5. Human-centred innovation drives the next phase of AI. While productivity tools have been a major focus of AI adoption, the future lies in leveraging AI to enhance human experiences and capabilities. “The Human-Centric AI approach” will become a powerful tool for employees to augment their roles, automate routine tasks, and unlock new opportunities for creativity and innovation. By prioritising the empathetic design of AI solutions, organisations can also foster stronger customer relationships and brand loyalty.

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