As Vietnam pursues its ambition of becoming a high-income developed economy by 2045, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play a growing role in supporting productivity and innovation. Alongside technology adoption, developing the skills and management capabilities to apply AI effectively is becoming an important part of the country's workforce agenda.
A 2026 study commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS) found that 26 per cent of Vietnamese businesses have adopted AI, up from 18 per cent a year earlier. However, 61 per cent of adopters remain at the experimentation stage, while 87 per cent of surveyed employers consider reskilling existing employees important to their AI strategies.
Vietnam has also prioritised workforce development through its national AI human resources development programme, approved in August 2026. The programme includes plans to equip around 10 million workers with basic AI skills by 2030, alongside developing specialised AI talent and strengthening AI education.
Dr Tan Hong Ming, Assistant Dean (Digital Operations) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, said workforce development needs to extend beyond technical proficiency.
"AI literacy is only the starting point. The bigger challenge is whether organisations know how to redesign work around AI. A company can train every employee to use AI tools and still see little improvement in productivity if its processes and management practices remain unchanged. This is why leadership capability matters just as much as technical skills," said Dr Tan at a media engagement session in Hanoi.
