Microsoft: Vietnam has the highest proportion of ‘AI personnel’ in Southeast Asia

On June 24, Microsoft announced the Work Trend Index 2026 Report, showing that 39% of the Vietnamese workforce belongs to the frontier professional group. This is the term used by the company to refer to people who are proficient in using AI and integrating this technology into their daily work. This rate is much higher than the global average of 16%.

This year, Microsoft does not release reports by region but only publishes global reports, and analyzes each market separately, including Vietnam. The report was built from anonymous productivity data on Microsoft 365, combined with a survey of 2,000 Vietnamese knowledge workers. Previously, the company also released the Global AI Diffusion report, recording that Vietnam ranked second in the region in terms of AI application level.

According to Microsoft, AI pioneers can understand workflows, coordination mechanisms between humans and AI, as well as quality standards that are documented and can be applied repeatedly at many levels within the organization. They also contribute to creating “pioneering businesses”, by transforming individual experiences into the overall capabilities of the organization, thereby helping knowledge to be continuously accumulated and creating sustainable competitive advantages.

The report also shows the value of AI for knowledge workers in Vietnam, when 76% of people surveyed said they were creating products or work results that were not possible a year ago. Among AI pioneers, this rate increased to 83%, higher than the global average.

Despite using AI regularly, Vietnamese workers are considered not completely dependent on technology. 89% said they view AI-generated results as a starting point for the thinking process rather than a final answer. They still play an active role in evaluating, analyzing and taking responsibility for their decisions.

According to Microsoft, AI pioneers also tend to proactively maintain their own expertise. More than half said they still do some work without using AI to practice their professional skills, and spend time determining which parts should be assigned to AI and which parts need to be handled by humans.

Another positive signal in Vietnam is that the rate of organizational leaders with a clear and consistent direction on AI reached 48%, higher than the global average of 26%. Meanwhile, a third of people surveyed said they were recognized or rewarded for experimenting with new ways of doing things with AI, even if they didn’t produce immediate results.

However, “behind those positive signals is increasing pressure to adapt”. 82%, or 4 out of every 5 respondents, said they were worried about falling behind if they did not quickly adapt and apply AI to their work. This rate globally is 65%.

Microsoft calls this the “transformation paradox”, when workers want to change quickly but the evaluation system, operating procedures and incentive mechanisms in the business have not kept up.

“The pace of AI adoption in Vietnam reflects the enormous potential of the workforce and the economy in seizing new opportunities from technology,” said Mr. Dhanawat Suthumpun, CEO of emerging markets, including Vietnam.

According to Mr. Suthumpun, technology does not create transformation on its own. Instead, as workers become increasingly proficient and proactive in exploiting new capabilities brought by AI, leaders need to ensure that operating systems and management methods are also innovated accordingly.

“The leading organizations in the AI ​​era are those that leverage AI to reshape the way work operates, open up new productivity models, and create more value for both employees and customers,” he said.