Founder of ADT Global ‘Start from the market to see the path’

Starting up quite early and choosing the AI assistant as his product, Nguyễn Thế Duy, Founder of ADT Global, has deep reflections on the profession and how it will change in the future.

Startups have become increasingly volatile in recent years, especially as AI technology emerges, requiring new businesses to have the right strategy to survive in today’s harsh environment.

ADT Global’s Founder Nguyễn Thế Duy shared with Một Thế Giới (One World) about the journey from a startup of just 10 people to today, when it has achieved success on the international stage.

What was the reason and motivation that drove you and your co-founders to start a technology company?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: A startup is a very hard journey, and the starting point is always passion. I have a great passion for technology, especially technology with high applicability and interactivity that enters everyday life. Second, perhaps because I saw an opportunity: back then the market had a very large gap in applying new technology, especially in 2015, when hardly anyone knew about AI and XR. I wanted to build a technology company where product quality and service capability could reach the international stage.

In building and growing ADT Global, what is the most important lesson that got the company to where it is today?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: The biggest lesson is probably people. For a technology company, people are the key factor. Finding and persuading the partners who later became my teammates, people with good character, who live decently and responsibly, to come to a startup as young as ours at that time was an enormous challenge. To me, technology is the foundation, but people are what make the difference. From the early days, I’ve always prioritized building a culture where every member is empowered and can share openly, a flat and transparent model so that everyone can look toward a common goal.

When choosing the AI assistant as your core product, what made you believe this was a suitable and sustainable direction for a technology startup in Vietnam?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: AI is an expensive technology to develop, and that’s also a huge challenge for small and medium-sized businesses. However, we have special strengths and understand this field very deeply, especially with the advantages of being proactive and flexible. Our base of knowledge and broad experience lets ADT quickly create high-quality products and convince the market, not only domestically but also in competition on the international stage. In addition, the members of our team have to be very passionate and have faith in the group, while continuously building up their knowledge of new technology.

What was the biggest technical difficulty the team faced when developing AI assistant products, and how did the company overcome it?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: The technical difficulty the team faced was how to make the AI system smart without consuming too many resources, and to always keep our feet on the ground and know what we’re capable of doing. In addition, we need to get access to new technologies as fast as possible. This is an extremely challenging task because new technology is usually not yet ready and has very little documentation, so we have to keep pivoting to get results. This is also the reason ADT persuaded demanding clients in Middle Eastern markets such as the UAE to choose us over other countries in Asia.

Was there a decision that became a turning point in developing the AI assistant, one that helped the product solve an important problem or opened up a new direction for improvement?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: Absolutely. We have to keep improving the technology continuously. Right now, AI architecture is changing at a dizzying pace; a few weeks from now it could be completely different, and earlier architectures become obsolete and can no longer be used, with timescales measured in months rather than years as before. At the moment, we’re bringing in a new architecture with processing speeds many times faster, replacing the older dialog architectures (the architectures/technical solutions that power an AI system’s conversations) used previously. And we’re focused on building toward becoming a link that connects and forms an ecosystem, rather than going it alone as is happening now.

Testing during training is essential for a product to reach its best performance. For ADT, when testing during training and writing scripts for NLU (Natural Language Understanding), the most important factor is making sure the model correctly understands the intent and extracts the right information in every case. There are four key points: training data, clearly defined intents, testing both within and beyond the scripted scenarios as well as in multi-turn (multi-step) conversations, and clear evaluation criteria.

In the next 3 to 5 years, how do you think AI assistants will change, and how will ADT adapt?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: In the coming years, AI will change enormously, and AI models themselves may be able to create new models at a dizzying pace, becoming smarter and more deeply integrated across multiple platforms. Especially notable is proactive capability: AI won’t wait to be asked, but will make suggestions on its own, carry out tasks, and coordinate with many different systems. However, we must make sure the data used to train AI is accurate. With today’s flood of AI-generated content, AI may well produce inaccurate results in the future because of hallucination. I believe that at that point, “trustworthy AI” will become the central focus of AI products.

The technology ambitions of ADT Global’s Founder: Conquering Technology – The Big Aspiration of ADT Global’s Founder – ADT Global — AI, Physical AI & Interactive Technology

In your view, what are the barriers that make it hard for Vietnamese businesses to adopt AI, and how can startups address them?

Nguyễn Thế Duy: Vietnamese businesses are adopting AI quite quickly today, especially in their access to and experimentation with new models and new features. However, we are still at the early stage of practical application. I believe that to adopt AI, we must first do digital transformation well, because that is what gives us the databases AI needs to analyze and support us effectively and consistently.

In addition, training personnel who understand AI also takes time. Once we understand and master the technology, we will worry less about security or feel less uncertain about what AI can really do. This is also an opportunity for startups to quickly deliver practical applications and focus on the advantage of localizing technology.

The zero-dong startup story: ADT Global and the Zero-Dong Startup Story of Young People – ADT Global — AI, Physical AI & Interactive Technology

The startup challenge always calls for solutions that fit reality. It goes beyond passion: it also takes motivation, as well as the courage to embrace a new wave so that passion can become reality.

The leadership team’s strategic direction of “starting from the market to find the path” demonstrates the strength of Vietnamese technology R&D in solving demanding operational problems. Beyond mastering core technology, ADT Global has also established itself as a pioneer by successfully developing Vietnamese interactive technology solutions that meet international standards. This achievement is gradually closing the gap in implementation capability between domestic enterprises and the world’s leading technology and entertainment corporations.

To sustain a long-term competitive advantage, the next priority for businesses is to integrate R&D capability into a digital governance ecosystem. Proactively following and tapping into 2026 AI trends, notably Agentic, Physical, and Sovereign AI, will give organizations an intelligent technology infrastructure. This is a strategic lever for automating the decision-making chain, optimizing resources, and establishing a sustainable operating model in the digital era.

By Lê Hà – One World Magazine