en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sea Limited has formed a new alliance with OpenAI to expand generative AI capabilities in Southeast Asia and Brazil, aiming to test whether conversational AI can replace traditional e-commerce search parameters and reshape online shopping into algorithmic dialogue. The partnership, built on a foundational system deployed in 2025, challenges the long-standing e-commerce model that relies on static search bars and requires users to guess keywords.
This integration of Shopee and ChatGPT operates directly within the native OpenAI application, covering eight regions: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brazil. This deployment makes Shopee the first e-commerce operator to connect Southeast Asia and Latin America by embedding a marketplace framework within ChatGPT. Users can input open-ended conversational prompts to the chatbot, which parses inventory from active Shopee merchants and returns instant product recommendations. Buyers can then click through to the Shopee app to complete checkout. The two companies are also testing OpenAI's agent framework, including the web navigation model Operator, to enable AI assistants to perform end-to-end purchases for consumers.
The collaboration also provides structural support for local channel merchants. Small and medium-sized enterprise sellers on the platform will receive exclusive access to the ChatGPT for Business toolset, enabling automatic generation of multilingual product listings, instant drafting of targeted marketing copy, and handling of basic tier-one customer service inquiries. This helps small digital stores match the marketing speed and operational scale of large multinational retail brands.
To cultivate talent, Sea and OpenAI have launched the Codex Hackathon series in the Asia-Pacific region. The first event, held at Shopee's Singapore headquarters, attracted over 100 regional engineers and technology students, forming 40 teams that built functional prototypes based on the OpenAI API, focusing on autonomous web agents and specialized consumer plugins. The Singapore debut laid the groundwork for upcoming developer events in other tech hubs across Southeast Asia.
Sea Group has also deployed ChatGPT Enterprise seats across its internal software engineering, product design, and corporate operations departments to drive internal modernization. According to Sea Limited Chairman and CEO Forrest Li, the broader goal is to make AI technology practical and highly useful for local communities. As regional e-commerce competition intensifies, anchoring the platform on OpenAI's infrastructure provides Sea Group with an aggressive technological advantage in the rapidly growing digital economy.
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