Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept in commerce; it is already reshaping how brands operate, sell, and scale. Across Asia-Pacific, e-commerce growth is increasingly driven not by incremental marketing spend, but by how intelligently businesses deploy technology to reduce friction, improve efficiency, and unlock new revenue streams.
This shift was a central theme at Shopee Brands Summit 2026, where AnyMind Group participated as a sponsor, joining brands and industry leaders from across APAC to discuss what the next chapter of digital commerce will look like, and what needs to change to get there.
The Evolution of AI: From Automation to Augmentation
During the summit, Faraz Khan, Head of Sales & Business Development at AnyMind Group, Singapore, led a session exploring how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved alongside commerce itself. Early applications of AI focused on basic automation—rule-based systems, data sorting, and simple predictions. Today, AI has matured into something far more impactful: a system capable of learning, adapting, and supporting decision-making at scale.
Faraz emphasized that modern AI is not about replacing people. Instead, it is about amplifying human capability; taking on repetitive, time-intensive tasks so teams can focus on creativity, strategy, and customer relationships. In commerce, this evolution is particularly visible in areas such as customer engagement, demand forecasting, and live selling.
AI’s Growing Role in Live Commerce
Live commerce has become one of Asia’s most dynamic sales channels, combining entertainment, interaction, and instant purchasing. Yet running live commerce at scale presents real challenges: limited human bandwidth, rising operational costs, and the difficulty of maintaining performance beyond peak hours.
This is where AI is beginning to play a meaningful supporting role. Faraz shared how hybrid live commerce models are enabling brands to extend their selling hours and capture incremental Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) without overstretching human hosts.
AnyLive, AnyMind’s hybrid live commerce platform, exemplifies this approach. Human hosts remain central during peak traffic periods, delivering storytelling, emotional connection, and high-impact engagement. During non-peak hours, AI-powered livestreams take over—presenting products, responding to frequently asked questions in real time, and maintaining a consistent storefront presence.
These AI-driven sessions can operate across multiple languages, including English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Bahasa, and more, making cross-border live commerce more accessible while preserving local relevance. Rather than replacing humans, AI allows brands to optimize non-peak windows and operate more efficiently, turning live commerce into an always-on growth channel.
“As margins tighten, brands need AI not just to market better, but to operate smarter. When AI supports live commerce, chat, and decision-making, it stops being a cost and starts becoming a growth lever.”
— Faraz Khan, Head of Sales & Business Development, AnyMind Group, Singapore.
What Brands Need to Rethink Now
A recurring message from the summit was that technology alone does not guarantee success. To fully benefit from AI, brands must rethink how they structure their teams, processes, and expectations.
Winning brands are:
- Moving from reactive campaigns to always-on commerce strategies
- Embedding AI into operations, not treating it as a standalone tool
- Using data to guide live selling, content planning, and inventory decisions
- Freeing up human talent to focus on creativity, partnerships, and storytelling
In an environment where customer attention is fragmented and operational costs continue to rise, AI becomes less of an advantage and more of a necessity.
What AnyMind Brings to the Ecosystem
As conversations unfolded at Shopee Brands Summit 2026, one thing became clear: brands are looking for partners who can bridge strategy, execution, and technology.
At AnyMind Group, we support brands across the entire commerce journey by combining AI-powered platforms, regional market expertise, and operational execution. From live commerce and influencer enablement to centralized intelligence and cross-platform optimization, our solutions are built to help brands scale sustainably across Asia.
Shopee Brands Summit 2026 reinforced a powerful truth—the future of commerce is not human versus AI, but human and AI working together. And as the landscape continues to evolve, AnyMind remains committed to helping brands grow further, faster, and smarter.
Ready to leverage a unified AI infrastructure to maximize your GMV and profitability? Speak to our team today to discover how AnyMind can transform your commerce operations.
