Alphabet’s Google and Southeast Asia’s Sea are set to collaborate on artificial intelligence initiatives targeting Sea’s e-commerce, gaming, and financial platforms. The announcement signals a drive by major technology companies to expand AI’s role in revenue generation, broadening the technology’s scope to include comprehensive workflow management and shopping assistance beyond traditional information delivery.
Under the agreement, all three of Sea’s core business units—Garena, Shopee, and Monee—will receive AI-powered enhancements. Garena plans to employ Google’s AI solutions to increase both player engagement and the efficiency of game development and management. Additionally, Garena could participate in beta testing new AI solutions from Google.
Shopee and Google will jointly examine the development of an AI-based shopping solution intended for integration across both firms’ platforms, aiming to improve how users discover products, interact with e-commerce content, and complete transactions.
The partnership also extends to Sea’s financial services arm, Monee, which will work with Google on its open-source Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) framework. Monee will offer feedback to tailor AP2 for Southeast Asian markets and may participate in pilot programs to demonstrate agent-managed payment experiences on the companies’ platforms.
This new collaboration builds on previous cooperation between Shopee and YouTube in 2024 to enhance e-commerce activities in the region. Shopee maintained a leading position in Southeast Asia’s online retail sector last year, holding a 52% market share, according to Momentum Works.
