Google’s AI Riser Vietnam 2026 Yields 750 Apps, From Scam Checks to Aids for the Blind
Google and its partners in Vietnam say 750 AI application projects were built during AI Riser Vietnam 2026, an initiative that encourages people without professional programming backgrounds to create tools using natural-language prompts, VTV reported. Ten of the projects were presented on October 8 at a Google forum in Ho Chi Minh City. The programme drew more than 10,000 online and in-person participants, with every project built on Google AI Studio and spread across 10 priority areas for Vietnam, from education and digital safety to economic development.
Several of the showcased apps target everyday problems. SightBridge AI, created by Pham Van Manh, uses computer vision to detect obstacles in real time for blind and partially sighted users and warns them with vibrations, while a Gemini-powered voice assistant reads bus numbers, traffic signs and banknote values. Dung Noi helps people understand their health insurance benefits, co-payments and referral rules and estimate costs before visiting a clinic. ScamLens analyses messages, screenshots and suspicious chats for signs of manipulation, impersonation or false urgency, and suggests checks before users act.
Others serve narrower needs. Sach Cua Em turns photos of handwritten lesson plans, notes or textbooks into print-ready A4 worksheets in under 90 seconds for teachers in under-resourced schools. MediGuide AI digitises prescriptions and drug packaging, explains medical terms in plain Vietnamese, checks drug interactions against the Ministry of Health’s list and sets medication reminders. HiLuat helps small food and drink businesses match daily situations to their legal obligations, citing Vietnamese regulations. The audience favourites were Dung Noi, Project InnoVerse and SightBridge AI.
What it means in practice
The forum also gave an update on the Applied AI Lab, a collaboration between the Google AI Futures Fund and Saigon AI Hub, which was co-founded by VNG and Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. Its first phase brings together 10 teams with nearly 60 researchers from universities in the city, working on cancer prevention, Vietnamese language technology, multimodal AI, computer vision and human-robot interaction. The teams get early access to Google’s AI technology and direct technical support from Google and Google DeepMind. Do Tien Thinh, deputy director of the National Innovation Center under the Ministry of Finance, stressed the value of digital skills for workers and young people, and Google says its partner programmes have trained more than 100,000 Vietnamese people.
The showcase adds substance to Google’s push for deeper AI cooperation with the government, and its focus on non-programmers speaks to the AI skills gap facing Vietnamese graduates. Ho Chi Minh City is building its own ecosystem as well, including an AI centre of excellence with Plug and Play.
What to watch: how many of the 750 projects reach real users beyond the programme, and which problems the Applied AI Lab takes on nationwide in its next phase.