Event Recap: FACE “AI Takeover” Man vs Machine, Founder Pitching, and Power Networking at Rosewood Bangkok

On December 12, 2025, Founders & Creative Entrepreneurs (FACE) closed out the year in signature style with “FACE AI Take Over, Pitching, Founder Market & Power Networking,” an approval-only gathering for CEOs, founders, investors, and business owners at Rosewood Bangkok.

This wasn’t a product-demo night. And that was the point. FACE designed the agenda for bold viewpoints, real debate, and practical founder-to-founder conversations, with the room engineered for meaningful connections rather than noise.

A program paced like a story

The evening unfolded in distinct “episodes,” each doing a clear job: spark perspective, challenge assumptions, then push everyone into action-oriented conversations.

EP1: Rise of the Machines VIP Networking (6:00 PM)
The night began with curated networking where introductions were intentional and the energy set early. The attendee mix was notably cross-industry, which kept conversations sharp and surprisingly wide-ranging.

EP2: Man vs Machine The Debate (6:30 PM)
One of the night’s focal points was the AI vs Human face-off: human intuition versus machine logic. Stewart Boutcher (Global CTO, Veracity AI) and Stephen James Barling (Managing Director, Digital Business Advisor, Stanford GSB) brought contrasting lenses to what decision-making should look like when AI sits at the table for every major call.

The format did what great debates should: it didn’t hand out easy answers. It sharpened the questions.

EP3: “AI Won’t Close the Wealth Gap. It’ll Make the Rich Richer” Panel (6:45 PM)
If the debate challenged how leaders decide, this panel challenged who benefits. Moderated by Alex (Thaiger News), the conversation went straight at the uncomfortable realities: inequality, incentives, and what happens when AI advantage compounds.

Panelists included Alan Xu Hao (Alibaba Cloud), Robert Penaloza (Aberdeen Asset Management Thailand), Amardeep Sachdev (FICO), John D. (Neo-Health Group), and JACKY Wong (TCG social media group).

EP4: How ROBOCORE Raised $130M to Series D (7:05 PM)
A standout “battlefield story” came from Long Hei Roy Lim (CEO, Robocore), who shared the realities behind scaling an AI venture and what it takes to earn conviction through multiple stages of growth.

EP5: The AI Pitching Arena (7:15 PM)
Four startups entered the arena with five minutes each, a tight format that rewarded clarity over theatrics.
The judging table reflected serious operating and investing weight, with leaders including Dr. Johnny Sei-Hoe Hon (Global Group), Axel Winter (Xponential / Siam Piwat), Abhi Bisarya (Crypto.com), Dereck A. J. Hoogenkamp (VNTR Global Investor Community), and Ashish Kapahi (ASEAN Economic Forum).

EP6: Free-Flow Networking (7:35 PM)
Two hours of networking with free-flow refreshments turned the room into a live marketplace for partnerships: founders comparing notes, operators trading playbooks, and investors scanning for signal, without the usual fluff.

What the room kept coming back to

Across debate, panel, and pitches, three themes echoed through the evening:

1. AI is a leverage tool, but judgment still matters.
   Tools move fast; responsibility moves slower. Leaders are being pushed to define what must remain human-led (values, risk appetite, ethics) versus what should be machine-accelerated (analysis, automation, personalization).

2. The real race is compounding advantage.
   The sharpest insight wasn’t “AI will change everything.” It was this: AI amplifies what you already have, from data and distribution to capital and talent. That gap widens fast when some organizations can compound faster than others.

3. Signal beats noise in founder communities.
   By keeping the agenda tight and discouraging salesy demos, FACE created a setting where people spoke plainly and networked with purpose.

Community effort and a big thanks

The event was hosted by Poe Aye and the FACE team, with Enthalpy Asia Co Ltd as co-host.
Support also came from community and media partners including ASEAN Economic Forum, Swiss Chamber of Commerce, Thaiger News, and Asia Media Group, with FAH MAI Holdings as drink sponsor.

At WOWS Global, we’re glad to support ecosystem builders who consistently create high-quality rooms. This one delivered: thoughtful content, strong speakers, and a networking environment that made it easy to meet the right people quickly.

What’s next

If you missed this one, consider it a preview of where the ecosystem is heading: less hype, more hard conversations, and a rising demand for founders and leaders who can pair AI capability with human clarity.

Follow WOWS Global to stay close to the conversations, communities, and capital-building momentum shaping Southeast Asia’s next chapter.