Why this AI startup founder is taking ethics lessons

Check out our top articles for the week. [Read from your browser]( Top Stories of the Week Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Sunday newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community by [registering here](. Hello {NAME} I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes by my sister. Once, she brought a book from the library, and I found myself pulling an all-nighter just to read about Holmes' adventures. I loved how details that were seemingly unimportant to others captured Holmes' attention, allowing him to uncover details no one else could. Last month, I believe we made the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proud when I - along with my colleagues Collin, Terence, and Candice - investigated Jon Lee, the founder and CEO of Vizzio Technologies, and exposed him for having a sham degree. Comparing our experience to a Holmes adventure might be a stretch, but we certainly had our own fun. Upon further deeper investigation, we discovered more inconsistencies in his claims and those made by the company. Turns out, the Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge was not the only thing he lied about. For instance, he had overstated the number of patents held by a huge margin. He even inflated the customer list and uploaded plagiarized videos on various channels. He even misrepresented the revenue of Elipva, his previous startup, in an alleged sale to Temasek. Interestingly, Elipva was another startup from where he was ousted for faking credentials. Back to the Vizzio case: The board initially backed the founder a few weeks back, though one of the board members had stepped down several days before Tech in Asia’s exposé came out. Now the board has appointed an interim CEO. The company will send Lee to professional development and corporate governance courses at the Singapore Institute of Directors. Vizzio also said it’s refining its employee code of ethics and setting up an ethics committee. -- [Lokesh Choudhary]( journalist at Tech in Asia  --------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES THIS WEEK 1️. [More cracks appear in Vizzio CEO’s claims]( After Vizzio founder's fake Ph.D., Tech in Asia unearths more inconsistencies involving patent claims, plagiarized videos, and customer lists. 2. [BNPL’s future on a knife-edge as ZestMoney averts shutdown]( Startups in the buy now, pay later space will have to reinvent themselves amid chatter of the model’s fallout. 3. [The hidden alliances between Southeast Asia’s VCs, uncovered]( We've visualized an intricate web of relationships among Southeast Asia’s VCs, using deal data in the past two years. 4. [What I learned about genAI from failing to scale my AI startup]( What a small side project taught one founder about the present and future of the generative AI space. 5. [Why Singapore’s LLM isn’t sweating GPT-4]( AI Singapore believes that Sea-Lion’s ability to process Southeast Asian languages will complement existing models, including GPT-4. 6. [Meet the 80 top-funded startups and tech companies in Southeast Asia]( Here are the companies in Southeast Asia that are attracting tons of investors and have the resources to spend on software, talent, and expansion. 7. [Khazanah’s Oyo bet points to greater focus on overseas deals, say investors]( The fund’s bet on Indian ecommerce platform Zivame drew ridicule, but its Alibaba investment panned out well. 8. [VC funds tracker: Asia Partners, ABC Impact, others add $1.7b in new funds]( Fundraising is difficult. To make things easier, we have compiled a detailed list of the most recent VC funds for our subscribers. 9. [Capital SEA: Southeast Asia’s funding landscape]( Who are the new active investors on the block? Which funding rounds look like outliers? This visual story answers all this and more. 10. [KonsultaMD tapped an ‘unfair advantage’ to grow. It’s now a leading healthtech player]( With over 3 million registered users, the Globe and Ayala-backed healthtech firm aims to achieve profitability on a net income basis by 2028. --------------------------------------------------------------- WHO'S HIRING  You can post a job [here]( or search for jobs [here](. 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