Over 70% of Singapore firms plan to deploy agentic AI by 2028: Deloitte

[SINGAPORE] More than seven in 10 business leaders in Singapore – 72 per cent – plan to deploy agentic artificial intelligence (AI) models over the next two years, said Deloitte in a report released on Tuesday (Feb 3).

Agentic AI models are capable of independent reasoning, decision-making and executing multistep tasks with limited human oversight. The technology is considered the next stage of development from generative AI models.

The use cases of agentic AI models remain broad, but business leaders surveyed identified customer and support services; supply chain and logistics management; and marketing and sales as the top three areas where agentic AI will have the greatest impact on their industry.

Yet, adoption of agentic models remains low, with only 14 per cent of business leaders in Singapore surveyed currently deploying such models; the figure falls below the global average of 23 per cent.

From pilot to productivity

As companies shift their AI implementation from pilot to real-world applications, 73 per cent of local business leaders in Singapore noted that efficiency and productivity have improved.

Slightly more than half – 53 per cent – of the respondents in the Republic noted that AI has enhanced their decision-making and provided data-driven insights.

However, companies can do more when it comes to AI-driven transformation, Deloitte said.

“Only 33 per cent of leaders in Singapore and 30 per cent globally say their organisations are redesigning key processes around AI while keeping their overall business model intact,” it noted, adding that even fewer companies in the city-state use AI fundamentally to reinvent their core processes and business models.

Governance gap

Despite the enthusiasm for deploying AI, specifically agentic models, only 14 per cent of leaders in Singapore reported having a mature model for agentic AI governance.

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Deloitte said that as AI agents take actions directly, new approaches to governance are required. These include clear boundaries for agent autonomy, real-time monitoring systems to track agent behaviour, and audit trails to capture the full chain of agent actions. “For agentic AI, governance and growth go hand in hand,” it added.

The Singapore government in January released an agentic AI framework to help companies set guard rails for the emerging technology. The framework’s guidance for deploying agentic AI responsibly spans four domains: assessing and bounding the risks upfront; ensuring humans are accountable; implementing technical controls; and enabling end-user responsibility.

Deloitte noted that the continued development of AI will reshape work at every level. However, the goal of AI is “not to replace humans or merely assist them”, it said. Instead, the aim is to create complementary working relationships between humans and AI.

But 24 per cent of business leaders in Singapore cited AI skills and knowledge as one of the top barriers to integrating AI in roles and workflows. To prepare their workforce for the impact of AI, 53 per cent of business leaders here are focused on building AI fluency as their top priority.

“There is a greater level of awareness among Singapore respondents about the need for broader job redesign,” Deloitte said. It pointed out that 47 per cent are “redesigning career paths and mobility strategies due to AI adoption”, compared with the global figure of 33 per cent.