Regulator to study how AI will affect workers in Singapore

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S next step on the artificial intelligence (AI) frontier will be to study the technology's impact on workers, said Yeong Zee Kin, assistant chief executive of the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

His remarks on Monday came less than a week after Singapore's National AI Strategy was launched.

Mr Yeong, who oversees data innovation and protection, said that - with AI deemed "a crucial and essential building block" for Singapore's digital economy - the role of AI in society will be a new area of focus.

This is in the wake of the government's earlier efforts with industry to drive the adoption of AI by businesses here, through moves like the Model AI Governance Framework and Trusted Data Sharing Framework.

Unveiling an AI road map on Nov 13, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat had said that the Republic aims to be a leader in AI solutions by 2030.

Now, questions such as how and when an organisation should automate its processes, as well as how jobs should be redesigned and workers re-trained, "are some of the things that we are working on. . . for the next year", Mr Yeong told the AI & Robotics Global Conference at the Singapore Management University. "Beyond that, we probably will have to start looking at the broader issues of consumers and customers as well."

But another speaker noted that humans and robots will come to work together more - "marrying the cognitive superiority of humans with robots' greater endurance and reliability".

Bob Gill, general manager for South-east Asia at ARC Advisory Group, cited carmaker Daimler's plans to digitalise the Mercedes-Benz factory, as well as Tesla and Boeing's continued reliance on human workers for certain assembly tasks, as signs that the manufacturers "still have a very strong focus on people".

"Countries from all over the world have recognised that the era of AI has matured and is definitely here to stay," added Oliver Tian, a former president of the Singapore Industrial Automation Association and adviser to event co-organiser Asia Pacific Assistive Robotics Association (Apara).

The conference was also put together by Sphere Exhibits, the events arm of Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes The Business Times.

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