Singapore's sweeping AI plans show why it is world's most competitive economy

SINGAPORE'S Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat is right to put artificial intelligence (AI) at the forefront of the city-state's plans to transform the economy.

Mr Heng laid out Singapore's new roadmap to become a leader in developing and deploying AI solutions by 2030 at the Singapore FinTech Festival and Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH) conference this month.

It includes plans for the creation of a National AI Office, with over S$500 million set aside under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan.

The ambitious commitment to an AI-powered future for Singapore, which will see the transformative technology touch every corner of the economy, brings to mind billionaire Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman's US$350 million donation in October of last year to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In that case, Mr Schwarzman's goal was to establish MIT as the first university in the world where all departments - the entire institution - is connected by AI.

Singapore's goal is similar, if slightly grander - we are talking about not just one university, but an entire city-state.

AI will make Singapore more competitive on world stage

Singapore was recently ranked as the world's most competitive economy by the World Economic Forum.

In the updated league table released last month, Singapore scored 84.8 out of a possible 100, beating the United States to the top spot in the ranking of 141 economies.

While Singapore ranked first for infrastructure - one of the index's 12 assessment pillars - it also incredibly took the number one spot for two of the index's other pillars: citizens' healthy life expectancy years and labour markets.

This new AI plan will be like throwing fuel on a bonfire, one that is already reaching new levels of intensity.

We are going to see a supercharging of Singapore's economy and competitiveness versus global peers beyond anything we have dared to imagine.

AI is already bringing a lot of benefit to sectors such as financial services, where it is helping to reduce fraud while expanding access to the underbanked.

Of course, it is true that AI is also making some low-value, repetitive roles redundant. That is why it's important that wherever AI goes, ethics follows.

However, here too the Singapore government has been at the forefront of change - initiatives such as SkillsFuture and a push to educate the population on the need for lifelong learning will ensure that the coming AI transformation leaves no workers behind.

Indeed, Mr Heng reiterated this when he talked about the need to build an AI-ready workforce, one which entails taking a "human-centric" approach to new technology and ensuring that workers are equipped with the right skills.

Alongside this was a commitment to growing a strong core of research scientists, developers, engineers, product managers and entrepreneurs, with plans to train 25,000 professionals in basic AI coding and implementation by 2025.

The result of all this is clear: Singapore is not content to play catch up on the AI front. Instead, it is seeking to be a world leader.

And by all accounts, we are off to a good start.

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