Government should fund young ‘AI change agents’ to help SMEs transform: Poh Li San
The MP for Sembawang West is piloting such a programme in her ward
[SINGAPORE] To both create roles for young jobseekers and help companies transform, the government should fund traineeships in artificial intelligence (AI), Sembawang West Member of Parliament Poh Li San suggested in Parliament on Friday (Sep 26).
Rising to speak during the debate on the President’s Address delivered at the opening of the 15th Parliament about three weeks ago, she noted that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) “are not familiar with AI tools available and do not have funds to hire consultants”.
“What our SMEs need are young people who are digital natives and adept in these AI tools,” she said.
She proposed a government-funded traineeship for young “AI change agents”.
“This training scheme is not a way to disguise unemployment or to provide a temporary Band-Aid,” she said. “It is to perform a vital function – to jumpstart a structural transformation of our economy.”
She suggested that the government fund AI courses for an initial group of 1,000 young jobseekers, noting that it may take them two to four weeks to master such AI tools. These trained AI change agents can then be matched with interested SMEs, with Enterprise Singapore and business groups helping to identify these.
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Poh suggested starting with medium-sized manufacturers, which may be most affected by US tariffs.
She proposed that EnterpriseSG subsidise 70 to 80 per cent of these agents’ salaries for up to six months.
If the companies convert these agents to permanent staff, EnterpriseSG could then fund 50 to 60 per cent of their salaries for up to a year, she added.
Poh has developed a pilot version of this initiative in her Sembawang West ward, working with the National Trades Union Congress’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and AI training companies.
The first run is set to begin in the next few weeks.
There are also early discussions with the Singapore Manufacturing Federation and food manufacturing companies in the nearby Woodlands industrial area, she added. “We hope to shortlist those companies and others who are keen to hire these AI change agents, as our ground-up initiative.”
Poh hopes that, after one or two successful pilots, the programme can be scaled up at the national level.
She asked the ministers for manpower as well as trade and industry to consider the proposal and allocate funding.
Noting that global uncertainty has softened the labour market and deepened young graduates’ job-search woes, she said in Chinese: “I propose that the government turn this crisis into an opportunity.”
She urged them to “move quickly… so that young people do not lose more time looking for jobs”. She added: “Otherwise, it will become even harder when later cohorts join the workforce.”
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