SINGAPORE – Assistant Professor Leonard Ng’s new teaching assistant, Leodar, is a hard worker.

Leodar has been answering student queries at all hours since January, be they administrative questions such as when examinations are held or an explanation of concepts taught in class.

“Aiyoh, you ask one very solid question lah,” Leodar said, when posed a question on course content.

Do not be fooled by Leodar’s sassy Singlish-inflected replies – it is a chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI).

It is among the first customised chatbots to be rolled out to students in Singapore, and an example of how AI is already changing the nature of jobs here.

Leodar was created to help the students taking the data science and AI class that Prof Ng teaches at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Materials Science and Engineering, alongside Associate Professor Kedar Hippagaonkar.

“Leodar reduces the administrative workload of the professors and teaching assistants, so they can focus more on actually developing teaching content and conducting research,” said Prof Ng, 37.

“With Leodar answering common questions, instructors receive much fewer student consultations now, so we can focus on developing and refining the classes and curriculum.”

While Leodar’s underlying large language model is Claude, a product of AI start-up Anthropic, Prof Ng said the chatbot was further trained over 3½ months before launch on course materials and administrative details to provide class-specific answers.

Leodar was developed and tested by Prof Ng, the team leader, and Dr Maung Thway, 34, and Dr Jose Recatala Gomez, 31, both of whom are research fellows at NTU.

Students can ask the chatbot to generate example computer code as a guide when they are working on assignments.

They were even allowed unlimited use of Leodar during their continuous assessment in February.

Asked if the move impeded learning, Prof Ng said: “We allowed this as we want students to learn how to leverage AI assistants effectively and ethically, which is an important skill.”

To excel in the test, students still needed to infer from the data presented in test questions and comment on trends – tasks which Leodar cannot help them with.

Thus, the chatbot provides a “first draft” that puts existing knowledge close at hand, letting students work more efficiently and solve harder problems, Prof Ng said.

“I hope that Leodar is the beginning of the meta-human instructor,” Prof Ng said, referring to a virtual instructor with advanced communication and instructive skills that lets students learn on demand.

Students have been increasingly using Leodar, with over 1,000 queries sent during the test week in February, from under 50 a week when it was launched the month before.

Ms Chew Siew Mee, managing director at Jobstreet by Seek, told The Straits Times: “With companies utilising AI in every possible aspect of work, we are gradually seeing the need for an AI-ready workforce – talent who are capable of performing with AI tools. We have noticed that AI-related job postings have remained consistent year on year from 2022 to 2023.

“Employers in Singapore are increasingly seeking candidates with AI skills and knowledge, even for roles that may not traditionally have been associated with AI.

“This trend is evident in the evolving job descriptions where employers now commonly include AI elements such as proficiency in using AI tools and technologies, understanding of machine-learning algorithms, and experience in leveraging data analytics for decision-making.”

Ms Chew added: “For example, in customer service, AI-powered chatbots can handle routine inquiries, allowing human agents more time to deliver high-value work and focus on more complex issues that require empathy and critical thinking. Similarly, in content marketing, AI can assist in content creation while human marketers will still be making the final decision on the type of content they use and publish.”

On job search and careers platform LinkedIn, job posts globally that mention artificial intelligence or generative AI have seen 17 per cent greater application growth over the past two years than job posts with no such mentions.

In South-east Asia, the platform has seen a 2.4 times increase in job posts mentioning generative AI and a 1.7 times increase in applications for jobs mentioning generative AI over the past two years.

Its spokesman said: “LinkedIn’s latest research shows that in a world transformed by AI, it is crucial that talent development pivots to training workers in AI skills in order to stay ahead of the curve. With skills needed for a job changing by a staggering 72 per cent by 2030 due to the impact of AI (based on our study), 92 per cent of companies in Singapore say they plan to enhance their people’s skills and abilities in 2024. 

“Today, the top five skills that hiring managers in Singapore consider the most important in the era of AI are a combination of both hard and soft skills.”

These are problem-solving abilities, critical thinking, communications skills, IT and Web skills, and leadership and talent management.

With the rise of AI seemingly inevitable, the need to transform the workforce might be more pressing than ever – and companies know this.

According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, 49 per cent of learning and talent development leaders in Singapore say they expect to have more spending power in 2023 – up 15 percentage points from the year before.

The platform itself has new AI-powered features.

From March, users of LinkedIn Recruiter, a paid variant of the platform for hiring businesses, in English-speaking markets within the Asia-Pacific will be able to find candidates who fit job openings with just a simple conversational prompt.

LinkedIn’s chief product officer Tomer Cohen told ST: “Our AI can understand natural language and help (recruiters) express their hiring goals.

“For example, (recruiters) can say ‘I want to hire a senior growth marketing leader’ and our AI will find the best matches.”

Mr Cohen added that more than seven in 10 recruiters who tested the feature said the AI has saved a lot of time in candidate searches.

Meanwhile, those who use the LinkedIn Learning online course platform in the English-speaking markets of the Asia-Pacific can already tap AI-powered coaching.

“Learners can ask questions or start conversations related to the skills they want to learn.

“The tool uses generative AI to recommend LinkedIn Learning courses, explain certain topics, offer examples or advice, and provide instant feedback,” said Mr Cohen.

Ms Chew said: “As AI continues to advance, it is essential for job seekers in Singapore to be adaptable. Having the mindset to constantly seek relevance to the industry and market trends ensures that candidates take active actions to remain competitive and employable in the job market.

“Candidates can future-proof themselves through upskilling and reskilling opportunities such as acquiring AI-related skills and staying updated with the latest developments in AI technologies and applications.”

However, talent acquisition experts say this does not mean that AI will replace the need for human workers.

Ms Chew said it is still too early to say whether there will be a major cross-industry need to redesign jobs.

“What we do know is talent will have to leverage their unique strengths as well as AI’s in order to stand out. 

“This translates to a need for ongoing upskilling and reskilling efforts to ensure that the workforce is equipped with the skills needed to thrive in this new era of work. Fortunately, there are numerous online resources that can support individuals on this.”

Ms Judy Tay, co-founder of creative agency The Dfrnt Agency, which specialises in social media marketing, said: “Since AI came into the picture, we’ve shaken things up a bit and got our folks split into two camps: the thinkers (strategists) and the makers (content creators).

“Jumping on this train was a no-brainer for us – stay ahead or get left behind. It was initially hard to get the buy-in from our team, especially those whose roles were largely routine in nature.

“We’ve rolled out a full-on training schedule to get our crew up to speed with AI. Today, our creators are capable of using AI to create design concepts and to help with layouts. And our strategists use our AI tools to do things like research and competitor analysis, among other tasks.”

Ms Tay explained that some of the more routine jobs that the technology has helped to automate include organisational tasks such as scheduling and task distribution.

She said that AI has also allowed the company to combine more roles so that its staff can do more. With the help of ChatGPT, for example, the designers can now also be involved in copywriting, which they were not able to do in the past without professional copywriting experience.

She said: “By automating various tasks, AI has reduced operational hours needed for project completion, leading to direct cost savings on labour.”

She said that the agency leverages AI language models to craft initial design concepts, applying machine learning to propose layouts that resonate with established design norms and the company’s historical project successes.

Ms Tay said: “The biggest benefit is definitely prototyping and idea-building. When AI spits out something cookie-cutter, our team members are now able to enhance the output with their own creativity.

“This is done by training them on prompt engineering rather than just tweaking the output. For example, instead of asking AI to ‘Give me a compelling key visual design for a car brand’, our team builds a custom prompt for the campaign, then proceeds on an iterative journey with the AI tool.”

Even though AI can boost efficiency, Ms Tay reckons it will not take over the need for a human worker.

“AI will be taking over the snooze-fest tasks,” she said. This includes time-consuming tasks such as manual data examination.

Candidates should focus on enhancing skills that AI cannot replicate, she added, echoing Ms Chew’s sentiments.

“This includes critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. Developing a deep understanding of AI and learning how to work alongside it will also be crucial.”

“Embracing continuous learning and staying adaptable will enable professionals to leverage AI technologies effectively, ensuring they remain valuable and versatile in a future where AI plays an increasingly central role in the workplace.”