People are moving so fast on AI, businesses are struggling to keep up

For decades, Singapore’s economic story followed a familiar sequence. The Government identified the next wave, built the infrastructure to support it, and businesses and the population adapted to it. From Intelligent Island and Biopolis to Smart Nation and Singapore’s ambitions to be a global financial hub, the formula was broadly the same: anticipate early, invest heavily and prepare businesses to follow.

But artificial intelligence may be the first technological transition where Singaporeans are working faster than institutions. Two sets of numbers reveal this disconnect: 71.5 per cent of Singapore companies have not started using AI at all, and only 3.8 per cent have integrated it into core business processes, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s AI adoption report released in April.