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For Singapore, the AI revolution is coming just in time
Lessons from the 1990s Windows boom show us why AI will not destroy work. Instead, it will transform it in ways we cannot yet imagine.
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Critics worry about concrete job losses, but they are missing Singapore’s bigger challenge: a rapidly ageing workforce.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Ben Chester Cheong
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Thirty years ago, office workers across Singapore, like everywhere else, were terrified. Microsoft Windows 95 was revolutionising workplaces, and the productivity gains seemed almost magical. Suddenly, tasks that took hours were completed in minutes. Entire job categories, from filing clerks, typists, to manual bookkeepers, were disappearing overnight.
“Computers will eliminate millions of jobs”, warned the headlines. Sound familiar?
