The Usual Place Podcast

Will becoming an AI-forward society lead to more inequality?

In this episode, Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah discusses the reason for the big AI push.

Natasha Ann Zachariah

Can AI be a social leveller or will it lead to more inequality?

On this episode of The Usual Place podcast, Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah discusses the reason for the Goverment’s big AI push, as announced in Budget 2026.

We talk about how the Government plans to deal with the downsides of AI like job losses and anxiety over being left behind.

Joining the conversation are Singapore Management University’s Assistant Professor of Political Science Nathan Peng and the SGTech co-chair of AI, Cloud, and Data Chapter Mr Gunasekharan Chellappan.

Highlights (click/tap above):

3:20 Will CDC vouchers be a permanent fixture of the Budget?

6:32 Could Budget 2026 have helped lower income families more?

11:03 “Some people don’t feel like their lives have gotten 2.5 times better.”

13:56 Why do people perceive they aren’t doing well?

19:25 Don’t look at AI as new technology: Guna

22:23 ‘E-nannying’ should stop: Nathan

25:58 Anxiety over being made redundant by AI

31:18 Healthy concern vs unwarranted anxiety?

36:23 Losing the human connection over AI

41:15 Will there be more regulation with stronger AI push?

43:22 Mitigating the negative environmental effects of AI