Prime Minister Wong said AI would protect jobs, not replace them. CEO concern about AI-driven job losses dropped to 20% from 46% since January, per EY-Parthenon.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong used the country's National Day address to promise that artificial intelligence would protect jobs, not replace them. The government is deploying AI to lift productivity and create better roles for workers worried about their livelihoods, he said Saturday, according to a Bloomberg report. Wong also said his administration is rethinking trade policy and industrial strategy to keep the city-state competitive.
"New breakthroughs are creating opportunities that were unimaginable just a few years ago, even as they raise new challenges and questions," Wong said. "We cannot stand still while others move ahead. But neither should we accept every new technology uncritically. Singapore will embrace these advances on our own terms."
The speech lands as business sentiment around AI and jobs has shifted. A July survey by EY-Parthenon, cited by The Wall Street Journal, found 20% of CEOs expected AI to cause major job losses, down from 46% in January. David Autor, an MIT economics professor, told the Journal that executives may have noticed the labor market is not imploding as fast as they feared, and realized it was bad business to claim their new product would wreck the economy.
A separate study by payments firm Ramp and workforce-intelligence firm Revelio Labs showed that companies making the largest AI investments expanded headcount by roughly 10%. A PYMNTS report from June noted the pattern at companies such as Google, Box and IBM is not displacement but a new organizational layer staffed by people who can bridge foundation models and business operations. That layer did not exist three years ago and is now one of the fastest-growing parts of the labor market, the report said.
Still, only 40% of front-line and hourly workers in the Labor Economy believe they could find comparable work if displaced by AI, according to PYMNTS Intelligence's Wage to Wallet collaboration with Ingo Payments and WorkWhile.
Wong did not detail specific programs or spending targets. The broader direction is clear: Singapore intends to absorb AI into its workforce rather than defend against it.
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