Josephine Teo urges workers to build basic AI skills

At the ATX Summit, Teo says geopolitical contestation has not yet become a binding constraint on AI innovation, and Singapore still has substantial room to push adoption. She sees real productivity gains in industry and government. In healthcare, the value goes beyond freeing doctors from admin work — personalized medicine can tailor treatment plans so patients don't over-medicate, and side effects of dosage are better managed. AI also has scope in environmental sustainability.

On risk and regulation, she rejects a blunt approach. Election-content manipulation needs specific countermeasures, but AI-generated content used for entertainment generally doesn't justify regulation from day one. Singapore takes a risk-based, sectoral, targeted approach. Whether an omnibus AI law eventually makes sense, she says, is too early to call. Some feared risks are already covered by existing law — AI-driven hiring bias, for example, falls under the recently passed Workplace Fairness Act. Where both the risk and the response are clear, the government can move decisively.

Her advice to workers: treat AI like the local language of a country you've been assigned to — even if your job doesn't formally require it, learning it pays off. Alongside individual learning, she emphasizes formal skills training. Employers deploying AI will need data scientists, engineers to maintain AI models, and people to test, inspect and certify them. AI diffusion creates new categories of jobs, not just substitutes for old ones.

Caption language: en · Fetched: 2026-05-02

Trailblazers have gathered in Singapore to discuss a crossroads of technology, digital economy, and social dynamics at the ATX Summit this year. The focus is also on Singapore and its role in the global AI ecosystem. Sarah Kaldi is live at the event to tell us more. Sarah, what's the latest? Yeah, so Singapore is definitely working to drive innovation, but to do so responsibly. And to talk more about this, we're joined by Minister Joseph. She's Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information as well as Minister in Charge of Smart Nation and Cyber Security. Thanks so much for your time today, Minister. Good morning, Sarah. Yeah, I want to start with the macro environment. It's definitely a tense geopolitical environment right now and tech is also becoming a space where there is intense competition among major players.

So, how does Singapore plan to navigate all this? I think it is prominent in people's minds what has happened to physical trade through the imposition of tariffs by many different countries um and how it is um causing a huge reshuffleling of the cards um and very naturally the question becomes will geopolitical contestation where technology is concerned also create binding constraints for each of us uh at the moment I would say hasn't hasn't reached that stage um and we don't want it to get anywhere near there. So within the room that is available for maneuvering I think there is still many opportunities for us to push AI adoption to push AI innovation.

Of course, we do so whilst also thinking about AI safety and AI governance, but the momentum for AI innovation and adoption, the emergence of many more use cases across different settings, whether it is in industry or whether uh within government even. uh this is showing themselves to be resilient and also um backed up by very real benefits that are being observed on the ground. I shared some of this um when I delivered my speech this morning. Uh we see productivity gains uh in commercial settings. Uh but at the same time because Singapore has always believed that we also want to use AI for the public good. We see experimentation that um can create outsized benefits. For example, in health care, not just helping doctors to reduce the burden of fulfilling administrative task, but really in personalized medicine.

uh whether treatment plans for patients can be customized to such an extent that they don't need to over medicate and that the consequences of um excessive dosages is much better managed. So uh that is one of the areas I think in terms of also uh improving environmental sustainability there is so much scope for AI to be deployed. So to cut a long story short, I think the momentum is still taking off in a very healthy way. The innovations are coming and um and at at the moment this geopolitical contestation uh isn't a binding constraint. Yeah. And with the momentum picking up here in in Singapore and beyond, there are definitely threats. Threats are still there. You know, we're talking about cyber attacks, misinformation, even biases. How can AI be become a safe space uh while ensuring that regulation does not limit innovation? Yes.

Um a blunderbust approach to thinking about AI risk will not serve our interest very well. Uh we have to look at how the AI is being used and what the specific risks are related to that use. So for example, if AI is used to generate content to shape people's views in an election, then what you want is specific targeted measures to deal with that. But if the AI is used to generate content that is used for entertainment um that is generally not harmful that doesn't create you know misunderstanding for children there is very little reason to say that you want to regulate it at the outset. Yeah. So in our context the approach is risk based but it is also intended to be more sectoral and targeted. Will the time come for us to have more omnibus kind of legislation and regulation? It's a little too early to say.

I would also add that some of the risks that people are concerned about. For example, could it be used in a biased manner for recruitment and affect people's employability? Now there are other kinds of legislation that will deal with the risk that um are present even without AR. So for example in Singapore there is the workare the workplace fairness legislation that was passed not so long ago. So we will take a nuanced approach but we will also take a robust approach. When it's clear what the risks are and it's also clear what are the ways in which we can deal with those risks, we can move forward in a determined and robust manner and not take too long. Uh but for that to happen, safety research is essential and that's what we are putting our efforts towards and not just within Singapore but working with our partners around the world.

Yeah. And we can't talk about AI without touching on the impact on people and their their livelihoods and their jobs. What would be one quick advice you would give to to people who are watching the AI space and wondering how do I stay relevant? How do I stay employed?

I would say at the most basic level if let's say you got a career assignment to another country uh even if your work doesn't require you to speak the local language you know that there is value in acquiring a capability to do so and you would invest some time either to learn from friends or you know to take a formal program um think of AI like that in the new landscape of work you are going to use AI one way or the other so it's good to take ownership tip of this challenge to learn some basic AI knowledge and understanding and skills if you can at you know at your own pace but at the same time I think there will also be a need for us to support uh you know more formalized skills training that will better meet the requirements of businesses.

So employers for example if they are implementing AI will need people who have um data science capabilities uh they may also need engineers and technicians to keep their AI models um well maintained uh in testic inspection and certification of AI models there will certainly be new jobs that are being created so I would say it's a combination of taking ownership to learn the new language of AI I uh whilst you have the opportunity to do so at your own pace and also to create opportunities for people to learn formalized skills that will enable them to take on jobs that will inevitably also be created as a result of increased AI adoption. Yeah. And before I let you go, Minister, uh what is the ne what are the next things that we can look forward to in the AI space here in Singapore?

I think the foundations have been quite nicely laid or I should say relay because with generative AI uh new requirements uh uh emerged for example having access to GPUs making sure that uh the AI infrastructure and the engineering support is available but beyond that uh the momentum is very encouraging. It should motivate us to continue to expand the reach of AI to more businesses. So both in terms of breadth and depth, we'd like to be able to see more and we will ensure that there is enough of the support to keep this going. Yeah, appreciate all your insights today and we have a whole conference still ahead of us. Thanks so much. Jo Minister Joseph there, Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information and Minister in Charge of Smart Nation and Cyber