# PM Wong on AI opportunities and Singapore jobs

- Date: 2026-10-08
- Added: 2026-10-09
- Who: Lawrence Wong (Prime Minister of Singapore) · CNA
- Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc7ufZX2d5w
- sgai: https://sgai.md/videos/v115/
- License: sgai-authored content (summaries, translations, analysis) is CC BY 4.0 — attribute and link to sgai.md. Verbatim source text (Hansard, speeches, transcripts, policy documents) remains © its original rights holders and is reproduced for reference only. Terms: https://github.com/meltflake/sgai/blob/main/DATA-LICENSE.md

## Why it matters

At the Forbes Global CEO Conference, Lawrence Wong shifted policy focus from protecting jobs to protecting workers, effectively acknowledging that AI will eventually displace certain positions. Singapore is betting on rapid transformation within this window of opportunity.

## Summary

PM Lawrence Wong discusses how the temporary AI boom presents an opportunity for Singapore to build new capabilities while protecting workers rather than individual jobs.

## Full text

© CNA — reproduced for reference only.

about 5% growth. Uh, I've seen possibilities you may peak at 6%. >> Yeah, 6%. You No no boom is forever. I mean, at some point there will be a correction. And we don't know when it will happen or how it will happen. We don't know who the casualties will be when it happens. But no boom is indefinite. So, we our our approach is to make use make good use of this window of opportunity now where there is external demand. Capitalize on it, build new capabilities, and create better jobs for Singaporeans. >> How do you see Singapore walking through the transition to AI? There may be a bubble burst, but the technology is real. >> It is real. >> But how how how are you dealing with even though net jobs will be created, there will be displacement? How do you deal with that? >> Um, on the jobs front, these are still early days.

We don't quite know yet what impact what AI will have on the jobs market, but clearly some jobs will disappear. And many jobs will have to change. So, our approach is not to protect the job, but to protect every worker. And we can do this in Singapore because we are small, compact, and because of how we are organized and structured. Uh, in some countries, businesses and governments will regard unions as obstacles. Uh, we don't do that in Singapore. We take a different approach. We do not just tolerate unions. We embrace unions as partners. And to be clear, it does not mean that the company cannot lay off workers because with automation some jobs may be lost.

But what we ask is that companies are fair, go for retrenchments only as a last resort, and if you have to retrench, treat the workers fairly, pay them retrenchment benefits, give them advanced notice, and inform the unions so that your unions can work alongside the workers, help them to retrain and eventually get a job. And so that's what we have been doing. And I think we can through that kind of a tripartite approach ensure that AI benefits all workers.