AI Influence Profile
Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat
Positioning
Member of Parliament. Spoke in 5 AI-related parliamentary debates (2025–2026), most often on AI & Employment and AI Economy & Industry.
Parliamentary AI record (5)
An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transition with No Jobless Growth (Main Debate)
2026-05-06 · Parliament 15
On 6 May Parliament resumed debate on NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng's motion "An AI Transition with No Jobless Growth", with around 20 MPs speaking in the most substantive AI debate of the 15th Parliament to date. The motion asked the House to recognise AI's transformative power for Singapore's next phase of growth, anchor AI-enabled growth in fairness, resilience and opportunity for all, equip workers and enterprises, and affirm that Singapore must not have jobless growth. PAP and labour MPs focused on job redesign, Company Training Committees and the new Tripartite Jobs Council. Workers' Party MPs all supported the motion but proposed structural alternatives: Gerald Giam a National AI Equity Fund paying every adult citizen a $500 annual dividend plus an on-the-job mastery fund; Andre Low a redundancy insurance with no income ceiling, a retraining tax credit and an annual "AI gains audit"; Kenneth Tiong universal premium AI tool access and sovereign-level engagement with frontier AI firms. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng rejected the WP proposals as "a settlement" rather than empowerment, cited an MOM survey that only about 6% of AI-adopting firms cut headcount, and committed to studying a higher Jobseeker Support income threshold and earlier retrenchment notification. Speakers on both sides declared support for the motion.
An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transition with No Jobless Growth (Debate Conclusion)
2026-05-06 · Parliament 15
The debate on the Motion "An AI Transition with No Jobless Growth" concluded on 6 May. In clarifications, WP's Andre Low stressed that strong social safety nets and urging Singaporeans to embrace AI are not zero-sum; Gerald Giam defended his proposed National AI Equity Fund as "not about a compensation for failure", with nearly half the fund invested directly in workers' skills, and pressed the Government on structurally sharing AI productivity gains. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng replied that the sharing would come through real income improvement, with SWDA setting clear KPIs tying the Enterprise Workforce Training Package and job redesign to real wages and career progression. WP's Kenneth Tiong questioned the quality of SkillsFuture courses and argued for universal access to frontier AI tools, while Mark Lee countered that Tiong's proposed 90-day mandatory notice for AI-driven role elimination is operationally ambiguous when transformation is gradual. Yeo Wan Ling asked whether job redesign would be an explicit condition of AI grants; Minister of State Jasmin Lau said the direction is committed and details would be worked out with tripartite partners. Wrapping up the debate of 7 hours 18 minutes and 24 speeches, Ng Chee Meng backed raising Jobseeker Support eligibility to the PME median income of about $8,400 and said NTUC is open on the form of support. The Motion was put and agreed to unanimously.
Safeguards and Roadmap for Introducing and Monitoring AI Use by Primary School Students
2026-05-06 · Parliament 15
Several MPs (Charlene Chen, Kenneth Tiong, David Hoe and others) jointly questioned MOE on the safeguards and roadmap for introducing AI from primary school. Education Minister Desmond Lee answered four questions together, setting out MOE's "Four Learns" framework — learn about AI, learn to use AI, learn with AI and, most importantly, learn beyond AI. The calibrated roadmap: Primary 1–3 covers AI literacy only (awareness of AI's presence) with no work requiring direct AI use; from Primary 4, once pupils have foundational literacy, numeracy and executive-functioning skills, they may use purpose-built educational AI tools with built-in guardrails under teacher supervision (e.g. the writing assistant LEA and Maths LEA in the Student Learning Space), which are designed not to spoon-feed answers and to redirect off-task pupils "Socratically". A mandatory 10-hour "Code for Fun" programme (coding, computational thinking, AI basics) starts from Primary 4, with optional five-hour "AI for Fun" modules on generative AI and computer vision. Pupil data is anonymised and not used to train external models; commercial off-the-shelf tools require checks that inputs contain no personally identifiable information. On research, A*STAR's SG-LEADS longitudinal study (data collection from 2027) will track how children's AI use affects learning and well-being, alongside short-term school-based studies. Kenneth Tiong pressed MOE using Sweden's Karolinska Institute conclusion that "digital tools impair rather than enhance student learning" and Sweden's 2023 reversal of digitalisation (over €200m to reintroduce physical textbooks); Desmond Lee replied that Sweden had gone all-digital from age five and then fully reverted to analog, whereas Singapore takes a blended approach — keeping physical textbooks and teacher-centric teaching, treating AI as a tool, and crucially distinguishing general-purpose AI from purpose-built educational AI, since failing to do so would risk the wrong policy of not using AI at all. On parental opt-out: SLS classroom tools that are part of teaching cannot be opted out of, but externally-brought-in tools requiring consent will not be used without it. Eileen Chong raised the "equity paradox" — that more disadvantaged children with less adult supervision at home may lean on AI more, eroding the very cognitive development it is meant to support; the Minister called this an "evergreen" concern, to be met through internalised AI literacy and home-school-community partnership.
Addressing Teachers' Stress Levels and Supporting Their Mental Well-being
2025-11-04 · Parliament 15
MPs raised teachers' high stress levels and mental-health support, with concern over the low share of young teachers and their non-teaching workload. The Education Minister stressed the noble responsibility of the teaching profession, acknowledged heavy workload, and committed to reviewing and improving the allocation of non-teaching tasks to safeguard teacher well-being. The central debate is how to effectively reduce teacher load and retain young teachers.
Expanding SkillsFuture Credit Eligibility for Subscription to AI Productivity Tools
2025-11-04 · Parliament 15
An MP asked whether SkillsFuture Credit eligibility will be extended to cover subscriptions to high-quality AI productivity tools for hands-on learning. The government replied that AI-related courses and tools are already supported, courses already include practical tools, and given the fast pace of AI it will keep watching and supporting relevant skills development. The central debate: whether tool subscriptions themselves should be directly covered by SkillsFuture Credit.