UNEVEN AI ADOPTION AND EXPOSURE
With limited AI adoption among firms, Singapore trails behind other economies like China, Denmark, Hong Kong, Finland and Sweden on this measure, according to the report.
The survey found that AI adoption is uneven among firms of different sizes and among different sectors.
Adoption rates ranged from 23.9 per cent in smaller firms with fewer than 25 employees, to 76.4 per cent in larger firms with 501 or more employees. Larger firms also had deeper levels of AI integration.
Smaller firms cited high implementation costs and lack of skilled personnel or expertise as key obstacles to adoption.
There were also sectoral differences, with AI adoption rates highest in digitally intensive and knowledge-based sectors like information and communications, professional services, and financial and insurance services.
“These sectors are characterised by jobs with a higher share of tasks that can be automated or augmented by AI, in the areas of software development, systems analysis and data analytics, for example,” said MOM.
“The digitally fluent professional, manager, executive and technician workforce in these sectors are well-positioned to adopt and work alongside AI tools effectively.”
In contrast, customer-facing and labour-intensive sectors like retail trade and food and beverage services adopt AI at lower rates.
“In these sectors, a larger proportion of tasks involve physical interaction or service delivery, which are less immediately amenable to AI deployment,” said MOM.
AI exposure also differs among different occupational groups.
Higher-skilled professionals, particularly those performing analytical and cognitive tasks, are more likely to experience changes in the composition of their tasks due to AI, the survey found.
In contrast, roles involving routine physical tasks, such as production and transport, see more limited exposure to AI.
“Importantly, where exposure exists, it has generally been associated with productivity improvements rather than job displacement,” said MOM.