SINGAPORE – Fear it or love it, we are living in an era of artificial intelligence.
Rapid AI development over the past four years has triggered unparalleled breakthroughs.
Radiologists use AI to analyse a high volume of imaging data in real time, so life-threatening conditions like brain bleeds, strokes or pulmonary embolisms can be flagged without delays.
Educators use AI tools to create teaching materials and self-practice tests for students, saving hours of manual content creation. AI also helps teachers detect plagiarism in students’ writing.
Hirers employ AI to screen large volumes of applications for candidates who meet specific job criteria and to craft replies to those shortlisted to arrange in-person interviews.
AI tools also power self-paced learning platforms on company culture, tools, and processes for new hires.
But the same developments in AI have also threatened to upend jobs. White-collar work, once considered largely immune to automation, is now among the most vulnerable.
The most severe warning came from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei. In 2025, he predicted that AI would destroy up to half of all white-collar jobs within five years.
In 2026, he warned again that humans would be unable to adapt to the rapid pace of AI development, and that this would trigger an “unusually painful” short-term shock in the labour market.
The AI chief, whose firm has attracted heavy-hitting investors including Singapore’s GIC, Amazon and Google, wrote on his blog: “The pace of progress in AI is much faster than for previous technological revolutions…
“It is hard for people to adapt to this pace of change, both to the changes in how a given job works and in the need to switch to new jobs.”
Consider coding.
Tech giants Microsoft and Google are already using AI to generate more than 30 per cent of their new software code, a baseline that is rapidly rising. Top engineers at Anthropic and OpenAI have said that AI now writes all of their code.
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that AI is on track to take over half of the company’s software development in 2026.
Automated coding will reduce entry-level jobs, shifting the future of software development towards managing the work of AI and focusing on high-level system design.
Customer support is another area being reshaped by AI.
Virtual AI agents can simultaneously handle a high volume of password resets, order tracking, account lookups and basic troubleshooting requests more efficiently than humans.
As AI automates routine cognitive tasks, undergraduates are increasingly taking on internships and projects previously reserved for entry-level professionals, altering what employers expect from fresh graduates.
For now, human intervention is still needed for tasks that require empathy and nuanced judgment, such as authorising suspicious wire transfers and resolving multifaceted insurance claims that require subjective decision-making.
The longer-term solution, as many governments have urged their citizens, is for workers to learn AI, as the jobs of tomorrow will require this expertise.
On May 6, Singapore’s Parliament unanimously supported a motion calling for AI-enabled economic growth to be anchored in support, not just of smaller businesses to help them seize new opportunities, but also in training the workforce.
Towards this end, a new tripartite council will double down on plans to upskill workers and help companies redesign jobs and adopt new tools.
Separately, Singaporean workers who take up selected SkillsFuture AI courses will also have six months of free access to premium AI tools.
The rationale behind giving out free premium tools is to have every citizen build the necessary confidence and judgment to use AI well, both in everyday life and work, in the same way that citizens now confidently use online banking tools to pay for goods and apps to hail a ride or order food, and host online conference calls.
Many other nations, including the US, China, Germany and Japan, have launched targeted training subsidies and wage supplements to support workers while they train, to deal with the risk of AI-induced joblessness.
At The Straits Times, we’ve made it our mission to help you navigate this rapidly changing space. We are expanding our coverage to include more tutorials and case studies to cut through the tech jargon and explain complex AI concepts in simple, everyday language.
In addition, we will explore how AI is transforming industries, and shaping lives and livelihoods.
Today, we bring you an introductory guide to the different branches of AI science and their evolution in user experience. Read our explainer to discover groundbreaking possibilities driven by the latest developments.
We also look at how Singapore plans to stand out in the global AI race.
Not sure where to begin?
Read how a new father used a low-code AI tool, Claude Code, to build a personalised infant activity tracker and compare his infant’s growth against national milestones. Get inspired by his project and follow our step-by-step tutorial to build your own tracker.
AI will soon be everywhere, making foundational AI skills as critical as navigating conferencing tool Zoom or digital payments today.
Learning AI doesn’t have to be intimidating. Think of it as a tool that amplifies your natural talents.
The revolution isn’t waiting for anyone. Don’t let the AI wave leave you behind.