Singapore to Grow Pool of AI Early Adopters to Complement Data Scientists, Engineers

They will show peers in their professions how to make better use of AI: Josephine Teo

- Sarah Koh

Singapore plans to nurture an intrepid pool of artificial intelligence (AI) users to complement the data scientists and machine learning engineers it is currently training to take the nation into the digital future.

"We're talking about people who are in the professions — lawyers, accountants, doctors — who will become the early adopters of AI, and then they show their peers how to make better use of it," said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo on July 22, the first day of the Fortune Brainstorm AI conference at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

She was detailing how small states can develop their AI strategy to compete on a global stage dominated by large nations such as the US and China, during a fireside chat entitled "Beyond scale: How small nations can lead in the age of AI".

The pool of AI users will have to far exceed the 15,000 AI practitioners that Singapore already aims to nurture and hire, Mrs Teo said.

She noted that the nation's workforce numbers about 3.5 million, including those in manufacturing, healthcare and financial services.

"They can demonstrate how (AI) can create more value for their organizations," said Mrs Teo, adding that more details on equipping the workforce with AI skills will be announced in the future.