For Singapore, the AI revolution is coming just in time

Lessons from the 1990s Windows boom show us why AI will not destroy work. Instead, it will transform it in ways we cannot yet imagine.

- Ben Chester Cheong

Thirty years ago, office workers across Singapore, like everywhere else, were terrified. Microsoft Windows 95 was revolutionising workplaces, and the productivity gains seemed almost magical. Suddenly, tasks that took hours were completed in minutes. Entire job categories, from filing clerks, typists, to manual bookkeepers, were disappearing overnight.

"Computers will eliminate millions of jobs," warned the headlines. Sound familiar?

Yet here we are in 2025, and Singapore enjoys near-full employment with wages at historic highs. The 1990s productivity revolution did not destroy work. Instead, it transformed it in ways no one could have predicted. Travel websites replaced travel agents but created web developers. E-mail eliminated secretarial typing pools but spawned digital marketing specialists. Spreadsheets made manual calculations obsolete but enabled financial analysts to tackle far more complex problems.

Today, as DBS announces it will not renew 4,000 contract roles over three years due to AI adoption, we are hearing familiar fears that other companies will follow suit. But history suggests we are about to witness something far more interesting: the next great wave of human adaptation and innovation.

Every major technological revolution follows the same pattern. Initial disruption creates fear, then humans adapt by finding new ways to create value that complement rather than compete with the new technology.

The Industrial Revolution destroyed agricultural jobs but created manufacturing ones. The computer revolution eliminated clerical work but generated entire industries around software, systems, and digital services. Each time, humans did not just adapt, they leaped to higher-value activities that made them more productive and prosperous than before.