SINGAPORE, Feb 27 — Even as Singapore devotes S$1 billion to artificial intelligence (AI), it should devote as much effort to helping students and workers develop more “human” skills such as empathy, creativity and critical thinking, said Members of Parliament (MP) on Tuesday (Feb 27).
These skills will help them remain relevant in the workforce, the MPs, from both sides on the aisle, told Parliament.
One MP even suggested that students should not be banned from using AI, but rather be assessed on how they integrate AI into their work and be continually assessed on factors such as how they are able to collaborate with others, ask the right questions and polish their presentations.
The MPs also agreed that Singapore should adopt AI in schools and in the workplace to enable more productivity and growth, but that this should not be done at the expense of workers’ livelihoods or lead to them being replaced by AI.
They were speaking on the second day of the Budget debate where at least six of 28 MPs who spoke touched on AI in their speeches, focusing on their hopes and concerns behind the fast-emerging technology.
In his Budget speech on Feb 16, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that Singapore will be investing more than S$1 billion in AI computing, talent and industry development over the next five years.
This will build on Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0, which was announced in December last year, said Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
Hopes and fears of AI technology
The rise of AI can be a source of fear, but also a source of hope and an opportunity for workers and business.
For one thing, the rise of AI has some workers worrying that they may lose their jobs. These workers are often professionals, managers, executives and technicians, said Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Desmond Tan.
“White collar layoffs in companies like Google, Duolingo and UPS are increasingly tied to productivity boosting technologies like machine learning,” said Mr Tan, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
“This trend highlights AI’s role in automating routine tasks, affecting both blue and white collar jobs,” added Mr Tan, who is also deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.
He said that the rise of AI and automation may lead to job displacements across sectors, including those with a high percentage of professionals, managers and executives, which form 60 per cent of Singapore’s workforce.
While there are concerns that jobs will be affected, there is also an opportunity for more productivity for businesses that adopt AI.
For instance, studies show that generative AI can boost the productivity of the general worker by about 14 per cent, but for novice and lower-skilled workers, the gain was far more, at 34 per cent, said Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim.
“This implies that AI augmentation will lead to a compression in the distribution of abilities and skills,” said Assoc Prof Lim, who is a member of the Workers’ Party.
“As such, those who have hitherto been able to distinguish themselves, perhaps because of their talent or industry, may now find their edge blunted.”
He added that the question that remains is what kind of skills will be more important to the workforce, as AI makes traditional job roles much more efficient.
How to work with AI rather than be replaced by it
Rather than replace jobs, AI can in fact create more jobs.
“Alarmist headlines emphasise the loss of jobs to AI, but actually, the key to making AI enable, rather than replace jobs, is to allow people to find their passion with new responsibilities that require uniquely human abilities,” said Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Chris de Souza.
For instance, in Britain, it was estimated that in over 20 years, seven million existing jobs could be affected by AI, but “very critically”, 7.2 million jobs could be created, said Mr de Souza, noting that it is a net gain in jobs.
“What we must ensure as a Government is that no one slips through the cracks, to assure every Singaporean that as we become an AI-enabled society, everybody will have that opportunity to learn and grow, and none of us need fear being replaced,” he said.
He added that while not everyone can make such a transition at the same pace, ultimately, Singaporeans need help to realise “their core and unique human skills”.
This will enable their skill sets to remain relevant, even when their job scopes encompass more decision-making and creative responsibilities.
Agreeing, Assoc Prof Lim said that it is indeed the “human” skills that will now take the front seat amid the rise of AI.
In fact, skills that were once thought to be future-proof, such as coding, writing or statistical analysis, will quickly become devalued with AI.
“Instead, it is soft, human skills — originality and critical thinking, empathy and teamwork, leadership and communication — that will be ever-more important, and these are not as easily replicable by AI,” he said.
He added that these are not skills well captured by certifications alone, but rather are nurtured in the classroom, as well as experience in the workplace.
How students can be nurtured to thrive in an ai world
In a world where AI will become a mainstay in the workplace, it is also essential that students are imbued with the right know-how to tackle future challenges and opportunities.
Assoc Prof Lim said that it is a tempting but wrong solution to ban students from using AI altogether.
“We do our students a disservice when we insist, carte blanche, that using ChatGPT output constitutes plagiarism, because this will disadvantage them when they enter into the real world and are forced to compete with those with greater familiarity of how to integrate generative AI into their work,” he said.
ChatGPT is a generative AI tool released in late 2022 that focussed global attention on the potential of AI.
However, Assoc Prof Lim added that this does not mean that schools should eliminate assessments.
Rather, they need to evaluate how students perform through more “holistic” aspects such as through how they debate issues, present their ideas, work with others, and on their ability to pose questions, as opposed to just producing answers.
Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo said that most young people will now need to work with AI regardless of their occupations or industries.
He asked: “How do they work with the AI co-pilot to become more creative and better in exercising human judgement?”
Like Assoc Prof Lim, he also wondered what implications this could have on the future of education and the kind of adaptations educators will have to make.
“For our young Singaporeans and workers, they would either be riding this tremendous wave to success or be sunk by it... Their era would be defined by AI,” he said. — TODAY
