Singapore workers are the world’s fastest in adopting AI skills, LinkedIn report says

According to LinkedIn’s recent “Future of Work” report, workers in Singapore have shown the fastest adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) skills globally. The report, which analyzed data from 25 countries, revealed that Singapore has the highest “diffusion rate,” with a 20-fold increase in the number of members adding AI skills to their profiles since January 2016. This growth significantly outpaces the global average of eight times.

Finland (16x), Ireland (15x), India (14x), and Canada (13x) also feature among the top five countries with the highest rates of AI skills diffusion, as per the report.

Pooja Chhabria, Asia-Pacific head of editorial at LinkedIn, attributed Singapore’s rapid AI skill adoption to the country’s robust digital infrastructure, intellectual property protection framework, and a thriving ecosystem of venture capital firms that provide capital for startups and businesses fueling AI development.

LinkedIn’s study further revealed that in 2022, the five fastest-growing AI-related skills added to member profiles were related to generative AI, particularly in the realm of question-answering, classification, and recommender systems. The emergence of technologies like ChatGPT has sparked interest in generative AI. However, the potential of generative AI to replace certain job tasks has raised concerns about job displacement.

The report underlines that while AI will undoubtedly change job dynamics, soft skills such as flexibility, professional ethics, social perceptiveness, and emotional intelligence are gaining importance as AI automates various aspects of work. The report also emphasizes that human control remains paramount, with AI tools serving as aids to decision-making rather than replacements for human judgment.