Speech by Mr David Neo, Senior Minister of State for Education at the NUS-ISS Annual Luncheon for Industry

1.Good afternoon.

2.It is my pleasure to join you at this annual luncheon, which brings together alumni, key industry partners, and staff.

3.This also marks the conclusion of the 10th edition of the NUS-ISS Learning Festival, which commemorates a decade of inspiring digital leaders and innovators to be ready for an AI-enabled future.

Singapore's Strategic Imperative

4.This is also a future that is marked by changes to the geopolitical shifts and technological disruption, where AI is both the threat and the opportunity.

5.To update Singapore's economic blueprint for long term global competitiveness the Government has convened the Economic Strategic Review, led by my cabinet colleagues and I, which focus on five key areas:

1. Strengthening Global Competitiveness,
2. Leveraging technology and innovation,
3. Nurturing entrepreneurship,
4. Enhancing Human Capital,
5. And managing economic restructuring.

6.The area that is near and dear to my heart, and this is not just because I am chairing the committee, is the committee to enhance our Human Capital.

7.Because as a small country with no natural resources, the quality of our Singaporean workforce has proven to be the key factor that has brought us this far in the last sixty years.

8.And it is my belief that we need to continue to invest in Singaporeans, because that is what will once again prove to be decisive as we go onwards towards SG100.

An AI-Ready and Global-Ready Workforce

9.At the Committee to strengthen Human Capital, we have brought together key leaders from the private sector, educational institutions, and unions to look at how do we ready Singaporeans to be AI-ready and global-ready.

1. Being AI-ready means harnessing artificial intelligence to augment our capabilities to thrive in an AI-enabled future.
   1. Many of you in this room would have realised that humans have battled computers or AI in chess matches for a long period of time, and humans have proven superior until 1997 when IBM's Deep Blue famously beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. Since then, computers have quite reliably beaten humans at chess.
   2. But perhaps what is lesser-known is an AI plus Human combination, which is also known as centaur chess. It combines a human players' intuition together with the computational abilities of AI - and that will beat either a human or AI any day. Hence, it is about how we, as a workforce, and as individuals, embrace AI, use it to augment ourselves and make ourselves better. Then, that will take us forward more capably into the future.
   3. As many of you well know, we are probably going to face a situation of a model collapse somewhere in the next five years. Somewhere in the next few months, we will reach a point where there is more AI-generated content on the Internet than real content. When we keep feeding the output of what the model generates back into itself, then at some point in time, the model is going to collapse. That is why AI-augmented humans are going to be way more important in this AI-enabled future than ever before.
2. In addition to being AI-ready, we must also be global-ready. Being global-ready means developing the cultural intelligence and adaptability to navigate across cultures and seize new opportunities in regional and global markets - much like what NUS-ISS is doing for all of you.

10.So how do we support Singaporeans to be AI-ready and Global-ready?

Building a Future-Ready Jobs and Skills System

11.First, we believe we need a more agile jobs and skills ecosystem that can keep pace with rapid technological changes in the marketplace. This is something that a lot of alumni in this room recognise.

1. For example, our Institutes of Higher Learning (or IHLs), might shift from a "waterfall" approach where our learners complete education before work, to an "agile" approach that integrates work and training throughout one's career.
2. We can do so by bringing real-world problems into the classroom.
   1. For example, NUS-ISS's Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis allowed alumnus Chua Khiong Kiat to make a bold switch from civil engineering to startup.
   2. He has benefitted from lecturers who are industry practitioners, and a practice-based curriculum. Today, he is applying what he has learnt to improve construction practices with automation and data-driven approaches.

Levelling Up AI Competencies of Our Workforce

12.Second, we believe in the need to level up the AI competencies of our workforce to keep pace with business adoption of AI.

1. We can start this from young, by preparing our students for an AI-enabled world, where they are not afraid of AI but use AI in a way that allows them to become better at what they do. Because like we said, the most effective answer is not human or AI, but human paired with AI.
2. Now, we need to invest in our existing workforce through continuous training and education, so they too can be AI-augmented.
   1. We also saw in the video Maureen's story earlier. Maureen Tan's journey illustrates this. She embarked on NUS-ISS's Master of Technology in Artificial Intelligence Systems to equip herself with both technical AI knowledge and an understanding of its ethical implementation.
   2. This allowed her to effectively advocate for strategic and responsible AI adoption in her organisation as Head of AI Centre of Excellence at NTT DATA. Her experience demonstrates how future-ready education can equip professionals to translate AI capabilities into positive business outcomes.

Stretching Our Horizons to Be Global-Ready

13.Third, we need to prepare our workforce to be global-ready.

1. In a small market like Singapore, internationalisation is key to opening up new markets to increase market size that our companies can access.
2. As more Singapore companies expand in the region and emerging markets, we need to grow our Singaporean talent core with both the technical expertise and cultural intelligence to navigate these markets.
   1. The Master of Technology in Software Engineering programme at NUS-ISS, with its emphasis on aligning technology with business strategy, has equipped Adrian Lee with the skills to develop complex, high-volume data pipelines and AI-driven applications, and lead cross-cultural teams.
   2. This developed his confidence to lead data-driven, AI-enabled digital transformation across Southeast Asia, enabling him to excel in his current role as Regional Solution Engineering Manager at Snowflake.

Conclusion

14.So in this AI-enabled future, AI can either be a threat, or AI can be an opportunity. If we, as a small nation with precious few people, can grasp this opportunity well to invest in Singaporeans and develop an AI-ready and Global-Ready workforce, we will be the human-AI pairing that will beat any other country out there that is either human or AI.

15.At this juncture, I also want to commend NUS-ISS's contributions to digital transformation, industry advancement and lifelong learning over the past 44 years. Deliberate, strategic partnerships between institutions like NUS-ISS and industry leaders like you are vital to our continued success as a nation.

16.Congratulations to you on the decade of impact, and I am sure that all of you will continue to play a key part, in helping Singaporeans be ready for an AI-enabled future.

17.I wish you a wonderful afternoon. Thank you.