Keynote Address by SMS Tan Kiat How at Compact AI Symposium 2025

Good evening,

Brother Bernard, Director of NTUC-PME,

Ladies and gentlemen.

I’m very pleased to join all of you here today.

2. Before I start, just a show of hands – who has been in a tech role for more than 20 years? What about more than 30 years?

3. I started learning about computers almost 30 years ago, and the world has changed quite a fair bit.

4. Today, things are done much differently with technologies such as cloud native and AI.

5. I know at the back of our minds, there are some concerns about what this means for the tech industry and roles in Singapore, how is the tech ecosystem gearing up to think about AI and how are we going to position ourselves for great opportunities.

6. Maybe let’s do one more poll before I get into my remarks – who in the audience is in a tech role in a tech company? What about a tech role in a non-tech company, such as financial services, healthcare, logistics?

7. We have about half from each, and that is roughly the proportion of the entire technical system as well.

8. Today, I will be sharing some perspectives – firstly, on what the government is doing in terms of positioning Singapore on how to fully utilise technology like AI. Secondly, what are we doing to work together with our partners like NTUC and many others, to prepare our tech workforce for AI. And thirdly, what I think are some of the key competencies and skill sets that are needed as we move forward in this space.

9. Let me start out by sharing some statistics. Over the last five years, tech employment in Singapore has grown by 24%, from 172,000 tech professionals in 2019 to nearly 214,000 in 2024. Tech graduates also continue to earn competitive starting salaries – about 25% more than the average fresh graduates.

10. Secondly, our companies are using more tech. According to the Singapore Digital Economy Report, which was published last month by IMDA, shows that AI adoption among SMEs tripled in 2024, from around 4% to 15%. Larger companies saw an increase in AI adoption from 40% to 60%.

11. Companies are seriously thinking about how to use AI. These are all self-reported, whether they use it well is another matter – but they are keen, and there is a desire to use AI in their business.

12. And this shows in the poll I did earlier with the audience. About 6 of 10 of tech professionals work in non-tech sectors. These sectors are logistics, healthcare, financial services, hospitality, retail, etc.

13. Thus, those are the three important statistics that we should keep in mind, as I share the next part of my remarks.

14. Given the demand, the kinds of capabilities, competencies, profile, and temperament that companies are looking for, are evolving. How then do you keep abreast of the market? How do we keep ourselves relevant so that we can continue to be valuable and employable?

15. This brings me to the next part of my comments, I've been speaking to a number of employers across Singapore – large and small, local and foreign tech companies. And for me, I'm more familiar with the healthcare sector as one of my priorities in the Ministry of Health is to transform healthcare and technology.

16. How can we use AI? How do we use technology across all healthcare settings across the board – not just in the hospital, but upstream from population health, all the way down to nudging behavior changes for individuals? That requires us to use technology extensively and intensively in healthcare.

17. Let me highlight three points for us to think about as we move forward.

18. Firstly, what are the kind of competencies needed for tech professionals? I believe that all of you here know that AI is quite an important responsibility. The argument here is how soon will it disrupt our industries, how fast the demand will change in terms of capabilities, and what kind of impact it might make on jobs. Not just tech jobs, but across the board.

19. To play a useful role, we need to think about where you can apply AI. This is one of the most fundamental questions people asking themselves now.

20. The reality is that a lot of money is being poured into developing AI models. Who is going to pay for it? Ultimately, it will be the enterprises – leaders will pay for it only if it adds value in their business or to their lives.

21. Thus, AI needs to be used to solve a problem, improve efficiency, cut cost – essentially do something that they cannot do before. For companies, that's the bottom line. For consumers, if you're using a tool to make your life easier, you're willing to pay for it.

22. At the end of the day, there is going to be a lot of effort to look at how to apply AI to solve real world problems. And where are real world problems situated? They're in industries.

23. In healthcare, we are looking for AI models that can help predict the likelihood of cancer and provide a faster diagnosis. In every sector and industry, we keep in mind the problems that AI can help us to solve, and customers are willing to pay for it.

24. There is a role for bilingual talents – engineers who understand the technology, but most importantly, know how to solve a real problem that requires the person to understand the business and apply the solution.

25. In Singapore, we are in a very good position compared to others elsewhere because we are known as a business hub. We ensure that we put in place safeguards when using AI and mitigate the risks involved.

26. I had a conversation with some alumni of University of Illinois. One gentleman told me that he was worried because whether you are in software coding or business process outsourcing, if you are functioning as a pure coder, your role is vulnerable.

27. What makes you valuable and helps you avoid redundancy is the ability to apply both technology and business domain knowledge together, rather than working from a purely technical position. So that's the first point to keep in mind.

28. The second point to keep in mind is the importance of understanding risk when applying AI. It's a business decision that comes with business, legal risk, and reputational risks. This is especially critical in regulated sectors like healthcare and financial services, where companies need to maintain strong reputations and play crucial roles in the global supply chain.

29. Thirdly, we are in a position where technology has now become a contestation space in geopolitics. Countries look at AI as an important strategic advantage and that's where you see the conversations happening between the two major AI powers. When there are disruptions that affect countries' economies or systems, having stability and the ability for people to work together becomes a premium advantage.

30. We are starting to have bilingual AI talents who understand technology and can apply it to business, solving real problems that people are willing to pay for, making solutions both commercialisable and viable.

31. We can then put in place solutions that are trusted from different aspects. We operate in an ecosystem environment that makes full use the best practices available in terms of capabilities and models and I think that puts us in a very good position.

32. This brings me to the last point: what can we do? Well, I think the most important investment that all of us can do is to invest in ourselves, in terms of the skill sets and competencies that employers are looking for in Singapore and in the region. Your skill set will be very valuable because there aren’t many that can solve new problems, and that's where the value lies.

33. We also have to think about disruption. The competition isn't between us and AI, but between us and those who can use AI better elsewhere. In Singapore, we have a system here that can rival any in the world, in terms of our ability to work with different players in the ecosystem.

34. As a system, we are here to support individuals in their careers. I think we can do this well notwithstanding the fact that we are small market. We are able to support individuals, companies, enterprises, and innovators who want to be here to develop solutions for the world.

35. I’ll end off my remarks by being cautiously optimistic – I think there are important factors that are in our favour.

36. The trends are there, but I think that as long as we work together in a more coordinated manner, there is a bright future ahead of us.

37. Thank you.