SINGAPORE: Singapore’s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions are set to grow beyond training technical specialists, with plans to develop a broader tier of professionals like lawyers and doctors, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo.
Speaking at a fireside chat at Fortune’s Brainstorm AI Singapore conference on Tuesday (Jul 22), Mrs Teo said the country hopes to grow a pool of professionals to “complement” traditional AI practitioners such as data scientists and machine learning engineers.
The government had previously announced plans to more than triple the number of AI practitioners in Singapore to 15,000 over the next few years, as part of the country’s updated national AI strategy.
This new pool of professionals is expected to far exceed that figure, according to Mrs Teo.
“We’re talking about people who are in the professions, lawyers, accountants, doctors, who will become the early adopters of AI and then they show their peers how to make better use of it.”
Others in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services will also be part of this group.
“They themselves also acquire this facility with using AI, and then they demonstrate how it can create more value for their organisations,” added the minister.
Singapore will have to “get to a much larger number” of competent AI users than previously mentioned, said Mrs Teo.
While she did not provide further details, she hinted that further announcements could follow: “So watch this space, we will have more to say about this.”
