1. NBCU Converge: How Singapore is upskilling ‘every generation’ for the AI age
Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, spoke about how Singapore funds pre-employment training and continuing education to ensure workers are equipped with updated skills that allow them to thrive in their jobs.
When it comes to AI, this means ensuring that people are equipped to use AI to contribute to their own businesses and employers, she said at CNBC Converge Live. A global conference held in Singapore in March 2025 that brought together more than 700 global business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key decision-makers.
Initiatives like the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace 2.0 programme are being expanded to incorporate AI and Generative AI (GenAI) content, providing workers with hands-on experience in using AI tools. The TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative is also being scaled up to support both fresh graduates and mid-career professionals in acquiring AI-related skills.
While acknowledging the US and China’s dominance in the global AI landscape, Minister Teo explained that Singapore is carving a distinct path by prioritising the building of necessary infrastructure, strategic partnerships and practical applications of AI.
On the matter of regulation, Singapore is also actively involved in global discussions on balancing the need for innovation with addressing near-term risks such as AI bias, cybersecurity, and the misuse of AI-generated content. Global frameworks are going to be critical, the Minister said.
“If you talk to businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions and in the digital domain, the porosity means that you are in many markets and to have to deal with a different set of rules for each market that you go to.
“The lack of interoperability is a great impediment to business expansion. It is also difficult to ensure that citizens of each of these jurisdictions are protected to a comparable degree.”
Read her remarks or watch the fireside chat:
