Budget debate: MPs urge clear targets to measure impact of S’pore’s AI push

As Singapore seeks to turn artificial intelligence into a strategic advantage, AI initiatives should be tied to quantifiable outcomes and translate to real benefits for Singaporeans, MPs said on Feb 24.

AI was a key plank of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s Feb 12 Budget speech, where he laid out extensive plans for companies and workers to adopt AI, with incentives that include enhanced tax breaks, training initiatives and free access to premium AI tools.

But given fears that AI may exacerbate inequality and displace jobs, the majority of MPs who spoke on the first day of the Budget debate called on the Government to track outcomes such as productivity gains and wage increases to ensure that the 

Republic’s AI strategy results in better opportunities for Singaporeans.

On the Government’s plan to accelerate the deployment of AI solutions, Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) and Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang GRC) were among MPs who asked what metrics the Government intends to publish annually.

They suggested that the outcomes measured include the net number of new roles created, time taken to redeploy a worker, the share of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have scaled their AI use beyond pilots, as well as data on jobs displaced by AI.

“If our AI strategy does not translate into higher wages and better opportunities for all Singaporeans, will we recalibrate our approach to ensure the value created by AI accrues meaningfully to Singaporean workers and families?” asked Ms Mariam.

Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh said clear requirements must be established before AI-related grants are paid out so that they result in “genuinely transformative productivity gains” and are not abused.

More broadly, he suggested that the variable component of ministers’ salaries be tied to one objective outcome, which is the number of good jobs for Singaporeans in the age of AI.

Nominated MP Mark Lee noted that moves in Budget 2026 such as the enhanced Productivity Solutions Grant and higher tax deductions for AI-related expenditure reduce the risk of adoption for firms, but he sought clarity on which investments qualify.

He suggested that beyond reducing risk at the point of adoption, further incentives be linked to firms’ outcomes such as higher worker output and reduced energy use.

As AI automates routine tasks often done by junior workers, MPs also raised concerns about entry-level jobs and the Government’s plans to redesign junior roles to be able to harness AI.

Mr Henry Kwek (Kebun Baru) said young graduates in his constituency have reported that such roles have already become harder to find, while Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) warned of a “broken ladder” scenario, where the first rung of executive jobs disappear.

Singapore’s AI road map must also include the uplift of blue-collar workers, said MPs.

Ms Phua said that for such workers in sectors like logistics, security and cleaning, the risk is not only job loss. “It is also intensification – tighter monitoring, algorithmic targets, more precarious contracts.”

Mr Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) said workers in such sectors should get tools such as wearable haptic sensors that alert on safety risks and translation devices that help them overcome language constraints, so that AI elevates technical mastery, rather than become a wedge that separates the workforce.

MPs also asked how the Government intends to confront the risk of AI adoption resulting in greater inequality, where higher-income households are able to accelerate their learning and career progression, while those from lower-income households fall behind.

Ms Mariam suggested that national social mobility scheme ComLink+ be modified to include AI capability milestones, such as having a parent complete a foundational AI literacy module and a child safely using AI for schoolwork.

Among those who called for structured help for SMEs to adopt AI were Mr Jackson Lam (Nee Soon GRC), who suggested sector-specific AI playbooks developed with trade associations, and Mr Edward Chia (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC), who asked for the 10 SME Centres across the island to play a larger role.

Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau provided a view of the Government’s approach to AI, as well as ongoing work by the Economic Strategy Review (ESR) committees.

Ms Lau, who co-chairs the ESR’s committee on technology and innovation, said the authorities will make systematic lower risk and structured ways for SMEs here to experiment with AI, building on the hackathons and collaborations between such firms and students over the past year.

The Government is also refining its funding schemes, and will shift funding support from adoption to implementation, business process redesign and the “much harder work of changing how an organisation actually operates”, she added.

These are among the ideas that her committee will continue to work on in the coming months, said Ms Lau. The ESR committees are expected to put out a full report detailing the final recommendations in mid-2026.

“We will make sure we are accountable, but we must also make sure that our SMEs, most of whom are genuine and often already tight on resources, do not get turned away too early by onerous and cumbersome paperwork,” she added.

Noting that economic resilience begins long before one’s entry into the workforce, when a student learns to think, Ms Lau said Singapore will need to review what education means here.

AI will force countries to sharpen the focus of education on the things that truly matter, she added: judgment, values, and the ability to work with AI, rather than to compete with it.

The education weightage will also have to be rebalanced to emphasise character and social development beyond content recall, and to equip children with higher order thinking, such as problem definition and design, Ms Lau added.

“AI can improve the lives of our people, but this journey no doubt will cause much disruption,” she said. “Because we feel the fears, we feel the anxieties, we must find a way forward that keeps our people together.”

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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