Singaporeans push back against Acting Manpower Minister Jasmin Lau saying there hasn’t been much substitution of workers due to AI

SINGAPORE: At a symposium earlier this month, Jasmin Lau said that the recent workforce retrenchments have not been due to AI but can be chalked up to restructuring due to economic factors.

“At this point, we don’t see that much substitution of workers by technology, and it hasn’t gone deep enough and in business processes to reach a point where businesses are saying ‘I don’t need my workers anymore’,” she said.

Singaporeans, however, perhaps wary of AI’s advancements amid a tough job market, seemed to be nervous and pushed back online at her comments.

Ms Lau, the Acting Minister of Manpower (MOM) and Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Digital Development & Information, said this on Aug 22 at a fireside chat at the DBS Treasures Wealth Symposium.

According to reporting from Yahoo!Singapore, Ms Lau acknowledged concerns, but expressed optimism for Singapore to “transform adequately, even in the age of AI” to protect good jobs for the city-state’s workers.

Many companies are working with AI with an eye toward expanding their businesses, and not to reduce their costs.

Ms Lau also noted the manpower shortages businesses in Singapore are facing, saying that many SMEs appeal to MOM to be less strict toward policies and quotas because of talent shortages. 

For this, she added, technology is “literally filling a role that we otherwise can’t fill today”.

However, she noted some aspects in which technology will not replace human workers, such as consultations with doctors when people are very sick, and warned that people lose relationships due to an overreliance on AI.

“What do you lose when you keep going back to AI? You will realise that you will lose more and more as a human. That’s what I’m more afraid of, actually, for our entire society,” she said.

What Singaporeans are saying

On Facebook, in reaction to Ms Lau saying there has not been much substitution of workers due to technology, netizens had a lot to say.

“The key phrases here that worry me are ‘at this point’ and ‘hasn’t reached,’” one wrote.

“Keywords: not yet,” a commenter echoed.

“We need to face it. I believe it is a matter of time. China is the country taking the lead at the moment. Shop with auto-check out without human intervention. Shop managed by robots,” added another.

“By the time they notice, it would already be too late,” a commenter worried.

A Facebook user asked, “What happens when the point is reached?” /TISG

Read also: ‘Adoption and transformation are not the same thing,’ ServiceNow officer says as only 1 in 10 Singapore firms have redesigned workflows despite rising AI use