Singapore Leads Global Adoption of AI Skills : LinkedIn’s Future of Work Report

Singaporean workers have emerged as pioneers in embracing artificial intelligence (AI) skills, a revelation from the latest Future of Work report by LinkedIn. In a study encompassing 25 nations, Singapore boasts the highest “diffusion rate” of members integrating AI competencies into their profiles, soaring 20 times from January 2016. This far surpasses the global average of eight times, a distinction highlighted by LinkedIn in conversation with CNBC Make It.

Other nations with remarkable AI skills integration include Finland (16x), Ireland (15x), India (14x), and Canada (13x), as outlined in the report. Pooja Chhabria, LinkedIn’s Asia-Pacific editorial head and career expert, attributes Singapore’s success to its environment ripe for AI disruption. This is due to its robust digital infrastructure, strong intellectual property protection, and a flourishing ecosystem of venture capital enterprises.

The year 2022 saw a surge in AI-related skills on member profiles, particularly those hinting at the rise of generative AI. LinkedIn reports a staggering 332% growth in question-answering skills, as well as skills related to classification and recommender systems. The advent of ChatGPT has also spurred interest in generative AI, inspiring tech giants like Google and Microsoft to integrate AI throughout their operations.

LinkedIn, a Microsoft-owned platform, recently introduced features allowing members to craft AI-generated recruiter messages, job descriptions, and user profiles. However, the power of generative AI to generate text, images, and other content in response to human input has sparked concerns about job displacement. A Goldman Sachs study posited that around 300 million jobs worldwide could be impacted by AI and automation, particularly in office and administrative support roles.

LinkedIn’s analysis of common occupations on the platform unveiled that 45% of teachers’ skills are “potentially augmentable” by generative AI. This presents an opportunity to ease workloads and enable professionals, like teachers, to focus on essential aspects of their roles. While AI will inevitably reshape job dynamics, soft skills like creative thinking, leadership, communication, and ethical decision-making are becoming increasingly crucial.

In the evolving landscape of AI-driven workplaces, soft skills are gaining prominence. The U.S. has witnessed the fastest-growing in-demand skills since November 2022, including flexibility, professional ethics, social perceptiveness, and self-management, according to LinkedIn’s report. Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index echoes this sentiment, highlighting analytical judgment, flexibility, and emotional intelligence as vital leadership attributes.

Colette Stallbaumer, General Manager for Microsoft 365 and “future of work,” emphasized that humans retain control even as AI automates tasks. Decisions about adopting or modifying AI-generated responses require human judgment, underscoring the significance of human agency in the AI era. Emotional intelligence, too, plays a pivotal role in discerning when to leverage AI capabilities versus human expertise, as pointed out by Microsoft.