Salesforce's Global AI Readiness Index, revealing that Singapore ranks second globally in overall AI readiness, and the most AI-ready nation in APAC.
This underscores the nation's success in aligning strategy, fostering public-private collaboration, and investing in digital infrastructure to create a conducive environment for artificial intelligence (AI).
The Global AI Readiness Index assesses 16 key global markets, using 31 indicators across five critical dimensions: governance, diffusion, innovation, investment, and talent. This framework provides insights into how well-prepared countries are to leverage AI and digital labour for growth and efficiency.
Singapore excels in AI governance and adoption, ranking first in regulatory readiness and AI adoption, second in investment environments, and third in talent development.
This performance is supported by a robust regulatory foundation, advanced digital infrastructure, strong institutional coordination, and a skilled AI workforce backed by a national upskilling strategy.
But not everything is pitch perfect. The index identifies an opportunity for Singapore to enhance its innovation capacity, particularly in emerging subfields like agentic AI - a technology which can boost productivity by up to 30%, promises to be a game-changer.
Singapore's tight labour market, driven by slowing growth, an aging population, and declining birth rates, makes agentic AI particularly valuable. By tapping into the global digital labour market, estimated to be worth US$23.7 billion by 2034, Singaporean enterprises can unlock potentially limitless digital workforces, boosting productivity and long-term competitiveness.
Singapore is backing its commitment to innovation and productivity through substantial investments, including a S$3 billion (US$2.34 billion) allocation under the National Productivity Fund announced in Budget 2025, says Raju Chellam, chairman of cloud and data standards at Singapore’s IT Standards Committee.
“This funding supports workforce transformation and tech boost, with a strong emphasis on AI," he says.
"It complements earlier commitments such as the S$120 million AI for Science Initiative under the National AI Strategy 2.0 in 2023, and a S$120 million allocation under the NAIS 1.0 launched in 2019.” Raju Chellam
Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 highlights the country's commitment to becoming a world leader in AI and contributing to AI breakthroughs. The strategy lays out 15 courses of action over the next three to five years, focusing on areas such as advanced manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, education, and public services.
