Microsoft teams up with S'pore to apply AI at scale

Deals to raise Al literacy, SME workflow productivity among six new tie-ups

- Krist Boo

Tech giant Microsoft has announced six collaborations to ramp up the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) among local businesses and workers.

The company, a first mover in the global AI race, also made the first big-bang launch in 2024 to co-pilot Singapore's AI ambitions.

Microsoft signed two memorandums of understanding on March 6 with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and NTUC LearningHub.

The SSG agreement aims to help 2,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over three years to adopt AI and get more productive in workflows such as human resources, finance and sales, and marketing.

There are more than 280,000 SMEs in Singapore, comprising about 99 per cent of businesses here.

The signing with NTUC LearningHub is to raise the AI literacy of up to 100,000 members of the labour union.

Mr Ahmed Mazhari, Microsoft's president for Asia, said adoption of generative AI has outpaced every other technology he knows.

He was excited about its potential: "Think about all the hawker centres here. Think about those people who have wants and dos, and who work every single day. How can we make them productive? How can we make them more agile?"

The Government announced a $1 billion investment for AI funding over the next five years in the 2024 Budget, doubling down on Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 targets to triple the AI workforce to at least 15,000 and make all industries conversant with AI capabilities.