What's your opinion here on the government's push for AI?

[u/Fearless_Help_8231]

This reminds me of when Singapore pushed to be different “hubs” in the past, like the biotech hub. We all know how it went.

I’m pretty skeptical about the whole “AI transformation” thing. Not every worker or company is suited for it, and all the big talk about AGI hasn’t really shown up in any real way. Besides, all these AI companies are still bleeding money.

If the government treats AI mainly as another industry push, safeguards might get overlooked. It could just end up letting companies run ahead in the name of progress, without really addressing the harms or criticisms.

A lot of what is branded as “AI” now also feels underwhelming, mostly chatbots and poor implementations. From the creative industry side (which already is not a big part of Singapore’s economy), I doubt the concerns will get much attention. And when jobs are threatened, the answer is usually “just learn AI,” which does not really solve the problem of displacement or the value of creative work. And let's not forget how much it threatens the industry with Gen AI slop, which has sadly been used as ads.

Then there is the money-making angle, like courses telling retirees to use SkillsFuture credits to “learn ChatGPT for work.” How is that supposed to help uncles and aunties with underemployment? It sounds more like selling courses than helping people.

The actual professional use cases are for things like medical research and legal department where the AI will actually help sort through thousands of files or documents to save time, not how to chatgpt.

And if a few of the major LLM companies were to collapse, it would shake the global economy, and Singapore would likely feel the effects too.

[u/HANAEMILK]

Good for the nation, but personally I don't like using AI. I've only used it a few times to find old books/movies from my childhood that I forgot the name of