PM Lawrence Wong at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference (Oct 2026)

Moderator (Tan Su Shan, Chief Executive Officer of DBS Group): PM, thank you so much for making the time. We have over 800 people who are here in attendance – everyone in the business world, everyone with some business connection with Singapore, and everyone really excited to hear your views. So, we are excited to have you here in our inaugural Asia Future Forward Conference. Can we have a round of applause and appreciation for PM?

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong: Thank you very much for having me.

Moderator: You know, you forgot something, PM. I was joking with PM that he forgot his guitar. But it is ok. You know what we are going to do? We are going to unpack three things. We are going to talk about the world which has a lot going on. We are going to talk about the region because today is Asia Future Forward Conference. And then of course we are going to end up talking about Singapore – the little red dot that we are all sitting in today – and what does the future hold for Singapore. And then maybe I can be cheeky, insert a few personal questions if we have time. But let us start.

So PM, what a month it has been, right? I mean, the UN meeting last month, there was a Trump and Xi meeting, there was the Forbes [Global CEO] Conference you spoke at. You have met so many world business leaders, political leaders, CEOs in the past week. So, before we start, how are you reading the world that we are in right now?

PM: Well, thank you, Su Shan. And once again, it is very good to be here for your inaugural conference. I see many partners and friends. Afternoon to all of you, and a special welcome to all our overseas guests as well. I think we are living through a period of profound change in the world. There are major forces happening around us that will shape the course of history. When we are living through them, it may not feel like these are profound changes. But I am sure down the road, years later, when we look back, we will regard this as a defining moment.

One change is the shift that is taking place in the global order. For decades, this was a system underpinned and underwritten by American leadership. The system was not perfect, but it worked well by and large, and it created the conditions for countries everywhere to prosper.

Moderator: It was more predictable.

PM: Very much so. Now, America remains a preeminent global power, but power is more diffused, and America does not want to bear what it regards as a disproportionate share of the burden of global leadership. So, we are going through a messy transition, and the risk is that there will be a leadership vacuum, which means that there will be more situations where international rules are breached with impunity and little consequences, and there will be more situations where countries find it harder to tackle global challenges, be it climate change, AI safety, or even nuclear proliferation. So, all that makes for a more dangerous world.

The second shift is what you have been talking about, I think, throughout this conference, which is the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. We are in the midst of an extraordinary technological transformation, and it is unfolding at a speed and scale that few could have imagined even just a few years ago. And the technology is getting better and it is being adopted at a faster rate than previous technological revolution.

Moderator: But at a speed that humans almost cannot cope with, right?

PM: And we will have to grapple with new risks — risks that we may lose control of this technology, that rogue agents, rogue actors may cause terrible harm with it. At the same time, it is introducing new benefits, opportunities, but also new disruptions and anxieties.

Moderator: PM, do you have your own agent?

PM: I do.

Moderator: Wow, you have your own agent?

PM: Well, I mean, I play around with it. I use it for work.

Moderator: I do not mean a human agent, yeah.

PM: No, I know that. I know that. I mean, I have access–

Moderator: I am so impressed.

PM: I mean, we do it at work, we have access to AI systems. But even in my own personal computer, I have access to different AI models, and I try playing around with it and using it for my free time or for my personal time. So, I find it very productive, I find it useful. I am sure all of you do. But even that, we are scratching the surface of what is happening now because AI today is about learning from text and images. We are going to see physical AI, where it is multimodal, and you have AI and intelligence learning from scents, from touch, from smell. It will be incredible. But how do you grapple with all the new opportunities that come by, and as well as the new risks? I think that is something all of us will have to figure out.

So basically, with these two broad changes, there are pressures created for countries everywhere, including Singapore, and we feel it too. We are small and open. We cannot determine what other countries do. We certainly cannot insulate ourselves from developments happening elsewhere. But we are not without agency, and so we will have to take steps – and we are taking steps – to strengthen our resilience, to invest in new capabilities, and to work with like-minded partners to deepen cooperation, to uphold international rules, and keep the multilateral system functioning. And importantly, I think it is not just about the changes around us but how we respond to them. And I believe if we stay cohesive and united in Singapore and continue to have confidence in charting our own way forward, we can keep Singapore thriving, and we can keep our little red dot shining brightly for many more years to come.

Moderator: Well, spoken like a true statesman, and I love it. I often tell people, PM, when I first took over as CEO of DBS, Liberation Day happened.

PM: Yes. Shortly after I became Prime Minister too.

Moderator: Oh, you too, right? I remember. And I was in New York then, and the world was falling apart. Markets collapsed, and everyone said, "I do not know what is going on.” I went back to my hotel room, and I saw an ad on the TV, and it said, "We are open for business. We are rules-based. We are predictable. We are safe. We are trusted. We are Singapore”. And it was an ad from the EDB, which is the Economic Development Board of Singapore, and I was like, “Ah, hooray!” I love it. I love it that the little red dot we all call home was open, rules-based, safe, predictable, and almost kind of boring? But in this huge time of volatility, boring is not bad, right?

PM: We are boring, but we are stable, we are secure, and we are trusted and reliable. I think these are good attributes to have.

Moderator: Yeah.

PM: Long may that continue.

Moderator: So I am going to stay boring, guys. But for all there are so many CEOs and business leaders in the room, it has really been tough for us all, right? And it has been tough for politicians and prime ministers like you too. But what is your advice? Because we have to make long-term investment decisions, whereas the short-term things are changing so fast, right? And because of your bird's eye view of the world, and we are trying to be both ambidextrous — short-term, long-term, short-term, long-term, and sometimes we get a bit schizophrenic in our decisioning. Any advice on what should be the thinking be as we decide where to invest and how do we navigate these geopolitical crises?

PM: The key relationship is US-China. The two leaders have met twice already, and they are meeting two more times this year in APEC and G20. And I think it is good that both sides clearly want to coexist. They want to avoid outright confrontation and conflict, and even a decoupling of their economies. Both talk about building a constructive relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness, and reciprocity. Those are the key words, huh? 

Moderator: Reciprocity?

PM: No, no, the whole phrase — “Constructive relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness, and reciprocity.” Not my phrase. It is their phrase, and both sides are taking it seriously. So, on that basis, they are talking, they are negotiating and working through their differences. Of course, some things will be resolved faster, others will take more time to work out.

But meanwhile, as you say, we cannot afford to wait. We have to move forward, and companies’ CEOs have to decide in a period of uncertainty. In our part of the world, I think the direction is quite clear. We want to invest for the future, we want to embrace new technologies like AI, and we want to strengthen our connections with one another. And you can already see some differentiation amongst Asian economies. Some are moving more decisively, and they are harnessing AI well, and they are benefiting from the changes. Others are moving more slowly and not benefiting as much. And over time, I think these differences will matter.

For Singapore, our decision is clear. We want to embrace and harness AI fully; we want to stay competitive. We know that competition will get tougher. We cannot compete on cost alone, and so we have to compete based on our strengths and the value we bring to the table. And so, we are doing that not just project by project but building entire ecosystems where we bring together global and Singapore companies, MNCs and local suppliers, research capabilities as well as a skilled workforce. 

And when these different pieces come together, they reinforce one another, and I think it makes for a more compelling value proposition. But the ecosystems can also become more competitive when we connect it with the wider region, and that is why we are working on the Johor-Singapore SEZ (Special Economic Zone). That is why we are developing links with the Riau islands in Indonesia, and beyond our neighbourhood, we want to strengthen links with other countries in Southeast Asia too, including Vietnam, Thailand, and others. So that is our proposition in Singapore – to build strong ecosystems here but connected to the opportunities in the region.

Moderator: So, Singapore playing the role as a connector, so crucial because the entire ecosystem, everyone is good at different things, right? You got North Asia…

PM: Absolutely.

Moderator: …with the memory and semiconductor ecosystem. South Asia, Southeast Asia with the natural minerals ecosystem. Singapore with the semiconductor, packaging and upstream. And I shared it is maybe not so well known but everyone knows more of it now —  that Singapore is 10% of the world’s semiconductor production and 20% of the packaging and testing, which is quite incredible for a small country like us. And so, being connected is important. Being a connector is important. But does it not feel like the world is weaponising everything from trade…

PM: It does feel like that sometimes.

Moderator: …to payments, to chips, to currencies? How do we work through this weaponisation threat? Do we have to plan for different supply chains? Do we have to plan for different crises? Because for us, it means having to spend more on things like inventory finance, on having a backup plan, on planning for unknown situations that might come.

PM: We do have to spend more on resilience. I think companies already recognise this. You cannot operate on the basis of just-in-time and efficiency all the time. You have to have resilience, and that costs something, and you have to factor that in into the cost of doing business these days. I think we just have to recognise that in a world where increasingly power determines outcomes, there will be countries that will try to use all sorts of leverage to get what they want. That is the reality. And smaller countries like Singapore will indeed be more vulnerable. How do we respond to these trends? One, we should continue to maintain good relations with all the major powers. Because when it comes to powerful friends, having more is always better than fewer.

Moderator: Having more friends?

PM: More powerful friends.

Moderator: More powerful friends.

PM: But at the same time, we do not want to depend on others all the time. So we also need to be able to hold our own and have the capability to secure our own interests. And that is why it is important for us. We have consistently invested heavily in defence and deterrence, so that we can protect ourselves and we can prevent others from pushing us around easily. And at the same time, we need to build our own credibility and economic relevance and offer something of value to others.

Then they will have good reasons to come to talk to us, to listen to our views, and take our interests seriously. So that is how we navigate this troubled world: we make friends, we stay relevant, and have something valuable to offer to others, and we build up capabilities to protect ourselves and stand on our own two feet. It does not mean that others will not try to squeeze us. They may try but then they will find that Singapore is like a durian.

Moderator: Oh… Are we prickly?

PM: You can squeeze, but you will feel the pain too.

Moderator: Oh, wow! Well, all the durian lovers in the room, we are all very happy to hear that. But what you said, I think, resonated with a lot of us, right? We have friends, we create relationships, we plan for rainy days, we diversify risks, but we also want to make sure we do not get squeezed. At least certainly not get squeezed too hard. And wow, so you also – I think you just came back – three weeks ago, you signed a call for international oversight of frontier AI development. It was interesting to me to see all the big frontier models, leaders, all saying, "Slow down. Stop it. It is going too fast.” At a time where they are all IPO-ing, and that caused a lot of turbulence in the world, and in the global markets. I think Washington, Beijing did not sign that. What do you think?

PM: I think it reflects how fast AI is developing. And a growing recognition that while we embrace the breakthroughs – and I am sure there will be tremendous benefits for humanity – there is increasingly a concern of loss of control of these powerful systems; of rogue actors, rogue agents using these capabilities and potentially causing terrible things for the world, and there could be potentially catastrophic harm. So, we should continue to build on what is happening now to develop AI safety. Ideally, it should be international rules and standards. And you can see it across many industries – international aviation, finance, civilian nuclear power. They all operate on some basis of an international global framework.

Can this happen with AI? Possibly, in theory yes. Realistically, in the near term, not likely to happen, to be realistic about this. But we have to start somewhere, and I think it is good that the US government has made this first move, and the AI frontier labs themselves recognise the need for some regulatory oversight, even though they do not all agree on what form it should take. But even if it is voluntary at first, I think it is a good start, and we can progressively build on these voluntary requirements. For example, you could have an international governing board that is independent, not selected by the AI labs themselves but independently appointed.

Moderator: So, an independent watchdog of sort.

PM: For example, you could have an audit process that is independent. And you can progressively strengthen these requirements. And I think if investors, customers, and the marketplace also recognise these standards, then it will give even more incentive for the frontier labs to participate. So, we should keep working at this. There is no easy answer, but I think we should just keep taking practical steps forward to ensure that AI frontier development is safe, without stifling innovation. The AI folks talk about P(doom). I do not know if you have heard that word – P(doom) – the probability of doom. The probability of disastrous outcomes happening for humanity. So we have to work together to keep P(doom) as low as possible.

Moderator: Yes, I think that is something we discuss a lot today, the dystopian versus the utopian view, and how we in Asia should work together. As exactly as you said, right, to create guardrails early on before it becomes too late. And also to create more hope and optimism amongst our youth especially, who feel this dissonance. Globally, you see it, this trend of youths feeling very disenfranchised.

PM: I think we do these surveys of young people. Yes, we sense some of that reaction against AI, but by and large, I think we are a people in Singapore who are optimistic about using technology. Because through every technological cycle over the years, we have been able to harness the benefits, and we have seen how technology can benefit businesses, workers, and uplift our lives. And I am confident it will happen again with AI. 

Moderator: Great. So now let us shift to energy because some of us in the room might know this, but when the price of oil went up, actually we had some refining capacity, and this maybe comes from long-term planning around energy security perhaps. How are we thinking about energy? How are we thinking about building an energy hub? Are we continuing to have these capabilities? 

Because energy was talked about a lot as a potential choke point or blockage or bottleneck for the world, right? We all want to have data centres and they cannot find enough energy. But yet the paradox of energy is there is plenty of renewable power, it is just not maybe connected by grids. Some countries have national grids, some countries do not, some regions do not. What is your view there and particularly how does that tie into Singapore’s?

PM: We had the foresight decades ago to make Singapore an energy hub, even though we have no oil and gas resources. But we are a hub for energy flows around the world. We have refining capacity, and we saw the benefits of that during the recent Middle East crisis, where we could still tap on energy supplies from around the world, from other parts of the world, and continue to supply oil and gas for ourselves, but also for countries in the region. So, I think our role as an energy hub continues to be relevant and important, and it will provide for the energy needs as we scale up AI in Singapore, because AI is power-intensive and needs a lot of energy. We can deal with those demands. Our challenge is how to do that while reducing carbon emissions.

Moderator: Yes.

PM: So it is not an energy challenge per se. It is a green energy challenge, and that is a challenge for Singapore. But it is also a challenge for the world and for our region, where many Southeast Asian countries are also building data centres. They are also scaling up the deployment of AI. They will certainly need more power, and ideally in these countries they should be using green power rather than fossil fuel power. Many regional countries do have the ability to develop more green power projects. Unfortunately, many of the projects today are still not bankable and therefore not taking off.

So, we are looking at different ways we can assist. We have put in place a new blended finance platform called FAST-P with some concessionary capital to reduce the hurdle rate and to make the projects hopefully more bankable. And of course, we will continue discussing with our neighbours to accelerate the implementation of the ASEAN Power Grid as well. So, these are all ways in which we hope can unlock more green projects in Southeast Asia.

Moderator: So we are all sorts of battening down the hatches and preparing for a long, protracted war in the Middle East – potentially Russia-Ukraine – which does not bode well for energy prices. You earlier said in a different conference that as you prepare for a long war, also, it is how do you keep, with the Straits of Hormuz as a choke point, and we need to make sure the Straits of Malacca is kept open and other key straits. What is your take on this, and what is your take on the movement of energy so that most of us who operate in this part of the world will still have our supplies?

PM: I think we have found from this crisis that the global economy and the global energy market is surprisingly adaptive and resilient. It has proven to be more resilient than many people had worried initially. There was an initial fear that there would be a global crunch because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But companies and countries have been able to adapt, and we have been able to adapt. So yes, we are anticipating a more prolonged conflict. I think energy prices will stay higher for longer but I do think we should be able to still get access to energy supplies, and we should be able to find our way forward. And certainly, in Southeast Asia, we will continue to look at ways in which we can strengthen our cooperation in terms of energy security.

Moderator: Yes. And that is hence the ASEAN grid. But whilst we all know about the ASEAN grid, not many people know about DEFA (Digital Economy Framework Agreement) in the room. So this is a digital agreement that I hope that ASEAN will be signing this – right, in November – very soon, and it will be the first region-wide digital economy agreement called DEFA, and it is a set of rules for data, for payments, for digital trade, for AI across 11 ASEAN countries. Tell us more about that and the impact for all of our businesses when DEFA gets implemented.

PM: The Digital Economy Framework Agreement for ASEAN is really an attempt to make ASEAN’s digital economy work better. I think many businesses operating in the region know that it is fragmented now; that you have different rules, systems, different requirements across ASEAN countries.

Moderator: We had to keep data separate; we would have to put data in different countries.

PM: Very much so, and so it can be very frustrating. Hopefully, with DEFA, we can reduce the barriers, facilitate more data flows, and allow more cross-border digital trade. But DEFA is only the first step. It is not a magic switch that will somehow overnight transform everything in ASEAN. It is a first but important step, and there is still a lot of work to be done to translate the agreement into practical benefits for companies. Which means enabling companies to be able to engage your customers across the region more seamlessly, to have cross-border payments with less friction, hopefully at lower cost, and to be able to scale your business more seamlessly across ASEAN. That is our ultimate goal. And next year, when Singapore takes on the chair of ASEAN, we will look at how we can give some priority to some of these initiatives.

Moderator: So, it is interesting. We talked about Liberation Day, and trade outside the US on 2 April last year was 89%. So that means trade without the US is 89%. Today, a year later, a year and a half later, it is 92%. That means there is a heck a lot of trade happening outside the US. But intra-regional trade within ASEAN and certainly between North and South Asia has picked up a pace. Now, as chair of ASEAN next year, do you expect to see ASEAN trade more with other blocs like LatAm (Latin America) or Africa? Where are you most positive on in terms of growth potential for trade?

PM: Well, the businesses will drive the developments of these trends because businesses will know where the biggest opportunities are. I think number one, intra-Asian trade continues to grow. We see a lot of positive developments there as within Asia itself, we continue to see tighter and denser supply chain networks being developed. ASEAN's trade with other major partners – be it China, America, Europe, or other regions – continues to be very positive. These are established partners. We continue to see very strong growth in all of these areas, but increasingly we also hope to see more growth in newer regions like Latin America, Middle East, and even Africa. So these are, I think, new opportunities we hope to seize as well.

Moderator: So, the Global South, and so we need to sort of venture further afield to find these new opportunities.

PM: Less familiar areas for our businesses. But I think there are opportunities there. They are certainly very interested to connect with Singapore and Southeast Asia, and we should learn how to do business in these regions as well.

Moderator: Yeah. So, we agree with that view, and we compare though, in terms of trade flows I think, we will certainly see that. But capital flows, right? So, the US is still more than about half of the global market capitalisation. If you take the top 10 equity markets — the US is 81 trillion. You put all of Asia together, we still cannot beat the US. But the good news is 60% of the top few markets in the world are in Asia. But it is still collectively a fraction of the US, right?

And maybe part of it is we all have our own disperse currencies, different currencies, different monetary policies. A lot of the currencies in Asia are non-deliverable forward, so they are not very liquid. And so, in spite of the fact that we are the same collectively – it is the same GDP – the capital markets we are a fraction. So, what does Asia need to do better to get our capital markets to be more liquid, to have more confidence and more interconnectedness?

PM: This is not an issue of capital markets. People always talk about capital markets, but this is really an issue of if you are a startup anywhere in the world — where do you go to scale, get funding, get the networks, access the best networks, and succeed as a digital company? Which place do you go to? And the answer is simple. It is America — where you can break things very quickly, you can innovate very quickly, and you can scale tremendously, and get rich very quickly too. Every entrepreneur in the world knows that, and that is why they have the largest capital market in the world.

Moderator: But even every investor knows that, right?

PM: Exactly.

Moderator: And even the ETFs, right, are all US-dominated.

PM: So, it is a chicken-and-egg thing. It is not about the capital markets. The ingredients for entrepreneurship, for innovation, are all there. Everyone, every country, wants to have a Silicon Valley. It is not so easy to replicate a Silicon Valley. Which one has succeeded? No one in the world. In Europe? No. Which other part of the world? But in America, all the ingredients are there for you to innovate, experiment, and then eventually scale and succeed very rapidly. And that is why they continue to attract investments, and that is why their capital markets are successful.

So, we have to recognise that. It does not mean, of course, that we should not do anything about our own capital markets. We are taking action. We have made some moves. I am glad there has been some positive results but we will see. We will keep trying. But in the end, it is not just capital markets alone. It is an entire ecosystem which we have to build. And in Southeast Asia, our challenge again is to try and encourage more entrepreneurs, more innovation, bring ASEAN together as a single market. We really have to harness the benefits of a single market, which we do not have today.

The Europeans do not have a single market. If you are operating in France, in Germany, in the UK, in any other European country — to scale, it is not so easy. You do not have the benefits of a continental-sized single market like in America. We are like Europe, but in fact even further behind because the complexity of operating in Southeast Asia is far greater than in Europe. So, we have to recognise these are the challenges of Southeast Asia.

But at the same time, for every challenge, there is an opportunity for us to integrate our economies even more closely together, as we talked about earlier with regards to the digital economy, and find ways to make ASEAN more integrated. Then, with all these ingredients – with innovation, entrepreneurship, with a single market – hopefully we can see more successes and a larger and more successful capital market in Southeast Asia too.

Moderator: Well, Singapore did very well with the equity development, EQDP (Equity Market Development Programme) development plan.

PM: One intervention.

Moderator: Yes, one intervention. Now we are working hard to get growth capital VC (venture capital) going more upstream. I am optimistic for Singapore, PM, but I wanted you to share your views on how can these challenges, to your words, be an opportunity for businesses to use Singapore as a hub. Because I think we are well placed to connect North and South Asia. We are well placed to be a financial hub.

I am obviously speaking my own book here, but I do believe that we have the ingredients and the tailwinds from a capital markets perspective, from a connectivity perspective, and from an ability to navigate the different markets that is Asia. So maybe you can share with the business people here, how can Singapore be a node for connectivity for them within the Asian context, including the capital markets, please.

PM: Our key value proposition, as I said just now, is to be stable, secure, and trusted.

Moderator: Yes.

PM: And to be a place where companies have confidence to operate and have access to capabilities they need to succeed. And I think we can excel in areas of high value industries and services. So that is our key value proposition. We already have very strong ecosystems here. Increasingly, we are hoping not only to bring and attract investments here, but to, over time, also build more companies out of Singapore.

And again, there we are seeing improvements. Compared to say 20 years ago, the startup ecosystem in Singapore is much more dynamic, and you have startups by Singaporeans, but also by foreign professionals. They may have started their ideas from elsewhere but they want to scale in Asia. Or they want to scale and deploy solutions in a place that is trusted, where intellectual property is protected, where there is rule of law and where they can be assured of investments not just for one, two years, but over the longer term – 10, 20, 30 years.

So, we are seeing a lot of that coming into Singapore, and we welcome them to make Singapore their base from which to grow their companies. So, to your point, Su Shan, I think with all these ingredients coming together, I am confident. When we look at the conversations we are having, our investment pipeline remains healthy and continues to grow. We are seeing startups coming to Singapore, homegrown as well as from overseas, and we are trying to bring all of that together, so that it makes for a more dynamic and vibrant ecosystem.

Moderator: Well, what about the Sing dollar, PM? We have been a safe haven, and that speaks to the stronger Sing dollar, speaks to the Sing dollar rates being a lot lower than the US, and it speaks to the money flows to our country. But yet also businesses do say we are not the cheapest market, as you know. We are certainly not the cheapest by any stretch of our imagination.

PM: You are surely not suggesting that we depress our exchange rate in order to be more competitive.

Moderator: Certainly not, and in fact, it is making us sharper, right? It is putting pressure on us to keep optimising and optimising, because otherwise we will lose on the exchange. But as people think about Singapore as a node, how should we think about the Sing dollar, and how do we also navigate the rising costs here? Do we just say, ok, this is a hub for the higher-end stuff, this is a hub for our IP, this is a hub for stuff that cannot be replaced by robots or lower-cost places. Is that what we think? How do we position Singapore?

PM: The MAS will exercise monetary policy independently. The Singapore dollar will reflect our economic fundamentals, and if the economy does well, then we can continue to expect a strong, stable Sing dollar that is anchored on fundamentals and will also help keep imported inflation down.

Moderator: Yes, indeed. 

PM: That is an important part of it, which is helping to reduce inflationary pressures in Singapore. But the Sing dollar is what it is, based on the fundamentals. Then companies that seek to export will have to factor that in into the cost of doing business, together with the other costs that they experience in Singapore. As we all know, we are certainly not the cheapest location in Southeast Asia. But at the same time, we also know that companies are not looking for the cheapest locations. They are looking for capabilities. They are looking for stability. They are looking for predictability. There are a whole range of other factors that matter when we talk about overall competitiveness, and we have to, again, play to our strengths and compete on the basis of the value we bring to the table. 

Moderator: Yes. So, here is the paradox, right? We all talk about AI keeping us keen, making us smarter, knowledge now ubiquitous. But do you think, is AI making people faster? When everything is done now in seconds? In the past, you had to go to a library to do research and come up with a paper. Today, you do not even have to move and it all comes to you in seconds, right? But the less we have time to think, the less time we use our muscle. It is like our body, right? We still go to the gym to exercise and to get the muscles going. Is AI going to make us all a little bit slower in our thinking? What about cognition? The human cognition powers. Are we going to slow down? 

PM: It is a paradox and it is a challenge. When we speak to employers, they all say they want workers who are AI-literate, but I think AI skills is not so difficult to train. You know, learning how to use an AI tool — not so difficult to train. At the end of the day, all employers still want people who are capable and competent, people who can think on their own feet, who have their own critical thinking and exercise good judgment. And so that means, at the education system, in terms of education–

Moderator: Which is where I was going to go.

PM: We should not get carried away with some of these fads. We should continue to focus on the fundamentals. Make sure that students learn the basics well and master the fundamentals. At some point in their–

Moderator: So, understand the fundamentals of math, algebra.

PM: For sure. And we are not doing badly in Singapore. If you look at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores, our students do very well by international standards. And so we should continue to maintain that. At some point, as the students progress, they will learn about AI, they will learn how to use AI tools.

But we want to be careful that they do not over rely on AI, and they do not turn to AI as a shortcut for learning – to the concerns that Su Shan you had highlighted. But I think our education system will know how to deal with this because it is not new – it is not a new challenge. After all, we all had calculators before, and even with the use of calculators, we had to learn how to do the math by pen and paper, and then we had to do exams without calculators.

Moderator: They banned the HP calculator.

PM: So this is not new for the education system. Yes, AI is far more powerful than a simple calculator, but the principle is the same. I think the bigger adjustment will have to be made at the workplace.

Moderator: Yes.

PM: Because across professions, employers typically hire new people, and the new people most often do routine work. Routine work that is often sometimes mundane, but in fact, there is a lot of tacit learning that comes from it, and we have all gone through that experience. When I started out as a young officer, I did a lot of–

Moderator: Research.

PM: Not just research, research is pretty good. Minutes of meeting–

Moderator: Note-taking.

PM: Note-taking, drafting speeches, preparing PowerPoint slides for your bosses.

Moderator: Gosh, does that bring back memories?

PM: These are all things that you get young officers to do. They may complain sometimes but I think there is some value in that process of interacting and learning. And AI will replace all of that routine work but we should be careful not to automate away the learning that comes from it.

Moderator: So true.

PM: So, employers will need to be more deliberate in thinking about training and mentoring of their young officers. And that is something we are studying in Singapore, sector by sector. What it means for doctors and medical training, what it means for lawyers, for bankers, for engineers — every sector, every profession will be different. But we are concerned that there may be that bottom rung of the career ladder that is broken, and young people may not get sufficient training, and we want companies to pay attention to this. So, we are looking at whether there is a need for new programmes, new schemes. We are working with our tripartite partners on this. Because we want employers to harness AI fully to get the productivity benefits, but we also want to make sure that employers pay attention to training and continue to nurture the next generation of industry leaders.

Moderator: So, PM, how well said. Because at DBS, for example, with the corporate bank, something that takes up a lot of time is writing the credit memo. It can take weeks because you have got to do the number crunching, industry reports, compare, look forward, do all your financial spreading, etc. Today we have an agent – many agents – that can do that work. But if the agents do the work, then how do our young analysts–

PM: Yes, exactly.

Moderator: –think and learn? So the head of the business has thrown in some cognitive breaks. What do you think? Should we be thinking about this for the industry? What do you think —  so kind of throw in some sand, if you will, in the process to enable thinking?

PM: DBS is an enlightened employer, so you are taking deliberate steps to make sure that there is not that cognitive offloading–

Moderator: Decline – there is no cognitive decline, yes.

PM: –and decline that happens. But we want to make sure this is true across all of our industries, and every employer does this in a more deliberate fashion.

Moderator: Yes. So, I am sorry to talk so much about AI but everyone in the room, because we are future forward, wants to know your thoughts there. And you have once said, or more than once said, that Singapore will embrace technology on our own terms. What are those terms, and what are the things that we will not give up, and what are the things that you will say no to?

PM: We are quite clear that we want AI to benefit all Singaporeans. Technology should benefit all Singaporeans. So, what are our non-negotiables? Number one, safety and security. 

Moderator: Of course, safety and security non-negotiable.

PM: We will never compromise safety. We will never compromise critical systems and sensitive information. Number two, human responsibility. We have to be very deliberate about where is a human in the loop, and there is human accountability, responsibility, and the humans ultimately have to make the critical decisions. And thirdly, broad-based benefits. We want AI and technology to benefit all businesses, to benefit our workers, and to uplift the lives of all Singaporeans. So that is something we will continue to pursue. We are not doing technology at all costs.

Moderator: Yes.

PM: We want technology to translate into better lives for Singaporeans. So, we are not trying to be an AI-driven society. We are trying to be a better society enabled by AI.

Moderator: So, are we a great test place or test bed? Because I see a lot of tech business leaders in the room as well, or people who use technology. Because there is, for want of a better word, Western and Asian stack, right, or Western and Eastern stack. And in Singapore, I like to say we have both Waymo and Pony.ai , right? So we have got kind of we are small enough to be nimble to be able to test both. Is that our USP (Unique Selling Point)? Are we going to be that safe place given the rules and the transparency and the governance that we have? Are we a great place for businesses in the room to test both sides? Maybe the open router of choice?

PM: We want to be that. We do not want to be a closed digital system. We want to stay open, have the choice to plug into different systems around the world and different partners around the world. That is Singapore's value proposition. And when we start to strengthen the regional framework, the digital framework for ASEAN, I think that will be the same approach that ASEAN takes. Not to develop a closed system, not to just have an exclusive digital system with one country, but to keep an open system that allows us to connect with many different players. So that is important for Singapore. It is also important for Southeast Asia.

Moderator: So, PM, I was at the May Day Rally this year. For those of you who do not know, the May Day Rally is Labour Day, and the Prime Minister makes a speech. We go there with our unions, and PM made an impassioned speech around: “We are not here to save jobs, we are here to save workers”. And you also had an emotional moment about what it meant to be Singapore and calling this home, and many people teared up in that hall of like thousands of workers.

It is not easy though. We are taking the harder road, right? Because it is easier to just say, “I will fire thousands of workers and just replace them with AI.” But we are taking the harder road. We are saying, “No, no, no. We are going to reskill and upskill every worker so nobody gets left behind, and we are going to do this together”, right? It is really– it is not easy, PM, as you know.

So, what gives, right? Are we going to be a bit slower because we do not want to leave anyone behind, or are we going to bite the bullet on some things and say, “Ok, this job is going to go and we are just going to have to fast track this”? What gives?

PM: It is the harder road but I believe it is also the more sustainable road. The easier routes that you talked about may give you short-term success but I think it is not sustainable in the longer term. Because people will get disenfranchised, there will be more dislocations, and at some point, there will be an even stronger backlash to AI and technology, as we are seeing in some parts of the world, even right now.

Moderator: We are seeing it already.

PM: So, I believe what we are doing in Singapore – yes, it may be harder in the near term, but it is absolutely essential for us to maintain that strong compact that we have between companies, unions, and workers, and the Government. And we are not saying zero retrenchments. Not at all. We are recognising that from time to time, if a company has to automate and embrace technology, some retrenchments may happen.

But do it properly. Be fair to the workers, give the workers advance notification, so that then the unions can come in and they can help the workers retrain and get new jobs. And the government is also coming alongside with more support programmes. And I think if we all work in a concerted effort together, we can manage the transition and the impact of this very major technological shift.

Moderator: So, you are saying, face the issues up front. Let us not sugarcoat it. These jobs are going to go but these people who will be displaced — we will train them and will make them future-ready. It will take time. It will take effort, and it is not easy. But the social compact underlying this, the whole culture of making sure Singapore succeeds in the long term and creates sustainable, relevant labour remains.

PM: Yes, and I think this is what the world will have to grapple with the impact of AI as well. If AI accelerates at such a pace that it causes massive global unemployment, I do not think the world can continue like that. It will not be acceptable to many people around the world, and there will be a very strong backlash. But if globally we take some time to adapt to the deployment of AI, and the transitions happen over a period of time. Not 30 years. It took 30 years for factories to convert from steam engines to electricity. I do not think it will take 30 years for AI to be deployed at scale across the economy. But if it happens over a period of 10+ years, there will be time for everyone to adjust, for us to manage the workers who are impacted, retrain them, reskill them, identify where the new job opportunities are, and match them to these opportunities. So that is what we are doing in Singapore, and hopefully that is what over time the global economy will be able to do for the rest of the world as well.

Moderator: Fantastic! So, a more utopian view of how Singapore will adapt to AI. So, I have got a minute left, and I promised you to ask this personal question. So, I will. It is a fun ending question. You spoke recently about a birthday gift from your late father, which was a guitar, right? And how that guitar became your lifelong companion, how it helped you in university, click with your friends, etc. If I had to ask you, is there a song that means a lot to you and one that you go back to all the time or time and time again? What is it and why?

PM I do not have a go-to song.

Moderator: You do not?

PM: I do not have a go-to song. If you look at my Spotify playlist, it changes from year to year because I listen to a range of music, I especially like rock, blues, or jazz, but I listen to all types. I also enjoy playing the guitar.

Moderator: He is very good by the way.

PM: Just for recreation, it helps me to destress. It helps me to unwind. These days, music technology, by the way, is amazing.

Moderator: AI music?

PM: Music technology is amazing. You can literally create a backing track of any song you like, very easily, in a matter of minutes and I can play the guitar to it. But I am still the one…

Moderator: Have you done the whole sort of loop and create the drums and all that and make your own? 

PM: You can easily do a drum track. You can do a bass track. You can put it all into a looper and you can try creating your own band.

Moderator: Should we try? One day we should get him to let us listen to that song, huh?

PM: But the thing is, I am still the one playing the guitar, and when I listen to the music, I want to listen to music played by humans, not machines. And perhaps this is the best way to end this conversation: that even in an age of AI, the human spirit will always endure.

Moderator: Hooray! You gave us a lot of optimism to think about. The human shall prevail. And that speaks to DBS wanting to be an AI-enabled bank with a heart, because the human must prevail, and we must put the human in the centre of everything we do. So with that, please can you give a round of applause again to our Prime Minister.

PM: Thank you. Thank you, Su Shan. Good talking to you.