AI-Resilient Jobs Still Mean Using AI, Say Singapore Workers
Source: The Straits Times
Singapore workers in sectors considered AI-resilient — healthcare, skilled trades, and social services — are still embracing artificial intelligence to complement their work, even as they remain confident their core roles cannot be automated. A new Straits Times report finds that employees in these fields use AI for administrative tasks, translation, and planning while relying on uniquely human skills like empathy, judgement, and physical interaction that machines cannot replicate.
Workers in sectors long considered resistant to automation are quietly adopting artificial intelligence as a complement to their core roles, even as they remain confident their jobs cannot be fully replaced. A Straits Times report published July 12 profiles healthcare assistants, plumbers, and waterproofing specialists who have integrated AI tools into their daily workflows while insisting that the human elements of their work — empathy, physical touch, and on-site judgement — remain irreplaceable.
Healthcare assistant Radiana Ahmad, 49, who works with elderly patients through Lions Befrienders, initially felt pressure to keep up with AI amid Singapore's nationwide push for adoption. At her daughter's encouragement, she began using ChatGPT three months ago and now relies on it to translate for seniors who speak different languages. Her employer also ran a workshop on Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant. 'As long as we use AI to help us and not replace us, we'll be okay,' she told ST.
Licensed plumber Geraldine Goh, who started her own business Agraffe in 2017, has been using AI for administrative tasks like preparing quotations for two years. The 32-year-old believes skilled trades remain resilient because they require experience, expertise, and physical work that AI cannot perform on-site. Her apprentice Yeo Kai Xun, 23, noted that while AI helps with planning and marketing, the core plumbing work still needs a human. Edwin Wong, director of waterproofing company Atlas Works, described his trade as detective work where every building presents a unique problem requiring practical experience and careful investigation.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong had said in May that domestic-facing and essential sectors such as healthcare, early childhood education, social services, and skilled trades will continue to provide important employment opportunities because they rely on judgement, empathy, trust, and human interaction. He added that Singapore must make these jobs better through productivity improvements, stronger skills recognition, and clearer career and wage progressions — an approach that assumes AI augmentation rather than replacement.
Why it matters for Singapore: The findings challenge the binary narrative that AI either threatens or leaves jobs untouched. As Singapore pushes forward with its National AI Strategy and nationwide AI adoption targets, the real picture is more nuanced — workers in even the most resilient sectors are already adapting, and the government's role is shifting from protecting jobs from AI to ensuring workers can use AI effectively. The ST report suggests that Singapore's workforce strategy must account for this middle ground where human skills and AI tools coexist, rather than focusing solely on reskilling those in directly automatable roles.