People have more trust in robots than their managers, according to the second annual AI at Work study conducted by Oracle and Future Workplace.
The study covered 8,370 employees, managers and HR leaders across 10 countries, including 260 employees, managers and HR leaders in Singapore.
Findings show that AI has changed the relationship between people and technology at work and is reshaping the role human resource (HR) teams and managers need to play in attracting, retaining and developing talent.
Contrary to common fears around how AI will impact jobs, employees, managers and HR leaders across the globe are reporting increased adoption of AI at work and many are welcoming AI with love and optimism.
AI is becoming more prominent with 56% of workers in Singapore currently using some form of AI at work, higher than the global rate of 50%.
Among Singaporean respondents, 49% feel the main opportunity provided by AI would be to free up time for themselves at work.
Also, 40% of Singaporeans would trust AI on what work to do and what to learn but that number drops to 21% when it comes to matters such as hiring.
Further, the traditional role of HR teams and the manager is shifting, as 84% of Singaporeans would trust a robot more than their manager. This comes in second only to workers in India and China, where 90% and 88% of workers respectively are more trusting of robots over their managers.
When asked what robots can do better than their managers, respondents in Singapore said robots are better at providing unbiased information (47%), maintaining work schedules (42%), problem solving (34%) and is a resource for asking questions without scrutiny (30%).
When asked what managers can do better than robots, Singaporeans said the top three tasks were understanding their feelings (49%), coaching them (38%) and creating a work culture (36%).
