About four in every five (82%) Singapore enterprises have already rolled back or shut down an AI customer communications agent after deployment, according to a report from Sinch.
This represents a roll-back rate of 8% above the global average, and is notable as Singapore also recorded the highest AI deployment rate in APAC at 72%.
The report is based on a study conducted between January and February 2026 by Sinch in collaboration with an independent research institute. A total of 2,527 senior decision makers participated across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Germany, France, India, Singapore, Mexico and Canada.
The Singapore sample comprised 152 respondents. Respondents represented large enterprises, with 68% from organisations with 1,000 to 4,999 employees and 32% from organisations with more than 5,000 employees. Participants were senior roles including C-suite executives, VP level executives and directors or managers.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, 67% of enterprises already have AI agents in production, a deployment rate that sits 5% above the global average. Yet 83% of APAC enterprises have experienced an AI agent failure, 9% above the global average.
AI failures can lead to tangible operational consequences, with 45% of enterprises in APAC citing support team overload as the number one consequence of AI failure, and 44% of enterprises in Singapore reflecting the same sentiment.
Given that one in three APAC enterprises sends more than 100 million messages per month, a small AI failure can easily scale rapidly into a significant operational crisis, potentially impacting customer satisfaction, brand trust, and overall profitability.
Nonetheless, AI continues to be a priority for Singapore enterprises, with 40% planning to increase their investment by more than 25% compared to the previous year.
While the number of enterprises exploring increased levels of investment is the lowest globally, sitting well behind regional leaders India (71%) and Australia (67%), it is notable that 75% of Singapore enterprises are prioritising investment into trust, security and compliance.
This mirrors a broader regional pattern where APAC enterprises are consistently ranking context as AI’s biggest advantage (44%, versus 37% globally), while cost reduction ranks last at just 3%.
In Singapore, 82% have rolled back or shut down a deployed AI agent (8% above the global average).
Also, 72% of local enterprises have AI agents in production – highest in APAC — while 27% guardrail maturity rate – lowest in APAC and 8% below the global average
Further, 75% are prioritising investment into trust, security and compliance and 40% are planning to increase their investment by more than 25% compared to the previous year – lowest in APAC and globally.
In addition, 44% cite support team overload as the No. 1 consequence of AI failure (9% above the global average), and 44% say context is AI’s biggest advantage (vs. 37% globally); cost reduction ranks last at 3%.
“Our findings reveal that while Singapore is a market that is leading the region on deployment, local business leaders are also approaching AI very deliberately,” said Wendy Johnstone, Sinch EVP in APAC.
“They are purposefully channelling resources toward reliability rather than rapid expansion, aligning with sustained government-led efforts to promote reliable and responsible AI deployment,” she said. “This suggests that enterprises here aren’t investing less because they lack ambition, they’re investing selectively because they understand the stakes. The real risk across APAC isn’t moving slowly, it’s scaling on infrastructure that can’t keep up.”
Despite the elevated focus on trust, security and compliance, the findings also indicate that a significant governance gap still exists among Singapore enterprises.
Only 27% of Singapore enterprises report fully mature guardrails, the lowest in APAC and well below the global average of 35%.
Among Singapore firms, 82% rate high-performance infrastructure as essential or very important. At the same time, only 7% say their current communications provider is fully meeting their needs, one of the lowest satisfaction figures of any market surveyed.
This challenge isn’t unique to Singapore. Despite 88% of APAC organizations rating high-performing infrastructure as essential or very important, 93% currently identify at least one shortcoming in their current provider. In Singapore, this has led to 91% of enterprises evaluating their communications providers, above the global average of 86%.
Having a reliable communications partner is key as more than half of global enterprises are building custom infrastructure to manage cross channel complexity, with Singapore enterprises planning AI deployment across an average of 3.1 channels.
“When less than a tenth of Singapore enterprises say their communications provider is fully meeting their needs, the issue isn’t with the technology, but with the digital infrastructure that these AI tools and solutions run on,” said Johnstone.
