Three-fifths (60%) of workers in Singapore are using generative AI at work, the highest usage rate globally alongside Hong Kong, a new report from UiPath shows.
In partnership with ResearchScape, UiPath conducted this research via an online survey fielded from March to April 2024. There were 9,047 respondents across Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.
Against the backdrop of increasingly challenging economic conditions, particularly as Singapore’s growth recovery remains uncertain, Singaporean workers are facing the brunt of increasing workload.
To this end, almost a third (30%) of employees in Singapore indicated feeling extremely or very burnt out, which is higher compared to 2023 (26%).
To reduce burnout and improve engagement in the workplace, Singaporean workers want reduced workload (62%), more time and bandwidth to get tasks done (46%), and access to AI and automation, including generative AI tools (43%).
Similarly, generative AI is also seen as a potential solution to combat burnout by giving employees time back in their day. Close to two-thirds (62%) of Singaporean workers who use generative AI at work believe it has saved them time on work-related tasks, with more than two in five (42%) workers saving 10 or more hours.
As a result, they are able to spend more time on creative tasks (53%), and with their family (49%), as well as end their work day earlier (45%).
While the majority of Singaporean workers (65%) are not using generative AI and business automation together, those who are have seen greater productivity gains. By using both technologies, half of Singaporean workers have seen greater productivity and the ability to get tasks done faster, while close to half (46%) have seen an improved work life balance.
“For businesses that haven’t been able to turn AI potential into results, automation is a crucial piece of the puzzle that makes AI actionable,” said Jess O’Reilly, area VP for Asia at UiPath.
The survey of 1,133 full-time Singaporean workers also found that 58% of respondents believe generative AI tools have the context needed from their business′s own data to support business processes and drive value.
There are still concerns about the shortcomings and risks of using generative AI. Workers are most concerned about the following: security risks (38%); inaccurate output (34%); and compliance risks (31%).
However, Singaporean workers generally have greater trust (66%) in AI output compared to their global counterparts (48%).
At the same time, employees are also experiencing a lack of direction around company policy on the use of generative AI tools, with 42% of them indicating that their company has not offered any training or guidelines on how to use generative AI.
Singaporean Millennial and Gen Z workers are more likely to use generative AI tools at work, and have seen greater time-saving benefits from implementing these tools compared to older generations.
Also, 77% of Gen Z and 66% of Millennial respondents believe generative AI has saved them time on work-related tasks, compared to half of Gen X and 37% of Baby Boomer respondents.
Majority of Singaporean workers across generations are generally trusting of the output they get from generative AI tools, with 78% of Gen Z, 68% of Millennial, 57% of Gen X and 60% of Baby Boomer respondents trusting generative AI outputs.
Generative AI tools have improved productivity by helping Singaporean workers with work tasks, mainly drafting communications (44%), summarising long-form content (34%), and brainstorming (34%).
