Singaporeans turn to AI for shopping recommendations

For health concerns, however, many still prefer humans over AI.

Half of Singaporeans said they are willing to build relationships with robots and the vast majority believe using artificial intelligence (AI) gives a competitive advantage as the city-state continues to embrace technology, a study by McCann Worldgroup Singapore showed.

The openness to forming a close bond with robots was more apparent among the younger generation, but overall, citizens remain cautious in putting complete trust in AI, according to the survey. 

65% said they are more likely to approach AI for shopping recommendations than real human beings, higher than most of its Asian peers including Indonesia (64%) and China (60%). 73% of Singaporeans also turn to the internet to explore different viewpoints.

For more serious and personal matters like their overall well-being, 22% of Singaporeans said they want to get health advice from humans than from AI-assisted programs and 14% prefer humans over AI for diagnosis and therapeutic counseling.

“While Singapore is embracing the global technological transformation, the erosion of
humanness and interpersonal bonds is an impending problem, as Singaporeans seek non-
traditional ways of interaction, enabled by technology,” McCann Worldgroup said.

Nonetheless, Singaporeans continue to believe that “the future is AI” with 81% of the respondents saying those who are still not studying AI will likely be left behind.

The study polled 2,035 Singaporeans and conducted 11 in-depth interviews to understand the societal fabric of the city-state.