More than half of Singaporean businesses recognise gen AI’s potential: report

The vast majority have not implemented a governance framework for gen AI.

Nearly a third or 29% of organisations in the city-state are running pilots with gen AI or already using the technology for software engineering, according to a report by the Capgemini Research Institute.  

The report showed that 32% of Singapore software professionals acknowledge the potential of gen AI and are strategizing its adoption, while 40% are still assessing its potential use. 

Organisations said that the primary benefits of adopting gen AI initiatives were fostering innovation (61%) and improving software quality (49%).

Innovative work (54%) and complex high-value tasks (43%) were the main areas these organizations were focusing on productivity gains.

User story generation (40%), UX design assistance (37%) and coding assistance (37%) were the top case uses for gen AI in software engineering.

Two-thirds (66%) said culture and leadership were crucial prerequisites currently missing in implementing gen AI, followed by people and talent (52%) and computation infrastructure and support (50%).

Most or 90% of software professionals use gen AI tools not authorized by their organizations. This was the highest out of all countries surveyed.

Meanwhile, only 23% have upskilling or reskilling programs for gen AI, the lowest out of all countries surveyed.

“Generative AI has emerged as a powerful technology to assist software engineers, rapidly gaining adoption,” Pierre-Yves Glever, head of global cloud and custom applications at Capgemini, said. “Its impact on coding efficiency and quality is measurable and proven, yet it holds promise for other software activities.” 

The report surveyed 1,098 senior executives and 1,092 software professionals and conducted 20 in-depth interviews with professionals and leaders from the industry.