Singapore Budget 2026: Scaling AI through national coordination and workforce integration

Singapore has set an ambitious national blueprint to scale AI across its economy, while simultaneously restructuring its jobs and skills ecosystem in a move that places workforce transformation at the heart of Budget 2026.

In his Budget statement on February 12, Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced the formation of a National AI Council to coordinate and drive Singapore’s AI strategy. Chaired by Prime Minister Wong, the council will oversee the development and execution of targeted “AI missions” in four sectors: advanced manufacturing, transport connectivity, finance and healthcare.

“These missions will drive AI-led transformation in key sectors of our economy, and push the boundaries of what is possible for Singapore and for the world,” he said, adding that they will come with clear objectives and tangible outcomes rather than remaining abstract aspirations.

The council will comprise senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat and Acting Transport Minister Jeffery Siow. It will also tap private sector expertise.

The move signals a shift from experimentation to enterprise-scale execution. Mark Tham, Country Managing Director for Singapore at Accenture, said the formation of the National AI Council provides high-level sponsorship and alignment across public and private sectors, anchoring efforts around clear value creation. For many organisations, he noted, the hardest part of the AI journey is not ideation but execution at scale, which requires a secure AI-enabled digital core, modernised data and cloud foundations, and a workforce prepared to work alongside increasingly autonomous systems.

Prime Minister Wong acknowledged concerns surrounding AI, including job displacement, misinformation and ethical risks, but stressed that “fear cannot be Singapore’s response”. He said Singapore’s competitive advantage lies not in building the largest frontier models, but in deploying AI effectively, responsibly and at speed. Organisations such as Google and Microsoft have established AI centres of excellence here, creating a growing number of jobs.

Jess O’Reilly, General Manager for ASEAN at Workday, said the focus on governance and practical deployment reflects market readiness. Workday research found that 79% of organisations in Singapore are already rolling out AI agents or have begun operating them, signalling a shift from theoretical exploration to real-world implementation. She pointed to the Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI as providing clear guardrails on risk-bounding and human accountability, reinforcing a “human-in-the-loop” approach as adoption accelerates.

To bring more organisations on board, the government will launch a Champions of AI programme to support organisations seeking to comprehensively transform their businesses. Support will be tailored to each organisation and include enterprise transformation and workforce training. The Enterprise Innovation Scheme will be expanded to include AI-related expenditures for assessment years 2027 and 2028, capped at S$50,000 per year, while the Productivity Solutions Grant will cover a wider range of digital and AI-enabled solutions.

Amit Khandelwal, Regional Vice-President and Managing Director for South-East Asia at UiPath, said these measures will help organisations move beyond isolated pilots by integrating AI into core business workflows. As intelligent systems, such as agentic AI, take on more reasoning and execution tasks, he added, human employees will increasingly oversee and guide these processes, accelerating the need for skills transformation.

Central to this push is a parallel overhaul of Singapore’s workforce architecture. Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore will merge into a new statutory board jointly overseen by the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Education. The new agency will function as a one-stop shop for skills training, career guidance and job matching services.

Describing the merger as a “decisive step forward”, Prime Minister Wong said it would enable more seamless support from career planning to skills acquisition and job transitions. For employers, assistance will be integrated across workforce planning, job redesign, hiring and workforce development.

Jessica Zhang, Senior Vice-President for Asia-Pacific at ADP, said the concept of job security is being redefined amid rapid technological change. Rather than focusing solely on preserving roles, organisations must sustain employability by equipping employees with the skills and support needed to adapt as business needs evolve. Greater visibility into workforce costs, skills distribution and employment patterns, she noted, allows organisations to anticipate change earlier and redeploy talent before disruption takes hold.

The Budget also emphasises increasing AI literacy. Initiatives include a redesigned SkillsFuture website and six months of free access to premium AI tools for selected courses, aimed at helping employees build practical capabilities and move into higher-value tasks.

Karen Ng, Regional Head of Expansion for Enterprise in North and South Asia at Deel, said this support comes at a critical moment, citing research showing that around nine in 10 organisations have already changed or displaced roles due to AI. For mid-career employees in particular, she said, the key will be linking AI training to specific role changes, internal mobility and clearer progression pathways, rather than treating upskilling as an abstract requirement.

Melissa Kee, Chief People Officer at Temus, added that sustainable AI transformation depends on how intentionally organisations redesign work and reskill people. Embedding learning into real projects and aligning training with employment outcomes, she said, builds confidence at scale and ensures that no employee is left behind.

Alongside these measures, a new AI park will be established at one-north to catalyse collaboration and translate AI initiatives into practical solutions for organisations and public services.

Taken together, the establishment of the National AI Council and the consolidation of jobs and skills functions reflect a coordinated strategy to align AI adoption with workforce transformation. As Singapore seeks to position itself as a trusted hub for impactful AI deployment, Budget 2026 makes clear that scaling technology and strengthening employability will advance in tandem.