Singaporean asks which jobs in SG are at risk of disappearing due to AI; netizens paint a stark future for most office jobs

Independent Singapore

5 days ago

SINGAPORE: On Reddit over the weekend, a user on the platform asked others what local jobs they believe are most at risk of disappearing due to artificial intelligence (AI).
In a post on r/askSingapore on Saturday (May 31), u/Top-North-6053 wrote, ' With how fast AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek are evolving, I'm curious to hear what others think will be jobs being made redundant in the near future.'
The post author further asked if other Reddit users have already witnessed this in their workplace or industry.
A commenter expressed that while they don't necessarily expect jobs to disappear, they wrote that the 'headcount for almost any office job would easily shrink in the near future (actually already happening).'
They also added: 'It's not because AI is truly replacing humans but because corporations think they can.'
Another also thinks that major changes are coming in the next decade, with companies expected to 'cut junior staff aggressively because AI can do it 'good enough'.' See also Soh Rui Yong says SG football needs Chinese players
They find this to be problematic for two reasons. First, 'AI iterates but it doesn't innovate,' which would cause progress to stall. Additionally, it would prevent junior employees from gaining the exposure, experience, and knowledge they need.
'When (1) eventually gets out of hand and you need human intervention, you can't find humans capable enough because of (2),' the commenter added.
To this, another replied that they 'wish companies would train people how to use AI instead of trying to replace them. I have a similar fear that fewer juniors will join a company, while the remaining seniors have to manage an AI's slop on top of their own work.'
However, a commenter answered, 'Properly run companies already understand this. AI is being used to enable existing workers, not replace them. I personally know of people at work who use Copilot to speed up their coding, and another who trained an LLM on 300-page technical documents to make it easier to find information. What AI doesn't do, however, is write code or generate the document independently.
The only people buying into the 'AI will replace all workers' grift are the tech bros contributing to the bubble and the fear mongerers who don't want to change with the times.'
One predicted, 'Most finance banking jobs will be displaced or significantly reduced. Major wage deflation on the way.'
When another said that HR would be the easiest industry to be replaced by AI, a Reddit user said that IBM is already doing this.
'HR (is) definitely the easiest function to replace. Can't think of a single domain within HR that will be safe,' they added.
Additionally, when a commenter who stated they were tired suggested that more task-based nursing jobs could be replaced with AI or robotics, they acknowledged that they know this is unlikely.
'Yeah, the parts needing interaction with humans will be the most AI resistant IMO,' another agreed. /TISG
Read also: Concerns over Artificial Intelligence in recruitment grow among HR professionals in Singapore