About 60% of employees in Singapore use generative AI (GenAI) tools at work, the highest usage rate globally, alongside Hong Kong.

A global survey of 9,047 full-time employees from nine countries from business automation company UiPath revealed that 60% of Singaporean workers have used generative AI to solve work problems. The tasks which required GenAI usage included drafting communications (44%), summarising long-form content (34%), and brainstorming (34%).

The employees in Singapore may be particularly prone to facilitating their work-related processes due to the increasing workload. Challenging economic conditions are bringing almost a third of Singaporean full-time workers (30%) to the brink of burnout. GenAI and access to workload automation are seen by 43% of respondents as a way to reduce burnout and improve engagement in the workplace.

It appears that Singaporean Millennial and Gen Z workers are more likely to use Gen AI tools at work. Besides, they admit greater time-saving benefits from implementing these tools compared to older generations.

Although the vast majority of Singaporean workers (65%) are not using Gen AI and business automation together, those who are utilizing both technologies have witnessed improved productivity and speed of task fulfilment. In addition, 46% of them have noticed a boost in their work-life balance.

Leveraging GenAI saved significant time on work-related tasks for 62% of Singaporean workers, with more than 42% claiming they have saved 10 or more hours weekly with the help of innovative technology.

At the same time, many companies seem to fail to acknowledge the benefits of GenAI for their employees and the overall operation process. Half of the workers surveyed say their company has not offered any training or guidelines on using GenAI.

“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 Vice President, Asia at UiPath.

However, both workers and employers still have to address the existing concerns about using Gen AI. These concerns include security risks (38%), inaccurate output (34%), and compliance risks (31%).

Moreover, employees often lack clarity about company policies on the use of GenAI tools. As illustrated by another recent report, half of employees globally tend to hide using GenAI tools at work, afraid of being replaced in their roles by technology solutions and not knowing the management reaction to such tools.