YOU SEE this Singaporean guy all over social media talking about SORA and MidJourney 5 and what workers need to do in this generative AI world? Yup, it’s gone viral worldwide; we’re getting texts from as far away as the United Kingdom about it. That’s our guy, Dr Tan Wu Meng of the People’s Action Party (PAP) for you.
He does the whole speechifying deal really well, doesn’t he? Well yeah, Dr Tan was on the University of Cambridge debate team back in the day. Went to the World Universities Debating Championships in 2003, and clinched the Best Individual Speaker award there.
What else about Dr Tan? He scrutinises how the Ministry of Health works on pandemics; he’s the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Chair for Health after all. Plus, you can see him walking around the university town of Clementi very regularly. He’s been Clementi’s MP since 2015, and known for frequently raising questions in Parliament “on behalf of my Clementi residents”. He’s also pretty darn well-read.
Why’s he so on about AI? In other words, will the robots take our jobs? Let’s not bet on that possibility just yet. But for now, people all over the world definitely need to skill up for the age of AI. You just can’t hide from the march of progress — and you can bet that your competitors out there are embracing it.
Easier said than done. No, lah. There are now $4,000 more credits for mid-career workers who want to do a diploma under the national SkillsFuture Level-up programme. It’s essentially a free diploma sponsored by the Singapore Government. In any of the over 7,000 courses you choose; it’s all good.
Somehow I feel that the PAP is doing other things for workers in the age of generative AI, eh? You’re right. SkillsFuture continues being fine-tuned in Parliament chambers even now. MP Patrick Tay (Pioneer SMC) spoke; he’s our resident champion for PMETs. Branch Chair (and Associate Professor) Elmie Nekmat (Sengkang GRC) is with us too; he’s big on teaching people to counter fake news and maintain social cohesion during this age. Point is: When it comes to charting the country’s future, our Party’s got a strong backbench.
Back to MP Tan. What hits home most from his speech? “We have to accept the world as it is, the way the world is going to be. And look after, support, empower, uplift our people.”
All right, let’s level up at work.
