Finding ways to implement artificial intelligence (AI) has become a priority for many companies, with companies across industries rushing to take advantage of the promise of increased productivity, reduced costs, and new growth opportunities.
However, increased energy consumption from AI and increased public scrutiny of workforce disruption have further heightened governance concerns, emerging as one of the most important challenges facing business leaders today.
“The challenge for AI governance is that the social risks posed by AI span all regions, sectors and risks. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that almost every company is involved in the social impact of AI,” said Stephen Okun, founder and CEO of APAC Advisors, a Singapore-based strategic advisory firm focused on sustainability, public policy and stakeholder engagement.
While organizational leaders are focused on the productivity and efficiency gains that AI brings, Okun says these benefits come with tradeoffs that are often overlooked.
Workforce displacement due to emerging AI technologies remains one of society’s most pressing challenges. He said that contrary to the perception that automation mainly affects low-skill jobs, AI is increasingly disrupting white-collar and knowledge-based jobs, pointing to DBS Bank’s plans to cut around 4,000 jobs and create 1,000 new AI-related jobs over three years.
In February 2025, the Bank of Singapore announced plans to eliminate around 4,000 temporary and contract roles over the next three years, while creating around 1,000 new AI-related roles, as AI increasingly takes over tasks traditionally performed by humans.
Research shows that Singaporeans are increasingly worried about turnover in the workplace. According to accounting standards body ACCA’s latest Global Talent Trends Report, 31 per cent of respondents in Singapore now cite ‘technology replacing jobs’ as their biggest fear in the workplace, compared to just 8 per cent in 2025, reflecting growing anxiety even as companies accelerate their digital transformation.
Eight factors expected to drive career transformation for accountants over the next decade. Image: Rethinking your career path / ACCA
While AI creates new opportunities, Okun noted that the benefits are likely to be concentrated in highly skilled, technology-centric roles, leaving routine and entry-level workers behind.
Without substantial investment in reskilling by businesses themselves, the impact will extend far beyond jobs lost, deepening inequality, undermining social cohesion and threatening the stability that underpins Singapore’s attractiveness as a business hub, he said.
Beyond employment concerns, AI also raises questions about equity, bias, and access. For example, in Singapore, women are disproportionately represented in routine roles that are susceptible to automation, while men tend to dominate in sectors expected to benefit most from AI adoption. Across Southeast Asia, approximately 70% of women workers are in occupations that are exposed to automation risks.
Okun also highlighted the often overlooked workforce that powers many AI systems, such as content moderators and data labelers in low-income countries, whose work remains largely invisible despite being essential to the development of AI models.
“AI is often treated as the great equalizer, but the reality is the opposite,” he says. “Without deliberate action, the benefits of AI will flow to those already ahead of the pack, widening Singapore’s divide rather than closing it.”
The environmental aspects of the trilemma are equally important. As AI adoption accelerates, data center demands continue to grow, putting increasing pressure on energy systems and raising concerns about land, water and power consumption. These factors, along with workforce and inequality challenges, are likely to shape future public and regulatory responses to AI adoption.
Re-skilling required
While Singapore seeks to balance innovation and responsible development through initiatives such as the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s model AI governance framework and the establishment of a National AI Council chaired by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Mr Okun noted that many of the current approaches are voluntary and focused on enabling innovation.
While the country’s national lifelong learning initiative, SkillsFuture, is one of several programs providing a means for individuals to reskill, Okun argued that responsibility should not fall solely on workers.
“Singapore’s response will be inadequate unless businesses and investors also act proactively,” he said.
The challenges facing businesses are also becoming evident in the professional services sector, where AI is reshaping traditional career paths and raising new governance concerns.
Dean Hezekiah, Policy and Insights Manager at ACCA, said it was difficult to predict the impact of AI on jobs because the technology continues to evolve and will impact different professions in different ways. However, he said some of the most significant changes are expected to occur in entry-level roles.
ACCA’s report, Rethinking Career Paths: The Changing World of Work, published in January, found that many entry-level positions are shifting from mundane processing tasks to higher-value activities such as data analysis and insight generation.
“We expect this trend to impact accountants working both in practice and in business,” he said, adding that similar changes are occurring in other industries.
Hezekiah pointed out that recruiting is one area where AI is increasingly being used. The company’s 2026 Global Talent Trends Report found that employers are increasingly using AI to filter and shortlist candidates for entry-level positions, which typically receive the highest number of applications. However, more strategic and senior hiring decisions continue to rely heavily on human judgment.
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Without deliberate action, the benefits of AI will flow to countries that are already ahead of the curve, widening Singapore’s divide rather than closing it.
Steve Okun, Founder and CEO, APAC Advisors
Beyond the impact on employees, Hezekiah cited data governance as one of the most significant AI-related risks facing the accounting profession.
The growing use of AI-powered software solutions has added further complexity to an already complex data governance environment. Many Software-as-a-Service providers now include terms that allow them to use AI to improve existing products or develop new services, raising questions about how customer information is stored, processed, and used.
He said as accounting firms increasingly rely on these platforms to serve their clients, there is a risk that AI-driven data usage will not align with client expectations or regulatory requirements.
This issue also highlights the need for organizations to establish clear governance frameworks and ethical principles around AI adoption, ensuring that AI adoption aligns with the organization’s values and wider society’s expectations.
From adoption to resilience
As companies move beyond experimentation to large-scale AI adoption, governance frameworks will need to evolve as quickly as the technology itself, both experts say.
For Okun, the starting point is recognizing that AI risks are no longer hypothetical. Rather, it should be treated as a core business continuity issue, alongside climate change and geopolitical risks in board planning.
He argued that companies should start stress-testing their strategies for a variety of possible futures in which access to AI is no longer guaranteed due to rising energy costs, infrastructure constraints, regulatory intervention, etc.
“As risks increase, access to AI may not necessarily be unlimited. Companies need to stress test their plans to ensure business continuity in a world disrupted by climate impacts, rising power prices, and regulations where access to artificial intelligence is scarce or expensive,” he said.
He added that, like climate risks, AI risks require forward-looking scenario planning that tests how resilient business models are under different conditions such as availability, cost, and constraints.
Central to this approach is what he calls the “responsible AI trilemma”: the interconnected challenges between environmental impact, workforce destruction, and inequality. These pressures are increasingly shaping public sentiment and regulatory direction, especially around the energy-intensive infrastructure that powers AI systems, he said.
Despite the importance of these trade-offs, they are rarely addressed at a strategic level, he said, adding that management needs to incorporate the trilemma into long-term planning and evaluate how it impacts operations, profitability and license to operate.
While corporate boards reassess their risk frameworks, there is also a focus on how governments, employers, and educators can mitigate the impact of AI-driven change on their workforces.
Hezekiah said that despite heightened anxiety around job separation, individuals can meaningfully prepare for a future shaped by AI by focusing on skills that complement technology, such as curiosity, storytelling, strategy, and ethical judgment.
“These are also areas where the integration of AI can bring significant improvements, so it helps to increase confidence by actually using AI tools where possible,” he said.
However, he stressed that the responsibility cannot be placed solely on the workers. Employers, educators, and policymakers need to work together to build an AI-ready workforce not only through technical training programs but also by strengthening critical thinking and lifelong learning abilities.
Such skills are essential to enable individuals to effectively interpret AI output and make informed decisions, rather than blindly relying on automated systems, he said.
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