Singapore tops list of cities most ready for AI disruption

Singapore is the city most prepared for the next wave of technology disruption that will be brought about by artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new index on AI readiness that ranks 105 global cities. The technique that allows machines to learn from enormous sets of data is expected to bring new conveniences in modern living and economic benefits. But there is the risk of jobs being displaced, people's privacy being exposed and inequality being perpetuated through AI being fed biased data, with cities at various stages of readiness for the new future. In determining how prepared global cities are for this disrupted future, New York-based research outfit Oliver Wyman Forum's inaugural Global Cities AI Disruption Index, released yesterday, scored cities on 31 metrics across four broad categories: vision, activation ability, asset base and growth trajectory. Singapore received the best overall score of 75.8, bolstered by its strong performance in the vision category, which measures the presence of plans to respond to technology changes and plans to upgrade labour skills and infrastructure such as mobile networks.