Singapore youths foresee artificial intelligence to have biggest impact on their future: Microsoft survey

Singapore youths foresee artificial
intelligence to have

biggest impact on their future: Microsoft survey

Youths want technology innovations to increase
their productivity, but concerns remain over impact on their security and
privacy, and potential job losses

Artificial intelligence emerged as the most exciting technology
innovation that Singapore youths foresee to make the biggest impact on their
future. Click here to view the full infographic.

SINGAPORE, 21 February 2017 — Microsoft today unveiled findings from a new
study, which revealed that the technology innovation youths in Singapore are
most excited about, and expect to have the biggest impact on their future isartificial
intelligence (AI). This is followed by the Internet of Things (IoT) in
second place and virtual/mixed/augmented reality in third
place. The study, titled the Microsoft Asia Digital
Future Survey, was conducted with 1,400 youths aged 18 to 24 in Asia
Pacific, including 100 youths in Singapore, to understand what they foresee to
be the most exciting technology innovation, and the potential impact it could
have on their digital future.

In a world that is becoming increasingly
digitalised, new and emerging innovations will continue to disrupt the way we
live, work and play. With today’s youths being the driving force for tomorrow’s economy,
it is more pertinent now than ever before for youths to embrace new technology
innovations, in order to be able to leverage technology effectively in the
future.

Ranked as the top technology innovation youths
in Singapore expect to have the biggest impact on their lives, artificial
intelligence (AI) involves the creation of intelligent machines or
services that work and react like humans – a feature that is now increasingly
found in almost everything from translation services to virtual assistants to
video games. In recent years, the confluence of power devices, cloud and data
has also enabled bold visions on how AI can be an integral part of our digital
future.

“We are delighted to see youths in Singapore
being excited by technology innovations and the benefits that they can realise.
In recent editions of the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Singapore,
our youths have been leveraging AI and IoT to create new innovations such as Ruth
the social robot,
and the Mozter
mosquito monitoring platform. As youths in Singapore are increasingly exposed to these
emerging technologies, we hope that they will continue to embrace new
technologies, and leverage them boldly to create their own innovations for tomorrow’s smart
economy,” said Nobuhiro Ito, Director of Developer Experience and Evangelism,
Microsoft Singapore.

Findings from the Microsoft Asia
Digital Future Survey also revealed that youths in Singapore
anticipate AI to make the biggest improvements to their lives through:

1.    
Connected or
driverless cars (43%)

2.    
Software robots that
improve productivity (40%)

3.    
Robots as social
companions (11%)

In addition, the survey found that youths are
looking to AI and other emerging technologies to help them:

1.    
Increase their
productivity 

2.    
Facilitate the way
they connect with people that they work with

3.    
Improve their physical
and mental health

Youths in Singapore
are also looking forward to seeing AI and other emerging technologies:

1.    
Create new jobs and
industries (28%)

2.    
Improve people’s
health (27%)

3.    
Improve national
infrastructure (24%)

Youths in Singapore desire to see technology
innovation create new jobs and industries, improve people’s health and
infrastructure.

Preparing for
disruption

While youths in Singapore are excited about the potential impact
of technology innovation on their future, three in 10 youths felt that their
country is not ready to adapt to digital disruptions. To get ahead, they felt
that the top priorities are to:

1.  
Create conducive
business environments to encourage start-ups (33%)

2.  
Make future technology
innovations affordable and accessible (33%)

3.  
Ensure schools prepare
students with the right skills to fully leverage future innovations (29%)

In addition, youths in Singapore feel that public-private
partnerships (31%) were key in driving innovation, ahead of the public sector
or the government (30%); and technology start-ups (23%) making the push alone.

Public-private partnerships were deemed by
youths in Singapore to be the most effective way to drive innovation.

Top concerns surrounding new technologies

In terms of the areas of concern surrounding
new technologies, the survey revealed that the top concerns youths in Singapore
have around the increasingly digital world include:

1.    
Security and privacy
(38%)

2.    
Potential loss of jobs
(30%)

3.    
Relationships becoming
too impersonal (15%)

“The top concern by youths in Singapore
reflects the growing importance of security and privacy in today’s digital
world. People don’t use technology that they don’t trust, and as technological
advances continue to permeate our daily lives, security and privacy will need
to be prioritised in order to foster a safe environment for technology to
realise its potential of building a better future for everyone,” added Ito.