Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Across much of the world, AI is still viewed through a corporate lens, primarily as a tool to boost productivity and trim costs. But this framing fuels anxiety. Workers see AI as something being done to them, not with them. And that perception is shaping how automation is received: with skepticism and fear.
Why AI Triggers Anxiety, and Who It’s Built For
Mercer’s HR Technology’s Impact on the Workforce: Special AI Edition (2025) report reveals that employees in high-adoption markets, like the UAE, often feel the most threatened. There, 85% already use AI tools regularly, yet nearly half are hesitant to try new tech, worried it could make them redundant.
This “proximity paradox” suggests that the closer people work with AI, the more uncertain they feel about their future.
But one country defies this pattern: Singapore.
Rather than positioning AI as a corporate efficiency play, Singapore has reimagined it as a societal good. Instead of positioning AI as a tool imposed by employers, it’s being structured as a movement built with and for the people. And that makes all the difference.
The data shows that when people feel that AI is being deployed solely to benefit companies, it breeds resistance. But when they’re invited to be co-creators in the process, fear is replaced by curiosity, and uncertainty gives way to agency.
When AI Rollouts Feel Like Corporate Downsizing
Over the last 12 months, major organizations have linked layoffs to AI-driven productivity. Amazon cut around 14,000 white-collar roles as it accelerated its AI initiatives. Microsoft cited AI-fueled gains when it laid off 9,000 staff.
And across the United States, job cuts this year have exceeded one million — a 65% jump from the year prior, the highest since the pandemic-era cuts of 2020, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
To employees, the message lands hard: AI may improve the bottom line, but it’s bad news for jobs.
In this context, resistance becomes a defense mechanism and employees push back not because they can’t evolve, but because they question whether evolution will reward them.
When AI Becomes a National Purpose
Singapore’s approach stands in sharp contrast.
There, AI is embedded into a broader societal vision. The Smart Nation 2.0 strategy treats AI as a shared asset meant to elevate all citizens. The ambition is more than technological progress, it’s positioned as inclusion.
Through its SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, Singaporeans aged 40 and over receive a permanent S$4,000 credit for continuous education — no expiration date, no fine print. Those who take time off to study full-time even get a monthly stipend to ease the transition.
Meanwhile, small and mid-sized businesses receive hands-on support through the SMEs Go Digital initiative, with a goal of enabling 15,000 companies to integrate AI effectively and ethically.
This comprehensive approach flips the narrative. It shifts the mindset from “AI is replacing me” to “AI is something we’re all learning together.”
And it’s working. Mercer’s report highlights Singapore as a rare example where high AI use does not lead to elevated fear.
Despite being a global leader in AI integration, the country’s workforce reports greater confidence and less anxiety.
There’s a lesson here. When governments weave AI into national development with clear focus on trust, equity, and skills, people don’t resist the change.
The True AI Divide Is About Trust
If your organization’s AI efforts are falling flat, the problem may not be the technology; it may be a lack of trust.
Singapore offers a model for a whole-society approach. When public institutions invest in access, upskilling, and safeguards, AI becomes a public good, not just a profit tool.
While the model isn’t without flaws, it sets a powerful precedent: AI should be infrastructure, like education or broadband — accessible, enabling, and inclusive.
This positioning matters. When AI is held by the collective, people are more eager to engage. When it’s deployed to cut costs and eliminate roles, workers disengage and protect themselves instead of participating.
But this lesson isn’t just for governments. Private-sector leaders can mirror Singapore’s approach by democratizing AI adoption: involving employees early, ensuring benefits are shared, and investing in the learning journey as much as the tech stack.
Because when AI is designed for everyone (not just the few in control) it transforms the workplace. The more people feel AI is theirs to shape, not something threatening to replace them, the quicker we’ll shift from fear to fluency, from hesitation to innovation.
