Today, Salesforce released the second edition of its Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index. The index assesses the readiness of governments, businesses, and consumers across 11 economies in the region to adopt, deploy, and integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Singapore leads the 2021 index with an overall score of 65.7, followed by Japan (60.0) and Hong Kong (59.3).
AI is expected to contribute approximately $15.7 trillion USD to global GDP by 2030 — a $2 trillion USD increase from 2019. For its part, Salesforce delivers around 120 billion AI-powered predictions every day — a number that is only growing.
To learn more about the findings of this report, we spoke to Salesforce’s Senior Director for APAC Government Affairs and Policy, Sassoon Grigorian.
Q. Sassoon, what is AI Readiness?
Across the globe, AI is becoming more and more widely adopted. But from country to country, and across different sectors, the effective use of the technology in a productive and safe way can vary greatly. AI Readiness measures the readiness for consumers, governments, and businesses to deploy, adopt, and integrate AI technologies.
Q. Singapore ranked first in this year’s report. What is the country doing well that other regions can learn from as they look at their own AI readiness?
Singapore has made AI readiness a top priority. The country’s AI market is projected to reach $960 million USD in 2022, and $16 billion USD by 2030.
Singapore has been a strong leader in AI, particularly on government-led AI initiatives including its well-planned and funded national AI strategy; its partnership with industry and the private sector; and continuing to invest in AI skills.
Q. Broadly, how are these economies performing? What should governments be doing to invest in this technology?
It’s clear that organizations across the 11 economies already understand the transformative potential of AI on society and the economy, because readiness levels have increased sharply. Across the region, AI is now ubiquitous, and it is transforming the way businesses, consumers, and governments transact and interact.
AI technologies require a steady stream of reliable, actionable, and secure data in order to learn and function. Our report shows that organizations that invest in AI skills, leverage data in a safe, transparent, and effective way, and have a clear AI plan are the economies that rank highly.
Interested in learning more? Check out Salesforce’s Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index and watch the below webinar featuring experts from Salesforce, AI Singapore, Australian National University, the World Economic Forum (India), and Keio University.
