AI literacy demand surges in Singapore amid skills gap
Demand for AI literacy skills in Singapore has risen by more than 70% year on year, with employers seeking the skill across every major job function tracked in LinkedIn's latest Skills on the Rise rankings.
The findings place Singapore in the global report for the first time, alongside 11 other markets. The data also points to a confidence gap: 41% of professionals in Singapore said they feel unprepared for the speed of technology-driven change affecting the skills needed for their roles.
The ranking is based on year-on-year growth in skills added to member profiles and skills linked to successful hires. It compares activity from December 2024 to November 2025 against the same period a year earlier.
Baseline skill
The sharp rise in AI literacy demand suggests the skill is shifting from a specialist requirement to a broader workplace expectation. AI literacy was among the fastest-growing skills in every job function examined in Singapore.
In Business Development, Sales, Education and Finance, AI literacy ranked among the top skills. In Engineering, the fastest-growing skills included Prompt Engineering and LLM Ops, which LinkedIn described as AI-adjacent fields.
The spread of AI-related skills across both technical and non-technical roles points to changes in how work is organised. Many teams now expect workers to use AI tools for everyday tasks such as drafting, analysis, research and workflow automation. The trend has moved beyond technology departments into commercial, operational and client-facing roles.
Human skills
The same dataset also shows growth in human-centred skills, including collaboration, emotional intelligence, stakeholder management and adaptability. LinkedIn positioned these as rising alongside AI skills, rather than being displaced by them.
Employers often look for a mix of technical literacy and interpersonal strengths, particularly in roles involving change management, cross-functional work and customer engagement. The emphasis on human skills suggests AI adoption is also raising expectations for communication, judgement and coordination.
Serla Rusli, a LinkedIn career expert, said hiring demand reflects the need to combine AI and interpersonal skills.
"The careers of the future won't be built on credentials alone. What our data shows is that professionals who combine AI fluency with strong human skills - collaboration, adaptability, stakeholder management - are the ones employers are actively hiring for. The good news is that these skills can be learned. Start by understanding which skills are growing in your field, identify the gaps, and take deliberate steps to close them," said Serla Rusli, Career Expert, LinkedIn.
Top clusters
Across Singapore, LinkedIn listed five fastest-growing skill areas for 2026: AI, Machine Learning and Data Engineering; Software Engineering and Cloud Infrastructure; Strategic Business and Transformation; Financial Management; and Leadership, Communication and Human-Centred Skills.
The inclusion of strategic business skills alongside technical areas points to the scale of organisational change associated with AI. Many companies are reassessing operating models, governance and investment priorities as they deploy new tools across departments. This has increased demand for workers who can interpret business needs, work with data and manage technology-led transformation programmes.
In finance roles, rising AI literacy demand sits alongside expectations for financial management, controls and planning. In education, it reflects the spread of AI tools into teaching and administrative work, as well as broader requirements for digital fluency.
Function-specific lists are available for Business Development, Engineering, Sales, Education and Finance in the main report. LinkedIn also links training material to each skill area through LinkedIn Learning courses.
The combination of rapid growth in AI literacy demand and a sizeable share of professionals reporting low preparedness signals a workforce planning challenge. Employers may need to invest more in training, set clearer expectations for AI use, and adjust hiring criteria as job designs evolve. Workers, in turn, face a shifting set of requirements that blend tool familiarity with communication and collaboration skills.
Rusli added that the skills identified in the data can be learned, and encouraged professionals to identify gaps and take steps to close them.