FEATURE
Even in Singapore, since the launch of the National AI strategy 2.0( NAIS 2.0) and Smart Nation 2.0 in 2023 and 2024, robust enterpriselevel controls, policies and monitoring remain elusive for many organisations.
Further exacerbating the issue for enterprises in APAC is the absence of binding regional legislation, making it more challenging to realise interoperability and cross-border technology integration within an enterprise.
Why is trust now considered a core component of AI success, not just a compliance requirement?
Trust has moved from being a narrow regulatory concern to a fundamental driver of whether AI delivers real value at scale. The success of AI adoption depends less on technical capability alone and more on whether people believe the
Only 1 % of organisations in the region have fully operationalised responsible AI.
systems are safe, fair and reliable. Without that belief, productivity gains and innovation simply do not materialise. Public sector efforts such as Singapore’ s national AI initiatives emphasise that workers and citizens must feel confident and discerning when using AI. Only when people trust these tools will they integrate them into daily decisions and workflows, thereby generating broad economic benefits.
When trust is lacking, fear quickly replaces curiosity. Concerns about constant monitoring, biased outcomes, or misuse of personal data lead employees and citizens to disengage from AI systems or actively circumvent them. In fact, according to Dataiku’ s Global AI Confessions Report: Data Leaders Edition,‘ 75 % of data leaders say trust in their AI agent deployments is a concern’. This behaviour erodes the expected return on AI investments and slows organisational transformation.
Randy Goh, Area Vice President, ASEAN, Dataiku www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO APAC
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