These mid-career workers are back in class to learn AI. Is it paying off?
Three professionals share how AI has helped them in their subtitling, digital marketing and SEO work.
Mid-career professionals in Singapore are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) training to boost productivity and stay competitive in the workforce. Private academies like The Straits Times spoke to reported a sharp rise in enrollments for AI-related courses, with mid-career professionals showing particular interest. Vertical Institute saw its AI course enrollments double over the past year, while Tribe Academy's flagship programmes have consistently been oversubscribed since January 2025.
The growing demand for AI skills is driven by the realization that AI can significantly reduce task completion times. For example, media localization company Sky Vision Media's general manager Kok Yokelee found that AI-powered transcription and translation services can process an hour of TV content for less than US$20, compared to the human translators' costs.
This has led Kok to use tools like Claude and Whisper to automate parts of the subtitling workflow, cutting the process down from six to eight hours to just 30 minutes.
However, some workers resist AI adoption due to concerns about job security. Jason Sim, a 46-year-old associate district director at Huttons Asia, completed an Advanced Certificate in Generative AI for Digital Marketing Specialist in May. With subsidies covering up to 95% of the course fee, Sim now uses AI to build websites in an afternoon, down from around a week. He believes that workers should not compete with AI but instead direct and leverage it to work for them.
Lee, a senior AI search strategist at Heroes of Digital, secured his current job after completing an advanced certificate in generative AI for digital marketing. He emphasizes that humans should focus on tasks where AI cannot compete, such as quality control and interpersonal communication. As AI continues to advance, the key for mid-career professionals is to adapt and find ways to add value in an AI-driven workplace.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
