SEA Leads World on Trustworthy AI, But ROI Remains Elusive

Southeast Asian organisations are outpacing their global counterparts on every dimension of responsible AI adoption, according to a new study by SAS and the International Data Corporation. The region's Trustworthiness Index jumped 8.8 points year-on-year to 66.5 out of 100, while the gap between perceived trust and demonstrable capability shrank from 14.6 to just 6.6 points — driven by real capability gains, not lower expectations.

The annual Data and AI Impact Report, which surveyed over 2,600 decision-makers across 28 countries, evaluates five pillars: data quality and governance, model oversight, explainability and fairness, responsible AI policy, and audit and accountability. Southeast Asia was the only major region to exceed the global benchmark on all five. Banking led the charge, with 85% of AI-leader banks having governance frameworks in place compared to just 29% of laggards.

Yet the trust dividend has not translated into returns. A separate McKinsey-EDB study found uncertain ROI remains the third-largest barrier to AI adoption in the region, trailing only budget constraints and data quality issues. In Thailand, 55% of organisations surveyed by SAP and Oxford Economics believe their AI deployments have not yet reached full potential. Infrastructure maturity rose just 4.1 points versus 20.5 points for AI capability — a widening gap that threatens to cap the value organisations can extract.

Why it matters for Singapore: Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 emphasises trustworthy and responsible AI deployment, and these findings suggest the region's firms are building the governance muscle to match. For Singapore-based financial institutions and enterprises, the data reinforces that investing in AI governance frameworks is not compliance overhead — it is a competitive advantage that directly correlates with stronger returns on AI investment.