Wong warns AI could erase the entry-level rungs of Singapore's career ladder

Singapore's prime minister has raised a flag about artificial intelligence eating into the first steps of working life. Lawrence Wong says machines are set to take over repetitive tasks, yet he cautions that the lessons those tasks quietly teach must not be handed over to software as well.

The worry, as framed by Wong, is that the lowest rungs of the career ladder - the entry-level roles where young people pick up habits, judgment and craft - could disappear faster than replacements appear. He spoke as head of government about the risk that automation shuts the door on the very jobs that have long served as a training ground for fresh graduates.

His argument is not that firms should stall on adopting AI. Rather, he points out that routine output is exactly where newcomers learn, and that removing the human from that loop strips out the apprenticeship that happens on the job. Automate the chore, and you may also wipe out the growth it produced.

For employers, the practical tension is real: efficiency gains from automation compete with the need to keep enough junior-level work in human hands to build a pipeline of experienced staff. Companies that hollow out those roles risk finding themselves short of people who understand the business deeply enough to run it, or to supervise the systems now doing the grunt work.

Why it matters for Singapore: The country's compact labour market has little room to absorb a generation of workers who never got their first break, and its pitch to global investors rests on a deep bench of skilled talent. If the entry rungs vanish, small and mid-sized firms - the bulk of local employers - will feel the squeeze first, and the ladder Singaporeans have long climbed on merit could get harder to mount.