S2E65: Why Grab-type firms are the way for SE Asia to thrive in AI era

Published on 13 Mar 2026

How South-east Asia can navigate the age of AI and its impact on the economy and employment.

Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

Artificial Intelligence is impacting the world at a pace far greater than that of previous general-purpose technologies, such as the steam engine, electricity, and computing.

As the world adjusts to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by tremendous advances in automation and robotics, it now faces the Fifth Industrial Revolution, the era of AI and its impressive ability to perform cognitive tasks normally performed by humans.

In this episode, host Ravi Velloor speaks with the eminent economist Dr Khor Hoe Ee, who witnessed the Latin American debt crisis and the Asian financial crisis.

Dr Khor, formerly Chief Economist at AMRO, has also seen how events like Covid-19 have had a major impact on the economy.

They discuss how the US and China dominate the AI space, the speed of disruption, which South-east Asian economies are most exposed and what firms in the region can do to cope with the impact of this new technology.

They also cover other topics, for instance: What happens to employment as we know it? Is there a threat of widespread deflation? Should we consider a universal basic income?

Highlights (click/tap above):

4:19 The Fifth Industrial Revolution of AI is like no other period in history

7:56 South-east Asia’s options when US, China lead in AI

11:34 Jobs at risk; from radiology to business process outsourcing

12:00 Prospects for Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines

16:52 Is there a case for Universal Basic Incomes with future disruption in the market?

18:41 Who’ll win the AI race and how the region should position itself

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis