Epitome Global Leads Insights into AI Workforce Readiness in Singapore and Malaysia

Epitome Global stands as a leading workforce intelligence and skills analytics company, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, with additional strategic presence in London and operational reach across five continents. The company specialises in AI-driven platforms that optimise talent through skills assessments, psychometric profiling, career mapping, and real-time labour market data. By integrating artificial intelligence with human capital analytics, Epitome Global empowers public and private sector organisations to plan workforce strategies, identify skill gaps, and implement targeted upskilling initiatives. With over 1.3 million user profiles captured to date, its tools deliver actionable dashboards that support decisions on talent mobility, development, and transformation in an AI-enabled economy.

In a recent analysis, Epitome Global aggregated multi-year skills assessment data from more than 200 participants involved in workforce development, employability, and organizational programmes across Singapore and Malaysia, spanning 2023 to 2025. These assessments evaluated key characteristics linked to AI readiness, such as persistence, curiosity, and reflective learning, alongside self-reported competencies in areas like digital literacy, decision-making, and computational thinking. The methodology drew from validated psychometrics and AI-powered profiling to measure how professionals adapt to and collaborate with emerging technologies.

The results reveal a significant gap: only about one in five professionals consistently show AI-ready traits. While over 70 percent report advanced digital literacy, deeper challenges persist, with roughly 56 percent rating decision-making at a basic level and around 42 percent showing only basic confidence in computational thinking; these skills prove essential for supervising AI outputs, interpreting results, and embedding technology into daily workflows.

Kevin Chan, CEO of Epitome Global, notes, “AI tools are scaling faster than workforce readiness. In the next phase of adoption, the differentiator will not be access to technology, but clarity around what people can actually do, how they make decisions, adapt and collaborate with AI-enabled systems.”

Five Workplace Trends to Watch in 2026

Drawing from this data, Epitome Global highlights five key trends likely to influence organisations this year:

• Disengagement and skills decay emerge as major risks to productivity, with only one in five workers displaying consistent AI-ready behaviours like persistence, curiosity, and reflective learning.
• Rapid AI adoption in 2025 exposed integration gaps, as 65 percent of Singapore organisations focus on basic use cases, limiting deeper workflow embedding.
• Professionals in Southeast Asia and India transition from cost-based outsourcing to higher-value roles in engineering, product, IT, and data science, increasing global competition.
• Fire-and-hire cycles intensify as companies eliminate outdated roles and selectively recruit for advanced technical and cross-functional skills.
• Senior employability gains strategic importance in AI-driven settings, with ageing workforces positioning experienced professionals as knowledge carriers, AI output reviewers, and mentors.

As 2026 progresses, success will depend less on AI tool volume and more on precise measurement and development of workforce capabilities.

For the full market commentary, visit https://epitome.global/.