25 Best Thought Leaders in AI in Singapore (2026)

Singapore has quietly become one of the most consequential AI hubs on the planet. The city-state hosts the largest AI conference in Asia, generated 15% of NVIDIA's global revenue in a single year, and committed over S$1 billion in public funding to AI research between 2025 and 2030. For a nation of 5.9 million people, that is an extraordinary concentration of AI ambition, infrastructure, and talent. Yet for leaders, executives, event organisers, and professionals navigating the AI era, knowing where to look for credible guidance remains genuinely difficult.

The AI thought leadership space in Singapore spans a remarkable range of expertise. There are government architects shaping national strategy, NUS and NTU researchers producing world-class work on trustworthy and resource-efficient AI, entrepreneurs solving Southeast Asian language and market problems that global AI labs will not touch, and practitioners helping organisations navigate the human dimensions of AI transformation. The challenge is that these voices are scattered across government press releases, conference stages, LinkedIn feeds, academic journals, and podcast episodes.

This directory brings them together in one place. The 25 thought leaders profiled here were selected because they are genuinely active, genuinely influential in the Singapore AI context, and genuinely worth following in 2026. This is not a list of global AI celebrities who happened to visit Singapore once. Every person on this list has a specific and sustained connection to Singapore's AI ecosystem, whether as a researcher, policymaker, entrepreneur, educator, or practitioner.

Singapore's AI conversation spans technical foundations and business application, regulatory governance and workforce transformation, Southeast Asian market realities and global research frontiers. The leaders in this guide reflect that full spectrum. If you lead a team navigating AI adoption, if you are planning your next event and need speakers who understand the regional context, or if you simply want a LinkedIn feed that will genuinely advance your thinking, this is your starting point.

Jonno White, bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out with over 10,000 copies sold globally and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, works with leadership teams across Australia, the UK, USA, Singapore, Canada, and beyond. He delivers keynotes and workshops that help leaders navigate the people and culture dimensions of AI transformation, which remains the most overlooked leadership challenge of the decade. To explore how Jonno can support your team, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Why Singapore's AI Ecosystem Produces Distinctive Thought Leadership

Before introducing the twenty-five leaders themselves, it is worth understanding what makes Singapore's AI conversation distinctive. Singapore is not simply importing Western AI frameworks and applying them locally. The country has developed original intellectual and policy contributions, including the world's first national AI governance framework in 2019, the AI Verify testing toolkit, Project Moonshot for generative AI evaluation, the Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities developed alongside Yoshua Bengio and global experts in 2025, and in January 2026, what IMDA describes as the world's first Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI.

Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0, launched in December 2023, articulates a vision for AI explicitly centred on public good rather than competitive advantage for its own sake. This shapes how Singapore's thought leaders approach AI differently from their counterparts in Silicon Valley or Beijing. The questions they wrestle with include: How do you build trustworthy AI when your data is linguistically and culturally diverse? How do you deploy AI responsibly in a small, densely connected society where mistakes have immediate consequences? How do you position a city-state as a neutral bridge between the US and Chinese AI ecosystems?

The scale of recent investment signals that this ecosystem is accelerating, not plateauing. Over S$1 billion committed to AI public research from 2025 to 2030, the National AI Impact Programme targeting 10,000 enterprises and 100,000 workers over three years, 60 or more AI Centres of Excellence established across industry by early 2026, and the arrival of Microsoft Research Asia's first Southeast Asia lab and Google DeepMind's Singapore research lab, both in 2025. These are not small gestures. They are structural shifts in where serious AI work gets done.

The human side of this transformation is where leadership teams most often struggle. Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and trusted facilitator across Singapore, Australia, the UK, and beyond, helps leadership teams build the cohesion and communication capacity that AI transformation demands. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

1. Josephine Teo

Minister for Digital Development and Information, Singapore Government

Josephine Teo is the most consequential AI policymaker in Singapore and one of the most active AI governance voices in Asia. As Minister for Digital Development and Information, she oversaw the transition of Singapore's ministry to specifically centre the national economy around digital and AI-first outcomes. She announced the S$1 billion National AI Research and Development Plan in January 2026, represented Singapore at the AI Action Summit in Paris, the Bletchley Park Summit, and the Singapore Conference on AI, and coined the phrase "bilingual AI practitioners" to describe the goal of building professionals who speak both technology and their domain fluently.

Minister Teo does not speak in abstractions. Her public remarks are specific about mechanisms: the AI Verify testing framework, Project Moonshot for evaluating generative AI risks, the Agentic Risk and Capability Framework launched by GovTech, and the Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities. She has articulated Singapore's distinctive position as a nation able to play a bridging role in global AI governance precisely because of its neutrality and its track record of implementation. Her McKinsey interview on Singapore's AI transformation, published in early 2026, is essential reading for any leader trying to understand what serious national AI strategy looks like in practice.

Why follow: Her speeches and public remarks provide the clearest available picture of where Singapore AI policy is heading and why. For any organisation operating in Singapore or Southeast Asia, her thinking on regulatory approach, workforce transformation, and international cooperation directly shapes the strategic environment.

2. Tan Kiat How

Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, Singapore Government

Tan Kiat How is one of Singapore's most visible AI policy evangelists and the government voice most consistently linking AI strategy to enterprise adoption, workforce capability, and specific deployment outcomes. He delivered the speech at the launch of the Singtel Digital InfraCo and NVIDIA Centre of Excellence for Applied AI, one of Singapore's most significant AI infrastructure partnerships, and regularly speaks about the Sovereign AI agenda and Singapore's indigenous AI capabilities including the SEA-LION large language model built to reflect Southeast Asian language and cultural nuances.

Where Minister Teo operates at the highest strategic level, Tan Kiat How tends to be where the strategic vision meets enterprise practice, speaking at industry events, explaining what AI adoption programmes actually offer to companies, and making the case for Singapore's AI capabilities to international audiences. He is one of the clearest voices on why Singapore's approach, emphasising trusted, responsible, and practical AI, is commercially relevant and not just governance theater.

Why follow: For business leaders and enterprise technology teams operating in Singapore or planning to enter the market, his commentary on AI adoption programmes, sovereign AI infrastructure, and enterprise AI capability is highly practical and directly relevant.

3. Laurence Liew

Director of AI Innovation, AI Singapore | Author, AI-First Nation

Laurence Liew is the architect of Singapore's most impactful national AI programmes. As Director of AI Innovation at AI Singapore, he built the 100 Experiments (100E) programme, which bridges academic AI research and industry implementation, and the AI Apprenticeship Programme (AIAP), Singapore's premier AI talent development pathway. His LearnAI initiative has reached more than 200,000 Singaporeans through programmes including AI for Everyone and AI for Industry. He is the author of "AI-First Nation: A Blueprint for Policy Makers and Organisation Leaders" and co-chairs the Global Partnership on AI's Innovation and Commercialisation Working Group, which focuses on broad AI adoption by SMEs worldwide.

Liew's thought leadership is firmly grounded in implementation rather than theory. He has spent over thirty years in technology leadership, and his understanding of what it actually takes to move AI from research into production, at national scale, across a diverse economy, is unmatched in Singapore's public sector. He is among the most consistently active Singapore AI voices on LinkedIn, posting regularly on AI engineering, small language model deployment, and workforce AI capability, and is one of the clearest points of access to what AI Singapore is actually doing.

Why follow: His perspective on operationalising AI at the organisational and national level is more practically grounded than almost anyone else in the Singapore ecosystem. Essential for HR leaders, L&D professionals, and executives responsible for AI workforce capability.

4. Professor Simon Chesterman

David Marshall Professor and Vice Provost, NUS | Senior Director of AI Governance, AI Singapore | Author, We, the Robots?

Professor Simon Chesterman is Singapore's most authoritative voice on AI law and governance. As Senior Director of AI Governance at AI Singapore and David Marshall Professor and Vice Provost at NUS, he sits at the precise intersection where legal scholarship meets national AI policy. He is the author of "We, the Robots? Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Law" (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and more than twenty other books. He posts actively on LinkedIn on AI governance frameworks, ASEAN regulatory developments, and the gap between AI governance principles and practice.

Chesterman's contribution to Singapore's AI thought leadership is distinctive because he approaches AI governance from a rigorous legal and international law background, rather than from a technology or policy communications angle. His research paper "The Tragedy of AI Governance" (2024) captures a central tension that Singapore's approach is explicitly designed to address: the gap between hundreds of AI ethics frameworks and the reality of accelerating AI deployment. His ability to bridge the worlds of international law, NUS academic research, and AI Singapore's operational governance work makes him an unusually well-connected voice in Singapore's AI policy conversation.

Why follow: For compliance officers, legal professionals, governance practitioners, and anyone tracking how international AI law and regional regulatory frameworks are evolving, he is an essential follow. His LinkedIn is one of the most reliably substantive AI governance feeds from Asia.

5. Dr. Ayesha Khanna

Co-Founder and CEO, Addo AI | Founder, 21C Girls and Amplify

Dr. Ayesha Khanna is arguably Singapore's most visible private-sector AI voice. She co-founded Addo AI in 2017, building it into a leading AI solutions firm before global AI fever made the category mainstream. She has served on the boards of the Infocomm Media Development Authority, Sport Singapore, and the Health Promotion Board, and served two terms on the World Economic Forum's Global Future Councils between 2019 and 2022. In 2025, she was named to Edelman's Top 50 AI Creators. Her LinkedIn following exceeds 85,000, with engagement rates that consistently outperform the platform average.

Dr. Khanna's distinctive contribution is translating complex AI concepts into strategic language that business leaders can act on. Her content addresses practical AI implementation, governance, and the human dimensions of AI adoption, drawing on her Harvard, Wall Street, and London School of Economics background alongside her decade-plus in Singapore's business community. She founded 21C Girls, which taught thousands of students AI and coding fundamentals in Singapore, and runs Amplify, an education company developing AI capability for executives and professionals. She represents a rare combination of technical credibility, board-level reach, and active content creation.

Why follow: She posts regularly on AI strategy, women in technology, and practical AI adoption for business leaders. Her content bridges academic rigour and board-level relevance in a way that is genuinely rare, and her ASEAN market insight is something global AI commentators typically lack.

6. Professor Ho Teck Hua

President, Nanyang Technological University | Founding Executive Chairman, AI Singapore

Professor Ho Teck Hua is one of the most consequential figures in Singapore's AI institutional landscape. He founded AI Singapore in 2017 while serving as Deputy President (Research and Technology) at NUS, establishing the national AI research and development programme that has become a model for government-led AI capacity building globally. He is now President of NTU, where he brings his behavioural science background, he holds a PhD and master's in decision sciences from the Wharton School, to questions of how AI reshapes decision-making, organisations, and human behaviour.

His founding of AI Singapore created the institutional infrastructure through which most of Singapore's AI research, talent development, and industry collaboration now flows. That founding history gives him a unique vantage point on what has worked, what has not, and what the next decade of AI development in Singapore needs. He is a frequent speaker at high-level forums on AI governance, research strategy, and the human dimensions of AI adoption, and his perspective bridges science, leadership, and national strategy in a way that is rare among university presidents globally.

Why follow: Understanding how Singapore's AI ecosystem was built, and where it is heading, requires understanding the institutional choices Professor Ho made in 2017. His perspective on research strategy and AI for public good remains foundational.

7. Professor Mohan Kankanhalli

Provost's Chair Professor of Computer Science, NUS | Deputy Executive Chairman (Talent and Ecosystem), AI Singapore | Director, NUS AI Institute

Professor Mohan Kankanhalli holds one of the most significant positions in Singapore's AI research ecosystem. As Director of the NUS AI Institute, established in March 2024, he leads an organisation bringing together researchers across the full spectrum of AI, from foundational research to applied AI and societal impact. His own research centres on privacy-aware AI, multimedia analysis, and the intersection of data science with human rights. He directs N-CRiPT, the NUS Centre for Research in Privacy Technologies, and serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on the Future of Artificial Intelligence.

Kankanhalli's work on privacy-aware AI is particularly important for Singapore's context. A small, densely data-rich society faces distinctive privacy risks from AI, and his research on how AI systems can learn from sensitive datasets without compromising individual privacy directly addresses one of Singapore's national AI research priorities. His dual role at NUS and AI Singapore means he operates at the intersection of frontier research and national policy, translating scientific insights into institutional strategy in ways that shape both the research agenda and the governance frameworks organisations use.

Why follow: For technology leaders, legal and compliance professionals, and anyone thinking seriously about responsible AI deployment in Asia, his research on privacy and trustworthy AI is essential.

8. Koo Sengmeng

Senior Director, AI Professionals Association, AI Singapore

Koo Sengmeng is one of Singapore's most important AI talent ecosystem builders. In 2020, he founded the AI Professionals Association, supported by AI Singapore, which trademarked the Chartered AI Engineer (CAIE) professional qualification, creating a recognised standard for AI engineering capability in Singapore and beyond. He currently drives the adoption of Certified AI Practitioners (CAIP) across key industry sectors, working to ensure that Singapore's AI workforce development moves from awareness to credentialled competence. He is recognised as a thought leader on national strategies and policies in AI and digital transformation.

Sengmeng is one of the most consistently active Singapore AI voices on LinkedIn, regularly posting on the AI for Public Good initiative, ecosystem developments, and the workforce capability agenda. His posts in early 2026 have focused on the outcomes of Singapore's AI for All literacy campaign and the next frontier of small language model deployment for edge computing in Singapore. He holds two master's degrees in technology management and business administration, plus a mechanical engineering bachelor's degree, giving him unusual range across technical, policy, and management domains.

Why follow: For HR leaders, L&D professionals, and anyone interested in AI talent development and professional credentialling at the national level, his perspective on what it takes to build a genuinely AI-capable workforce is grounded in years of implementation.

9. Jennifer Zhang

Co-Founder and President, WIZ.AI

Jennifer Zhang co-founded WIZ.AI in Singapore in 2019 with a conviction that the next billion users of AI would not speak in Silicon Valley English. WIZ.AI's Talkbot technology now supports conversational AI in Singlish, Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog, Thai, and multiple other Southeast Asian languages and dialects, achieving over 95% human indistinguishability according to the company. From a team of three, WIZ.AI has grown to almost 300 employees, serves more than 300 enterprise clients across 17 countries, and was named a WEF Technology Pioneer and part of LinkedIn's Top 10 Startups Singapore 2024.

Zhang's thought leadership is rooted in a problem that global AI labs rarely prioritise: the genuine linguistic and cultural complexity of Southeast Asia, where over 630 million people speak more than 1,000 languages and dialects. Her insight that the big AI platforms are building freeways while WIZ.AI handles the last-mile delivery captures a differentiation that is increasingly important as AI moves from English-first to genuinely multilingual. Her work is a practical proof of concept that Singapore can be the base from which genuinely Southeast Asian AI innovation scales globally.

Why follow: For founders, enterprise AI teams, and investors building for Southeast Asian markets, her experience taking voice AI from a Singapore base to 17 countries is a case study in what regional AI product-market fit actually requires.

10. Bernard Leong

Co-Founder and CEO, Dorje AI | Founder, Analyse Asia Podcast

Bernard Leong is one of Singapore's most distinctive AI voices precisely because he has spent his career operating at the intersection of technology and business in Asia rather than Silicon Valley. His Analyse Asia podcast covers technology, business, and media across Southeast Asia, building a following of executives and investors who want Asian-specific rather than US-centric perspectives on technology trends. His background spans Head of AI and ML at Amazon Web Services, senior roles at Airbus Aerial and Singapore Post, and the founding of Dorje AI, an enterprise AI startup focused on next-generation business operating systems.

Leong's value as a thought leader is his combination of practitioner credibility and analytical rigour. He has led technology teams, managed P&Ls exceeding US$30 million, and built products, which means his commentary on AI adoption, enterprise AI strategy, and Southeast Asian market dynamics is grounded in what leaders actually face. He is also an angel investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD Singapore, giving him visibility into the early-stage AI startup landscape across the region.

Why follow: For executives wanting Southeast Asian technology intelligence rather than adapted Silicon Valley thinking, his podcast and LinkedIn content offer genuine regional specificity.

11. Professor Ong Yew-Soon

President's Chair Professor, NTU | Chief Scientist (AI), A*STAR

Professor Ong Yew-Soon holds one of the most strategically significant dual appointments in Singapore's AI research landscape, combining a President's Chair professorship at NTU with the role of AI Chief Scientist at A*STAR, Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research. This combination means he shapes both frontier AI research at one of Asia's leading universities and the applied AI research agenda of the national body responsible for translating research into industry outcomes. His work spans evolutionary computation, multi-task and transfer learning, and human-machine teaming.

Professor Ong's appointment as A*STAR AI Chief Scientist places him at the intersection of Singapore's most important research-to-industry translation pathway. A*STAR's mandate is to industrialise research outcomes, and his leadership of its AI scientific agenda means his perspective on what AI research matters most for Singapore's economy is both authoritative and directly consequential. He has been recognised internationally for his contributions to computational intelligence and holds significant academic standing in machine learning and optimisation research.

Why follow: For AI researchers, technology companies seeking to engage Singapore's research ecosystem, and anyone tracking how Singapore translates frontier AI research into industrial applications, his dual NTU-A*STAR perspective is unique.

12. Professor Chunyan Miao

President's Chair Professor and Chair, NTU College of Computing and Data Science

Professor Chunyan Miao chairs the College of Computing and Data Science at NTU, one of Singapore's most strategically important AI academic institutions. Her research spans human-centred AI, cognitive computing, and the application of AI to healthcare and ageing, including work on AI for Singapore's "ageless aging" agenda, applying digital twin technologies and AI to support Singapore's rapidly ageing population. Her leadership of NTU's CCDS gives her significant influence over the shape of Singapore's AI talent pipeline and research priorities.

As Chair of NTU CCDS, Professor Miao oversees the institution that houses most of NTU's AI faculty and produces a significant share of Singapore's AI research output. Her perspective on human-centred AI reflects a distinctive NTU emphasis on ensuring that AI development serves human needs and values, not just technical benchmarks. This orientation makes her work particularly relevant for healthcare AI, AI for social good, and the design of AI systems that work effectively with and for people rather than simply replacing them.

Why follow: For healthcare AI leaders, social sector organisations, and anyone interested in how Singapore's leading technical university approaches the human dimensions of AI development, her work represents an important and often underrepresented perspective.

13. Associate Professor Daniel Ting Shu Wei

Head of AI and Digital Innovation, SingHealth | Adjunct Associate Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School

Associate Professor Daniel Ting is arguably Singapore's most important applied AI figure in healthcare. His work on AI for ophthalmology, including the development of AI systems that can detect diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma from retinal photographs, has been deployed at national scale in Singapore and has attracted attention internationally as one of the clearest demonstrations that AI clinical translation, moving from research into actual patient care, is achievable. He leads AI and digital innovation at SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare cluster.

Ting's work is important beyond ophthalmology because it provides a template for how AI can be taken from research through regulatory approval and clinical deployment in a real healthcare system. His papers on the clinical validation of AI diagnostic tools have been published in major medical journals including The Lancet, and his work on national-scale AI deployment for diabetic eye disease screening has been cited as a model for AI in low-resource healthcare settings globally. He was recognised in the 2024 IEEE AI's 10 to Watch list for his contributions to AI in medicine.

Why follow: For healthcare AI practitioners, digital health investors, and anyone interested in what successful AI clinical translation actually looks like, his work is one of the most credible available examples.

14. Sopnendu Mohanty

Chief Fintech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Sopnendu Mohanty shapes Singapore's approach to AI in financial services from his role as Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. His influence extends well beyond regulation. He has been a primary architect of Singapore's fintech innovation strategy, including Project Ubin, which explored blockchain and AI applications in financial infrastructure, and the Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN). His work positions Singapore as the testbed for AI-augmented financial regulation and responsible fintech innovation across Asia.

Mohanty is one of the few policymakers in Asia who has both the technical depth to engage meaningfully with AI researchers and the regulatory authority to shape how AI is actually deployed in financial institutions. His thought leadership on digital currencies, AI-driven risk management, and the future of central bank digital infrastructure has made Singapore's financial AI approach a reference point for other regulators in ASEAN and beyond.

Why follow: For anyone in banking, insurance, asset management, or financial regulation in Asia, his perspective on how AI is reshaping financial infrastructure is irreplaceable.

15. David De Cremer

Former Provost Chair Professor, NUS Business School | Founder, Centre on AI Technology for Humankind | Author, The AI-Savvy Leader

David De Cremer spent formative years at NUS Business School, where he founded the Centre on AI Technology for Humankind (AiTH). He is now Dean of Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business, but his intellectual contribution to Singapore's AI leadership conversation was foundational. His books "Leadership by Algorithm: Who Leads and Who Follows in the AI Era" and "The AI-Savvy Leader: 9 Ways to Take Back Control and Make AI Work" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024) have defined how management thinkers approach the leadership dimensions of AI adoption.

De Cremer's central argument is that leaders have ceded too much of the AI agenda to technical teams, creating a dangerous gap between strategy and implementation. His nine-point framework for AI-savvy leadership, developed through research and advisory work with organisations including Novartis, IBM, KPMG, Barclays, and Cisco, is both academically grounded and immediately applicable. He is consistently listed in the world's top 2% of scientists and named one of the top 30 management gurus by GlobalGurus. His Singapore years made him a shaping presence in the region's executive education landscape.

Why follow: His work sits at the precise intersection of AI adoption and leadership effectiveness, which is the space most senior executives actually live in. Essential for anyone leading AI transformation from a people and culture perspective.

This intersection of leadership and AI transformation is also where Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, does his most valuable work. He helps leadership teams build the cohesion, communication, and adaptability they need to navigate technological change together. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

16. Associate Professor Wang Xinchao

Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NUS | IEEE AI's 10 to Watch

Associate Professor Wang Xinchao has been recognised as one of IEEE AI's 10 to Watch, a designation that identifies researchers at the frontier of AI development whose work is expected to have significant future impact. His research focuses on efficient AI, specifically on developing methods to train and deploy AI systems with substantially reduced computational resources, a challenge that is strategically important for Singapore given its explicit national priority of resource-efficient AI and its commitment to managing the energy and data centre footprint of AI infrastructure.

Wang's work on efficient deep learning, knowledge distillation, and model compression addresses one of the central practical challenges of AI deployment at scale: how to make capable AI models small enough to run on edge devices, in resource-constrained environments, and with lower energy consumption. This is directly relevant to Singapore's Green Data Centre Roadmap and to the national AI research priority of resource-efficient AI that Minister Josephine Teo has articulated in her public speeches.

Why follow: For AI engineers, research leaders, and technology companies thinking about AI deployment at scale in resource-constrained environments, his work on efficient AI provides both technical insights and strategic direction.

17. Professor Bo An

Professor and Co-Director, NTU Artificial Intelligence Research Institute

Professor Bo An is one of NTU's flagship AI researchers and co-director of the NTU Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. His research spans multi-agent systems, game theory applied to AI, and AI for security applications, including work on AI-powered security resource allocation that has been deployed with real-world partners. His work on opponent modelling, mechanism design, and the dynamics of multiple AI agents interacting in complex environments is becoming increasingly important as agentic AI systems move from research into operational enterprise and government contexts.

Professor An has received significant international recognition for his research, including the IJCAI Award for Research Excellence shortlisting and multiple best paper awards at top AI conferences. His dual focus on theoretical rigour and real-world application reflects NTU's approach to AI research: building on strong mathematical foundations to produce AI systems that actually work in consequential real-world settings, from infrastructure security to complex logistics and resource management.

Why follow: For AI researchers, enterprise AI teams working with multi-agent systems, and anyone tracking the academic frontier of how AI systems are designed to interact with each other and with humans in complex strategic environments.

18. Jason Bay

Former Lead, TraceTogether | AI Ethics Practitioner and GovTech Alumnus

Jason Bay led Singapore's TraceTogether digital contact tracing programme, which became one of the most visible and debated AI-adjacent government technology deployments anywhere in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. His experience navigating the ethical, privacy, and public trust dimensions of deploying AI-powered public health infrastructure, under intense international scrutiny from governments, civil society organisations, and media globally, produced insights into responsible technology deployment that remain relevant across every domain where AI touches civic life.

Bay has since become an active voice on AI ethics, data governance, and the human dimensions of technology deployment in the public interest. What makes his perspective distinctive is not a theoretical framework but a lived case study: he oversaw the deployment of a nationally significant AI-adjacent system, saw the trust challenges it created, and has thought carefully about what those challenges mean for how AI governance should be designed and communicated. For anyone building AI systems that will interact with citizens or patients, his insights deserve serious attention.

Why follow: For government technology leaders, healthcare AI practitioners, and anyone thinking about the civic and trust dimensions of AI deployment, his lived experience with TraceTogether provides a case study no textbook can replicate.

19. Jefferson Chen

Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Advance Intelligence Group

Jefferson Chen co-founded Advance Intelligence Group, the parent company of Advance.ai, one of Southeast Asia's most significant AI-native companies. Advance Intelligence Group applies AI to identity verification, credit scoring, and financial inclusion for underserved populations across Southeast Asia and beyond. The company has built AI systems that can assess creditworthiness and verify identity in markets where traditional credit data is sparse or absent, solving one of the genuinely important problems in the region's digital financial ecosystem.

Chen's work is notable because it addresses AI for financial inclusion rather than AI for optimising already-served markets, a genuinely different and more difficult challenge. His company's approach of building AI systems that work with thin data and diverse document formats across multiple Southeast Asian regulatory environments represents a form of AI engineering that mainstream AI labs rarely invest in. He has been recognised by IMDA and spoken at ATxSummit and other major Singapore technology events.

Why follow: For AI founders, fintech leaders, and investors building or backing AI applications for emerging markets, his experience building AI-native financial services infrastructure across Southeast Asia is an important strategic reference.

20. Lee Wan Sie

Director, AI and Data Innovation, IMDA | Architect of AI Verify

Lee Wan Sie led the development of AI Verify, which IMDA describes as the world's first AI governance testing framework and software toolkit, published in 2022 and subsequently expanded through the AI Verify Foundation to reach companies globally. AI Verify is now used by over 500 global companies for algorithmic auditing and has become Singapore's most internationally recognised contribution to practical AI governance. Her work translates high-level AI ethics principles into technical testing tools that developers, compliance teams, and AI system owners can actually use to evaluate their systems.

The AI Verify Foundation has since expanded AI Verify's scope, adding Project Moonshot for generative AI evaluation and contributing to the Global AI Assurance Pilot launched in 2025. Lee Wan Sie's contribution to this body of work positions Singapore as a global reference point for AI governance tooling rather than just AI governance principles. Her work represents exactly the kind of "walking the talk" that Minister Josephine Teo has described as essential to Singapore's AI credibility: not just publishing frameworks but building the tools that make those frameworks real.

Why follow: For compliance officers, risk managers, technology teams implementing AI governance, and anyone building or evaluating AI systems in regulated environments, her work on AI Verify is directly applicable and practically important.

21. Professor Ee-Peng Lim

Associate Provost (Research), Singapore Management University | Co-Director, Living Analytics Research Centre

Professor Ee-Peng Lim brings SMU's distinctive focus on AI in business and social contexts to Singapore's research landscape. The Living Analytics Research Centre (LARC), which he co-directs, studies how AI can be applied to understand and improve human behaviour and social systems, including urban mobility, consumer behaviour, public health, and community wellbeing. His research spans social computing, data mining, and the intersection of AI with the social sciences, a combination that is increasingly important as AI systems are deployed in contexts that affect communities and individuals rather than just optimising business processes.

Why follow: For researchers and practitioners at the intersection of AI and social systems, including those in urban planning, public health, and consumer insights, his work offers frameworks for thinking about AI's social and human dimensions.

22. Peck Yen Tan

Head of Group AI, DBS Bank

Peck Yen Tan leads one of Asia's most advanced financial services AI programmes at DBS Bank, which has been consistently recognised as the world's best digital bank. DBS's AI deployment spans credit risk assessment, customer service, investment advice, fraud detection, and operational efficiency, making its AI function one of the most consequential in the region. Her leadership of this function provides direct insight into what enterprise-grade AI implementation actually requires in terms of data governance, model risk management, talent development, and organisational change management.

DBS is widely cited as one of the most successful examples of a traditional financial institution transforming itself through AI, and Tan's role at the centre of that transformation makes her perspective on what actually works, as opposed to what sounds good in presentations, exceptionally valuable. Singapore's status as one of Asia's leading financial centres makes DBS's AI approach a relevant reference for banking institutions across the region navigating their own AI transformation.

Why follow: For financial services leaders, enterprise AI practitioners, and anyone interested in what mature AI deployment looks like inside a world-class Asian organisation, DBS's AI journey under her leadership is one of the richest real-world case studies available.

23. Keong Kau

Partner and Asia Pacific AI Leader, PwC Singapore

Keong Kau leads PwC's AI practice across Asia Pacific from Singapore, advising large organisations on AI strategy, governance, and transformation. His position at the intersection of consulting, professional services, and enterprise AI gives him a view across industries and organisations that few individuals can match. He speaks frequently on AI risk, responsible AI deployment, and the board-level dimensions of AI strategy, translating AI concepts into the language of fiduciary responsibility and enterprise risk management that CFOs, CROs, and board directors actually speak.

Why follow: For board members, risk officers, and senior executives responsible for AI governance and strategy in large organisations, his advisory perspective is shaped by what boards and leadership teams are actually grappling with across the Asia Pacific region.

24. Oliver Tian

AI and Robotics Keynote Speaker | Human-Centric AI Advocate

Oliver Tian brings a Southeast Asian practitioner's perspective to AI keynote speaking, focusing on human-centric AI, robotics, and workforce transformation across the ASEAN region. His keynotes address the practical implications of AI for workforces grounded in an understanding of the region's diverse economic contexts, labour market realities, and cultural dimensions of technology adoption that speakers parachuting in from the US or UK typically miss. He is represented by the Singapore Speakers Bureau and has spoken at major corporate and conference events across Southeast Asia.

Why follow: For event organisers, corporate learning teams, and HR leaders seeking an AI speaker who understands Southeast Asian workforce realities, his regional grounding offers what global AI celebrities cannot deliver.

25. Professor Min-Yen Kan

Professor, Department of Computer Science, NUS | Principal Scientist, AI Singapore

Professor Min-Yen Kan is one of Singapore's most prominent natural language processing researchers, with decades of work on information retrieval, scientific document analysis, and text summarisation. As a principal scientist at AI Singapore alongside his NUS faculty role, he operates at the junction of cutting-edge NLP research and national AI capability building. His work on multilingual NLP has direct and practical relevance for Singapore's linguistically diverse society and for Southeast Asia's multilingual digital economy, where building AI that works across English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, and dozens of regional languages is a genuine technical and social challenge.

Why follow: For technology leaders and researchers working on knowledge management, document AI, or NLP applications in Asian markets, his research provides both technical depth and regional relevance.

Common Mistakes When Engaging Singapore's AI Ecosystem

Understanding who the thought leaders are is valuable. Knowing how to learn from them and engage their insights effectively is what matters. A few patterns emerge when leaders try to benefit from Singapore's AI ecosystem and fall short.

The first mistake is treating Singapore's AI thought leadership as a relay station for Silicon Valley ideas. Singapore's most distinctive contributions, including trustworthy AI governance, multilingual AI safety testing, the 100 Experiments model for industry-research collaboration, the SEA-LION large language model for Southeast Asian languages, and the AI Verify governance testing toolkit, are original to Singapore's context. Leaders who approach Singapore's AI ecosystem expecting adapted American thinking will miss the genuine intellectual contributions being made here.

The second mistake is focusing exclusively on technology and ignoring leadership. The AI transformation challenge is not primarily a technology problem. It is a leadership problem. Organisations with sophisticated AI strategies frequently fail because their leadership teams are not aligned, their communication about AI is muddled, and their cultures cannot absorb the pace of change AI demands. The voices in this directory who address these human dimensions, including De Cremer's work on AI-savvy leadership, Chesterman's work on the tragedy of AI governance, and Minister Teo's emphasis on people-centred AI, deserve as much attention as the technical voices.

The third mistake is conflating awareness with capability. Singapore's own national strategy makes this distinction explicit: three in four workers now use AI tools, but using tools is different from having the judgment, leadership, and team dynamics needed to deploy AI responsibly and effectively at scale. The National AI Impact Programme's goal of reaching 10,000 enterprises and 100,000 workers reflects exactly this distinction, prioritising genuine capability over surface-level exposure.

Building the leadership and team dynamics to support AI capability is exactly where Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, helps organisations. He works with leadership teams in Singapore and globally to build the cohesion, communication, and adaptability that AI transformation demands. Email jonno@consultclarity.org or visit consultclarity.org.

Implementation Guide: Building Your Singapore AI Learning System

If you want to extract genuine value from Singapore's AI thought leadership rather than simply accumulating awareness, a structured approach helps more than passive following.

Start by segmenting the voices in this directory by your current challenge. If you are a board member trying to understand AI governance obligations, start with Josephine Teo's public speeches, Simon Chesterman's writing on AI governance, and De Cremer's "The AI-Savvy Leader." If you are an HR or L&D leader thinking about workforce AI capability, start with Laurence Liew and Koo Sengmeng, who are both actively working on the workforce dimension of Singapore's national AI strategy. If you are building AI products for Southeast Asian markets, start with Jennifer Zhang's WIZ.AI story and Bernard Leong's Analyse Asia podcast.

Second, create a deliberate cadence. Singapore's AI ecosystem moves fast. Setting aside thirty minutes per week to engage with content from three or four of these thought leaders is more valuable than binge-consuming AI content for a day and then ignoring it for a month. LinkedIn notifications for specific individuals, podcast subscriptions, and email alerts for key organisations including IMDA, AI Singapore, NUS AI Institute, and NTU CCDS will help maintain the cadence without constant search.

Third, go beyond content consumption to active application. When Laurence Liew describes the 100 Experiments model, ask yourself what the equivalent would look like in your organisation. When De Cremer outlines his nine leadership actions for AI adoption, evaluate honestly which of the nine your leadership team is weakest on. When Jason Bay discusses the trust dimensions of AI deployment, consider which of your own AI initiatives might be creating trust deficits you have not yet noticed.

Fourth, connect the AI leadership conversation to your broader leadership development. The most important thing AI is doing to organisations right now is not automating tasks. It is surfacing, accelerating, and magnifying existing leadership challenges. Teams that communicate poorly communicate worse under AI-driven change. Leadership groups that struggle with alignment find that AI adoption makes alignment harder. Building strong leadership foundations, by working on communication, cohesion, and decision-making, is the highest-leverage investment most organisations can make to prepare for AI transformation.

If your leadership team is navigating AI transformation and the human challenges it creates, Jonno White facilitates sessions that help teams build exactly these foundations. From keynotes at your conference to workshop facilitation and executive offsite design, Jonno works with organisations across Singapore and globally. International travel is often far more affordable than clients expect. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the most influential AI thought leaders in Singapore?

The most influential voices span government, academia, and the private sector. In the government and policy sphere, Minister Josephine Teo and Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How are the most consequential. In the AI Singapore ecosystem, Laurence Liew, Simon Chesterman, and Koo Sengmeng are central. In academia, Professor Mohan Kankanhalli (NUS), Professor Ho Teck Hua (NTU/AISG), and Professor Ong Yew-Soon (NTU/A*STAR) are widely cited. In the private sector, Dr. Ayesha Khanna and Jennifer Zhang are among the most active public voices.

How does Singapore's AI thought leadership differ from global AI thought leadership?

Singapore's distinctive contributions include AI governance frameworks (the Model AI Governance Framework, AI Verify, Project Moonshot, and the January 2026 Agentic AI Governance Framework), multilingual and multicultural AI safety testing, the 100 Experiments and AI Apprenticeship Programme models for national AI capacity building, the SEA-LION large language model for Southeast Asian languages, and a "neutral bridge" perspective on global AI governance that neither the US nor Chinese ecosystems can offer. Singapore's thought leaders are more likely to address AI governance, responsible deployment, and Southeast Asian market realities than the technical frontier questions dominating Western AI discourse.

Which Singapore AI thought leaders are most active on LinkedIn?

Dr. Ayesha Khanna, Laurence Liew, and Koo Sengmeng are among the most consistently active. Simon Chesterman posts regularly on AI governance and international law. Bernard Leong shares Southeast Asian technology insights. Jennifer Zhang and Jefferson Chen are active in the startup and investor community. For real-time updates on Singapore AI policy, IMDA's official LinkedIn page is also worth following.

Is Singapore a significant AI hub compared to the US and China?

Singapore is ranked among the world's top three AI nations. It generated 15% of NVIDIA's global revenue in a recent quarter, hosts the largest AI conference in Asia (SuperAI, with over 10,000 attendees), has attracted Microsoft Research Asia's first Southeast Asia lab and Google DeepMind's Singapore research lab, and has committed S$1 billion in public AI research funding across 2025 to 2030. For a nation of 5.9 million, this represents an extraordinary concentration of AI infrastructure, research, and talent.

Can I hire a speaker who understands both AI and leadership for my Singapore event?

Yes. For events that need to address the leadership and people dimensions of AI transformation rather than the technology itself, Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out with over 10,000 copies sold globally, delivers keynotes and workshops that help leadership teams navigate the human side of technological change. International travel is often far more affordable than clients expect. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

What is the SEA-LION language model?

SEA-LION stands for Southeast Asian Languages in One Network, Singapore's indigenous large language model developed to reflect the cultural, linguistic, and social nuances of Southeast Asia. It is one of the clearest examples of Singapore's commitment to building AI capability that serves the region's specific context rather than simply adopting global AI models. Tan Kiat How has been one of the clearest government voices on the strategic importance of sovereign AI and SEA-LION specifically.

What is the Singapore Consensus on AI Safety?

The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities was developed at the Singapore Conference on AI in April 2025, an international scientific exchange on AI safety held in conjunction with ICLR 2025. Led by global experts including Yoshua Bengio alongside Singapore's research community, it identified priority areas for global AI safety research and aimed to bridge the gap between AI scientists and policymakers. It represents Singapore's contribution to the emerging global conversation about safe and responsible AI development.

Final Thoughts

Singapore's position in the global AI conversation is more significant than most international observers recognise. This is not simply a city-state that has adopted AI enthusiastically. It is a place where distinctive intellectual work on AI governance, trustworthy AI, multilingual AI safety, and AI for public good is being produced and shared with the world. The twenty-five leaders in this directory are doing that work, and following them provides a form of competitive intelligence that no consulting report or conference keynote can replace.

The most important thing to take from this directory, though, is not any specific name or framework. It is the underlying reality that AI transformation is fundamentally a leadership challenge. Singapore's own policymakers make this point explicitly: AI tools are now used by three in four workers in Singapore, but the organisations that will thrive are those whose leaders can make clear decisions about AI adoption, build cultures that embrace change without losing cohesion, and communicate confidently about what AI means for their people and their strategy.

Building those leadership capabilities is where Jonno White, bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out with over 10,000 copies sold globally and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, does his most important work. He has delivered keynotes and leadership workshops with organisations across Singapore, Australia, the UK, the USA, and beyond, helping leadership teams build the cohesion and capability they need to lead through exactly this kind of transformation. International travel is often far more affordable than clients expect, and virtual delivery is also available. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, bestselling author, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits across the UK, India, Australia, Canada, Mongolia, New Zealand, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, USA, Finland, Namibia, and more. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders and achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating for his Working Genius masterclass at the ASBA 2025 National Conference. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected.

To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Next Read: 35 Best Thought Leaders on AI Ethics in ANZ

If you found this directory useful, the natural next read is our comprehensive guide to AI ethics and governance thought leaders across Australia and New Zealand. The most credible voices include Professor Toby Walsh at UNSW, Edward Santow at UTS, Dr Catriona Wallace, Aurelie Jacquet at Ethical AI Consulting and CSIRO Data61, Professor Genevieve Bell, and Professor Jeannie Paterson at the University of Melbourne. Each brings different expertise, from technical research to human rights law to corporate governance.

Keep reading: https://www.consultclarity.org/post/thought-leaders-ai-ethics-anz