Kelvin Lee

It was an honour to share about the biggest shift in human history: AI at SMU School of Computing and Information Systems Industry Day. At Google, we've viewed AI since 2018 as not just a technological advancement; it's a profound enabler that can help us tackle humanity’s most significant challenges. I shared how AI is already making a tangible difference across three critical areas: 🩺 Healthcare: From empowering doctors to detect diseases earlier to accelerating drug discovery with tools like AlphaFold, AI is shifting us from treatment to prevention and saving lives. 🌀 Climate Change: AI gives us the most precious resource in a crisis—time. Our AI-powered tools provide earlier, more accurate forecasts for floods and hurricanes, helping communities prepare and respond more effectively. 🎓Education: We’re making education more personal and accessible. AI helps students get one-on-one help and empowers teachers to create personalised learning plans, freeing them to focus on mentoring and inspiring. This vision can only be realised through a shared commitment to building robust infrastructure, investing in human capital through skilling programs, and shaping forward-thinking policies. The real value for all of us is this: AI isn't just about building new products. It’s also about empowering people to solve our greatest challenges and level the playing field for many of us. The potential is immense, and it’s a future that we can all build together. Glad to also catch up with Sun Sun Lim, Adeline Tung, Xinxing Xu and Feida Zhu.

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Singapore has been busy. Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Alibaba, BHP, Accenture, PwC, and Prudential have all opened AI labs, research centres, and innovation hubs here in the last 12 months alone. The two main goals of nearly all of them are developing talent and resolving actual business issues. That’s not a coincidence. Singapore is turning into an interesting place to look at if you're considering the intersection of AI, capability-building, and real-world implementation. #AI #Singapore #DigitalInnovation #TalentDevelopment #AIEcosystem #TechLeadership

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Do we want to be the AI pilot or a passenger? I attended the ASEAN AI Malaysia Summit 2025 to listen to a keynote by one of my favourite speakers, Professor Sanjay Sarma, from MIT Sloan School of Management and Asia School of Business. I want to share an important question he asked: As persons, companies, and countries, do we want to be the AI pilot or a passenger? He explained that devices are everywhere around us — the lights, the smart door, your phone, tablet, even your car — and these devices are becoming much more intelligent. They connect to the Internet, are part of IoT (Internet of Things), and incorporate AI (Artificial Intelligence). That ecosystem of IoT with AI is becoming more ubiquitous and automated, and we are all going to be part of it. Like in an airplane, we will need to decide if we want to be the pilot who controls the technology or if we are going to be passengers and be flown around, with nothing to say. We can decide not to take an airplane, but we can’t avoid the automation that IoT and AI will bring. To be in control of this new reality, we need to learn how it works. Many nations are preparing to control it by upskilling their people; others are not, and will become the passengers of those nations that do. Are we doing what it takes to become a nation of pilots? Sanjay doesn't have a LinkedIn profile, but you can find more about him at Wikipedia (link in the first comment). 

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