AI, Working Parents and Growth Markets: Minister of State Foo Cexiang Sets Out Priorities

For Foo Cexiang, the challenge of artificial intelligence is not whether companies should use it, but how they introduce it into workers’ careers.

The new Minister of State, who took office on Tuesday in the manpower and trade and industry ministries, said he wants to work closely with human resources professionals on the issue. Companies need to assess which tasks AI can handle while ensuring employees still have opportunities to gain experience and develop their capabilities.

“Together with HR, we’ll be able to influence, in some sense, how AI is integrated within not just a company, but a worker's career development pathway,” he said.

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Together with HR, we’ll be able to influence, in some sense, how AI is integrated within not just a company, but a worker's career development pathway.

Foo also identified support for working parents as a priority. As a father of three, he said he understands the pressure of combining professional and family responsibilities. He wants to gather more views and explore different forms of flexibility that can meet both employees’ needs and employers’ operational requirements.

At the Trade and Industry Ministry, Foo is looking toward new overseas markets as global trading patterns change and countries diversify their economic links. Across both portfolios, he described his role as bringing different groups and perspectives together and turning areas of agreement into practical results.

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Many parents who are running companies or in managerial positions understand this tension intimately themselves because they have to manage this on an everyday basis.