Despite strong preference for artificial intelligence (AI), 92 percent of Singapore AI natives still want the option of human support in customer interactions, a new study commissioned by Zoom revealed Wednesday.
Zoom said in a statement that the rise of a new class of ‘AI natives’ in Asia Pacific (APAC) — individuals aged between 18 and 24 years old — who have had early exposure to AI growing up, and are currently active users of the technology.
It noted that they bring elevated expectations for AI-first experiences, but pair it with a uniquely nuanced approach to the technology.
A key finding, for instance, reveals that 92 percent of AI natives in Singapore want the option of escalating to a human agent in their customer interactions, despite showing a strong preference for AI chatbots or agents.
In fact, 76 percent of AI natives in Singapore say businesses should offer AI options for faster resolutions.
This reflects their heightened expectations for customer experience (CX), seeking seamless integration between technology and human expertise.
The preference for having a human support option finding is true for non-AI natives as well (78 percent), though they show a less pronounced inclination compared to their AI native counterparts.
This gap is also evident in attitudes towards AI in the workplace.
65 percent of Singapore AI natives are positive and eager about AI usage at work, while less than half (48 percent) of non-AI natives say the same.
However, AI natives in Singapore remain careful about how they use AI.
More than half of AI natives (57 percent) cite the accuracy of AI-generated outputs as their top concern, reflecting a discerning engagement with AI at work.
As this growing demographic enters both the consumer market and workforce with distinct expectations shaped by AI, organizations in the region must be prepared to evolve and deliver experiences that match these needs.
Leveraging the powerful partnership of AI and humans is key for businesses to build long-term loyalty with these AI natives — whether as an employee or brand consumer — for the future.
“AI natives in Singapore and the APAC region have heightened expectations for how AI powers their everyday experiences — both as customers or employees,
“At the same time, organizations must also recognize that non-AI natives are engaging with these technologies from a different starting point, and come with concerns like security and privacy that must be addressed right at the onset,” said Steve Rafferty, Head of EMEA and APAC, Zoom.
“Loyalty in the era of AI will depend on how well and fast organizations can evolve their technology stack to strike the right balance between AI and human connection,
“This is how organizations will earn trust, unlock growth and future-proof their business,” he added.
Conducted by Kantar, the Zoom-commissioned study surveyed 2,551 respondents aged 18-45 across 8 markets in the APAC region, including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The research uncovers the contrasting expectations of AI natives and non-AI natives across CX and employee experience (EX), explores the role AI plays in these interactions, and, more importantly, examines their outlook on the future of AI.
Overall, respondents polled across the APAC region use an average of four different AI applications across their personal and professional lives.
The most popular include chatbots that answer customer service questions (68 percent) and voice assistants (64 percent).
Of the eight markets surveyed, Singapore stands out with the biggest gap in AI usage between the two groups: AI natives there use an average of five AI applications, while non-AI natives just use about three AI applications.
When it comes to CX, AI natives in Singapore are generally more demanding than their non-AI native counterparts.
For one, disjointed experiences like having to repeat themselves when switching from a chatbot to a human agent, or getting different answers to the same question across multiple channels can be a deal-breaker for brand loyalty.
Singapore AI natives are twice as likely to consider switching to a competitor when faced with such a scenario, compared to the APAC AI native average (6 percent versus 3 percent, respectively).
They also seek the best of both worlds, expecting AI to be part of the experience while valuing the option for escalation to a human agent when needed.
Among those who consider this important, the top two reasons cited are that AI responses are often too generic and unhelpful, and that they feel more confident that a human agent will correctly understand their issue.
In fact, getting generic copy and paste answers were noted by Singapore AI natives as the top factor impacting brand loyalty (53 percent), well above the APAC AI native average of 48 percent.
In contrast, non-AI natives in Singapore cited speed of response as their top driver of loyalty (56 percent).
Overall, more than half of all respondents across the APAC region (53 percent) agreed that it was very or extremely important that they could switch from an AI agent to a human agent during their interaction.
“In the era of agentic AI, organizations must think strategically where technology fits across the customer journey, including where AI should lead and when human connection remains essential,” said Lucas Lu, Head of Asia for Zoom.
Furthermore, he said the research finds that poorly generated responses by AI can in fact undermine brand reputation and loyalty.
“When implemented thoughtfully, AI can enhance the quality of self-service, while empowering human agents to deliver a more personalized and emotionally intelligent response,
“By combining the best of both, organizations can deliver the elevated customer experience AI natives in APAC now expect,” he added.
On the professional front, both AI natives and non-AI natives across the region agree that AI is now part of everyday work life.
In fact, only 4 percent of Singapore respondents say that they don’t currently use AI in their workplace.
The most common applications include writing and editing, idea generation and brainstorming, and translating documents from another language — these are consistent across both groups in Singapore and the regional consensus.
Thankfully, organizations in Singapore have been able to somewhat deliver on their employees’ expectations.
Both AI natives (69 percent) and non-AI natives (66 percent) in Singapore report a relatively high level of satisfaction with the AI tools they are provided at work, though lower
than the overall APAC average (74 percent for AI natives and 76 percent for non-AI natives).
However, the study unveils key differences in the way the two groups perceive AI at work.
In fact, non-AI natives in Singapore are not only less enthusiastic about AI than AI natives, but also less so than their non-AI native counterparts in APAC (66 percent).
Singapore AI natives are also significantly more likely to agree that it is important for an employer to provide access to AI tools for its employees, compared to non-AI natives (87 percent versus 74 percent, respectively).
Similarly, there is a wider gap in perception between AI natives and non-AI natives in Singapore, as opposed to the wider APAC region where both groups agreed to a similar extent (78 percent of AI natives and 77 percent of non-AI natives).
Among the markets surveyed, Singapore had the second highest percentage of AI natives who agree on the importance of being provided AI tools by their employers, just behind Korea (90 percent).
This means that organizations will need to evolve their technology to meet the higher expectations from AI natives who will soon make up a significant portion of the Singapore workforce.
The two groups also have different concerns when it comes to AI usage.
While the biggest concern for AI natives in Singapore is the accuracy of AI-generated outputs (57 percent), non-AI natives worry most about data privacy and security (58 percent).
In fact, data privacy and security generally ranked high on the list of concerns around AI, coming in second for AI natives in Singapore (50 percent) and top of the list for APAC as a region (56 percent).
This reflects an inherent difference in comfort with AI between the two groups.
AI natives are demanding for more precision and reliability with AI, as they likely already know how AI should work and are quick to notice when it falls short.
On the other hand, non-AI natives may require more education, training and initial onboarding support to assuage their fears, particularly around data.
Organizations should not take a one-size-fits-all approach to AI implementation, but carefully consider the different needs and expectations of their diverse workforce, said the statement.
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