Despite the city-state’s status as a “Smart Nation”, more than half of Singapore consumers (54 percent) report feeling less tolerant when interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) – the highest in Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) and well above the 42 percent regional average, a study showed Tuesday.

Twilio, the global customer engagement platform, said in a study that digitalization has brought convenience and connectivity, but it has also raised expectations and tested consumers’ patience.

According to the study, Singapore consumers are the most digitally impatient in the APJ region.

It revealed that while Singapore’s culture places a strong emphasis on efficiency and courtesy, this politeness is tested in digital interactions.

An overwhelming 90 percent of Singapore consumers believe they are expected to be patient and polite in customer service interactions, but only 59 percent say they actually remain patient when dealing with brands online.

This suggests that poor service design is straining consumers’ tolerance.

The study also found that only 29 percent of Singapore consumers are satisfied with AI-supported customer service, placing Singapore among the lowest in APJ.

This suggests that while AI is widely deployed, there remains a gap between what the technology delivers and what consumers expect from their experience.

In Singapore, over half of consumers (52 percent) say they feel frustrated when AI fails to understand their questions, while generic responses (49 percent) and robotic or scripted replies (48 percent) also rank among the top pain points.

Amid this dissatisfaction, consumers show a clear preference for human-led support channels.

Nearly half of Singapore consumers (46 percent) prefer to start directly with a human agent, even if it takes longer, compared with 42 percent regionally.

Patience levels also reflect this preference: Singapore consumers are highly patient with human-led channels, such as phone calls (86 percent) and live chat (84 percent), but patience drops sharply for automated systems, including AI chatbots (53 percent) and interactive voice response (47 percent).

In addition, one in four consumers says they feel more patient with offline services, compared with just 12 percent online, suggesting human interaction offers a higher perceived likelihood of resolution.

“Speed alone doesn’t earn patience. AI can deliver efficiency, but if it fails to understand customers, provide clear guidance, or allow easy human escalation, it risks frustrating rather than delighting them,

“Brands must design AI experiences that combine speed with empathy, clarity and seamless handoff to human agents when needed. That’s how digital patience is earned,” said Robert Woolfrey, Vice President, APJ, Communications, at Twilio.

The study also showed digital patience window in Singapore is short.

Consumers expect issues to be resolved in 24 minutes on average–roughly the time it takes to complete a quick supermarket run.

Singapore consumers also expect digital services that are fast, clear, and frictionless. Half value quick resolution (50 percent), nearly as many prioritize clear, easy-to-follow instructions (49 percent), and over a third (37 percent) want to avoid repeating themselves across channels or agents.

While Singapore consumers are the most digitally impatient in APJ, their patience is dependent on the context.

It peaks in high-stakes interactions such as healthcare, including following up after consultations (76 percent) and booking appointments (75 percent).

In contrast, tolerance drops sharply for retail and tech issues, which are seen as less critical: just over half remain patient when reporting service outages or glitches (54 percent) or chasing delayed or missing deliveries (52 percent).

This behavior is also evident among luxury shoppers, who are often perceived as the least patient demographic and the most exacting in service expectations.

Across APJ, luxury consumers show high patience for complex, process-driven issues such as asking follow-up questions post-consultation (79 percent) or clarifying loan details (72 percent).

However, their patience erodes for issues where money and expensive items are on the line.

Only 66 percent remain patient when disputing charges or unauthorized transactions, or reporting failed deliveries of high-value items.

These findings suggest that Singapore consumers are not inherently impatient, but rather emotionally attuned to the context of their service request.

They show patience when the stakes are high and expect fast, efficient resolution for routine or time-sensitive issues.

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