Opinion

Insurance is, in every developed market, a quasi-public good. It is regulated, subsidized at the edges, and central to economic resilience. When the adjudication layer of that public good is privatized into opaque software, the social contract underneath insurance erodes regardless of whether any specific outcome is "wrong."

Artificial intelligence has entered a phase of rapid, large-scale deployment, but without robust, secure, and high-performance infrastructure, its economic impact will be constrained. For Singapore and Southeast Asia, the next phase is all about execution.

Himanshu Gupta, Senior Architect, Capital Markets, Solace, identifies five key business use cases where properly orchestrated AI agents are delivering impact and ROI for frontier financial services firms. But exploiting this potential requires more than just deploying intelligent AI models, he explains the infrastructure behind how they do it. 

The technologies needed to reduce exposure to hazardous work already exist. What is required now is broader adoption, supported by applied research, industry testbeds, and regulatory frameworks that recognize and reward genuine risk reduction.

AI-assisted commerce is introducing a new level of precision to the digital economy. Shoppers are regaining their time through compressed discovery; retailers are solidifying their role as the owners of the transactions, and brands are finding a more direct, data-driven path to their customers. Those that thrive will be those that embrace this shift,…

The companies that will capture meaningful Baidu share in the next 24 months are those acting now. DeepSeek changed the game. The only question is whether your digital strategy reflects the new rules.

Industrial bases, not just science, will determine whether breakthroughs become real benefits.

The direction across APAC is clear, even though regions move at different paces. Some jurisdictions are moving from voluntary principles to binding rules, especially in high-impact AI applications and critical industries.

Connectivity remains the essential foundation. But what operators choose to build on top of it will ultimately determine how relevant they remain in their customers’ daily digital lives.