It's all about AI for work in 2025

AI skills dominate the conversation for jobs and careers in 2025.

According to Ipsos' 2025 predictions, 65% of respondents on average across 33 countries say “AI will lead to many new jobs being lost in my country”, up from 64% last year, as opposed to the expectation of AI-driven job creation (43%). Ipsos said the trend echoes previous years, but with the gap slightly narrowing. "Optimism shines in China, where 77% foresee AI creating jobs, while concerns dominate in Japan, with 65% predicting job losses," the company said in its predictions report. 

"Contrary to the doom and gloom around AI replacing human workers, in 2025, AI will generate more jobs by creating new fields to support the AI ecosystem, from AI engineers to data scientists and cybersecurity specialists. AI-powered tools will also be increasingly used to facilitate skill training and development, making it easier for job seekers and mid-career switchers to upskill and enhance employability," said Ying Shao Wei, Senior Partner, Chief Scientist, NCS.

Source: Coursera. Gupta.

AI skills in demand

According to Couchbase, businesses that do not prioritise workforce AI readiness will encounter significant challenges. "Organisations will need to develop comprehensive plans to upskill and train the existing workforce to ensure seamless integration with AI capabilities. 

"New creative and strategic roles should be developed to complement AI capabilities rather than replacing humans with AI systems. Aggregators will play a crucial role in helping enterprises identify and implement the right AI solutions," predicted Mohan Varthakavi, VP, AI and Edge, Couchbase.

"Businesses must also prepare their workforce to effectively manage government AI regulations, ensuring they stay adaptable and flexible as these regulations will likely require continued updates within organisational and AI systems."

"The recently launched Job Skills Report 2025 ...identified the fastest-growing skills needed to thrive in the year ahead. Gen AI skills were the most-sought-after by Singaporean learners, followed by cybersecurity, risk management, human capital development, and data visualisation and analytics, emphasising the efforts being made to build resilient, future-ready workplaces," said Raghav Gupta, MD, Asia Pacific, Coursera.

"In 2025, we expect the global race towards AI literacy to further accelerate. Gen AI will not take over jobs. But workers who are not using AI might be replaced by those who do. High gen AI enrolments from Singapore learners signal that even those employed are upskilling to remain relevant in their jobs and the market at large. Every graduating student will need to know how to use gen AI as a thought partner and to augment their work, to become employable and productive in their very first job." 

"This will also translate into benefits at work. Employees who can harness AI for their work will outperform others who do not use AI, achieving better quality of work, productivity, and efficiency. Possessing the right skillsets to leverage AI will be crucial to any technical and non-technical role," said Tay Bee Kheng, President, ASEAN, Cisco.

Source: Salesforce.
Abraham.

"Every employee will have to upskill themselves to stay relevant. Initiatives like the Cisco Networking Academy, which provides digital skills training including cybersecurity, are crucial in bridging the digital skills gap. As technology continues to advance, it is vital to persistently upskill, stay relevant, and leverage the latest innovations."

Sujith Abraham, Senior VP and GM, ASEAN, Salesforce, said that as AI agents automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, employees are freed to focus on higher-value work. 

"This presents an opportunity for the workforce to transform their skill sets and take on more strategic roles. As AI agents become increasingly integrated into the workforce, employees will need to develop new skills to manage and optimise them. They will also have to leverage their industry knowledge to train these agents so that they can deliver the desired business outcomes," he said.

"By blending human expertise with AI, companies can create a more agile workforce focused on driving growth and preparing employees for roles that require creativity, problem-solving, and strategic thinking." 

"Just as the rise of computers spawned job titles like computer scientists, data scientists and machine learning engineers, AI will create different types of work, expanding opportunities for people with strong analytical skills and natural language processing abilities," agreed Nader Khalil, Director of Developer Technology, NVIDIA.

Ryan Meyer, MD, Asia Pacific, General Assembly, said the new roles will include developers, engineers and consultants as the era of generative AI evolves into a new phase where hyperautomation takes centrestage.

Source: General Assembly.
Meyer.

"This shift enables the automation of end-to-end workflows and enhances complex decision-making processes, surpassing the limitations of standard automation that typically targets repetitive tasks. Looking toward 2025, the demand for specialists who can navigate this complex landscape will surge," he said.

"Roles such as robotic process automation (RPA) developers, AI/ML engineers, and digital transformation consultants will be increasingly critical, and companies must invest in cultivating a talent pool that is equipped to leverage these advanced tools – upskilling existing talents to grow into these crucial, specialised roles may be an essential step in adapting to these industry shifts."

AI prompting

Gavin Barfield, VP & CTO, Solutions, Salesforce ASEAN, said that the new skills required will include being able to define agent instructions, craft prompts, and set guardrails. 

"Writing prompts may seem straightforward because they are written in natural language. However, crafting and refining these instructions and establishing clear guardrails to ensure an AI model performs as intended requires expertise," he explained.

"While prompt engineering for LLMs is common, writing instructions and setting guardrails for reasoning engines will become critical skills. As more organisations integrate AI agents into their workflows, the demand for professionals with the skills to build and test agents in real-world scenarios will increase."

"If you haven’t heard much about prompt engineers or AI personality designers, you will in 2025. As businesses embrace AI to increase productivity, expect to see new categories of essential workers for both startups and enterprises that blend new and existing skills," Khalil shared.

"A prompt engineer designs and refines precise text strings that optimise AI training and produce desired outcomes based on the creation, testing and iteration of prompt designs for chatbots and agentic AI. The demand for prompt engineers will extend beyond tech companies to sectors like legal, customer support and publishing."

Khalil also said there will be roles just to craft personalities for AI models. "As AI agents proliferate, businesses and startups will increasingly lean in to AI personality designers to enhance agents with unique personalities," he said.

Source: Salesforce. Barfield.

AI coding

"Just as how the invention of smartphones and mobile applications created a thriving ecosystem of app developers, the growth of AI platforms is fostering a new generation of AI developers. This drives innovation in ASEAN and opens the pathway for local talent to develop AI tools tailored to meet the region’s unique needs – whether it is small language models (SLMs) that support native languages like Singlish or Taglish, or advanced models that tackle specific challenges like anti-money laundering," said Abraham.

"With a population of over 650 million, including individual markets with over 100 million people, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and a combined GDP comparable to major economies, there is a massive opportunity for AI developers in ASEAN. The growth of the AI industry in the region will not only attract established global tech giants to set up operations and company headquarters locally but also catalyse the birth of home-grown startups. 

"With that, we’ll see a migration of strategic roles typically available in the West to this part of the world, creating new opportunities for the future workforce. Something for parents to consider when raising their little ones!"

Source: Zoom. Kapur.

Zoom's Ricky Kapur said that AI maturity will also attract AI natives as incoming employees to workplaces. Kapur, who is head of Asia Pacific for Zoom, defined AI natives as people who have grown up with AI "and now expect it to be seamlessly integrated into their daily workflows." 

"The best talent will naturally gravitate toward organisations that fully embrace AI and empower their teams to use them effectively. Looking ahead, AI is no longer just a tool, but a critical driver of competitive advantage and long-term business success," he said.

Chief Trust Officers needed

DigiCert further suggested that there will be one more seat in the C-suite. "Digital trust becomes a boardroom priority, leading to a continued rise of Chief Trust Officers (CTrOs) who will oversee ethical AI, secure digital experiences, and compliance in an increasingly regulated environment," the company predicted.

Gen AI stands for generative AI, and LLM for large language model.

Explore

More comments on the future of work are under J is for jobs. Read the full 2-Z of 2025 predictions at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2025/01/the-techtrade-asia-2024-roundup-2025.html

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