Developing Human Capital for Competitiveness: A Study of Singapore’s Artificial Intelligence Apprenticeship Program (AIAP) from a Systems Thinking Viewpoint

The human capital required to develop and sustain competitive advantage in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is in short supply globally. In this context, Singapore’s Artificial Intelligence Apprenticeship Program (AIAP) is a leading example of a public–private partnership that has fostered the growth of an indigenous talent pool in Singapore. We aim to elicit the systemic structure of AIAP in the form of a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD), and to derive actionable insights to support policymakers, managers, and researchers who are interested in the development of AI talents. Our CLD reflects the diversity of factors and their interactions that need to come together to make AIAP work. The design of AIAP reflects a pragmatic partnership between stakeholders who are interested in national competitiveness, making their own industries and firms more competitive, furthering the use of AI, and developing careers in a field with promising future prospects. To our knowledge, this is the first study of AIAP from a systems thinking viewpoint. The shared understanding of stakeholders reflected in the CLD provides insight for policymakers who seek to develop national competitiveness through investment in human capital for AI.