{"id":33232,"date":"2026-03-03T19:52:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33232"},"modified":"2026-03-03T19:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:52:35","slug":"free-premium-ai-subscriptions-for-those-taking-certain-skillsfuture-courses-from-2nd-half-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33232","title":{"rendered":"Free premium AI subscriptions for those taking certain SkillsFuture courses from 2nd half of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013<!-- --> Singaporeans who take up selected SkillsFuture artificial intelligence courses will receive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/budget-2026-workers-to-get-help-building-practical-ai-capabilities-starting-with-accountancy-and-law?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">six months of free access to premium AI tools<\/p>\n<p><\/a> from the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The subsidy, announced by <!-- -->Manpower Minister Tan See Leng<!-- --> during the Ministry of Manpower\u2019s (MOM) budget debate on March 3, is part of larger plans to help Singaporeans gain confidence to work alongside AI and thrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cLike learning a language, developing true fluency in AI comes from consistent use and building confidence through experimentation,\u201d said Dr Tan, adding that the move will make it easier for Singaporeans to have hands-on experience. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Free AI subscriptions will be rolled out in the second half of 2026, with<!-- --> <!-- -->details of the qualifying AI courses and tools to be announced later, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Discussions are under way with providers such as Google, Manus, Microsoft and OpenAI, said <!-- -->Dr Tan<!-- -->, who is also\u00a0Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science &amp; Technology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Tan said that one of Singapore\u2019s priorities is to build an AI-ready workforce. Lack of expertise and low adoption of AI among employees are among some reasons why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/tech\/majority-of-firms-in-southeast-asia-struggle-to-reap-financial-benefits-from-ai-use-report?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">three in five South-east Asian firms have yet to see meaningful financial gains from AI<\/p>\n<p><\/a>, a recent report by McKinsey, the Economic Development Board and Tech in Asia found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe cannot afford to let this gap persist,\u201d he said, adding that Singapore will take decisive steps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In announcing the move, Dr Tan agreed with Nominated MP Terence Ho that AI access should be inclusive, regardless of age or income.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Associate Professor  Ho had suggested that MOM consider extending access to premium AI tools to a larger group of Singaporeans such as mature workers or lower-income Singaporeans on a longer-term basis. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Replying, Dr Tan said that for a start,<!-- --> <!-- -->the initiative will be open to all Singaporeans aged 25 and above, paired with practical and accessible training for AI at all levels. \u201cBeyond this, we will continue to explore ways to include more mature and lower-income workers in our national AI journey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">MOM said that the premium subscriptions will be offered to eligible course participants regardless of skill level, so they can immediately practise <!-- -->what is<!-- --> taught in the course. However, the tool that a participant has access to will depend on the registered SkillsFuture AI course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThis ensures that the AI subscription provided best fits the content and skills taught by the course,\u201d said an MOM spokesman. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Google\u2019s basic monthly AI plan costs<!-- --> <!-- -->$10.98 for access to virtual assistant Gemini, research tool NotebookLM and coding agent Jules. Its highest-tier plan for developers, researchers and power users costs $359.58 a month and comes with US$100 (S$128) of monthly credits for Google Cloud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">General-purpose AI agent Manus AI costs<!-- --> <!-- -->$20 a month for 4,000 credits, which are used to complete tasks like generating images, conducting research or writing code. Its premium tier costs $200 a month, with 40,000 credits. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Microsoft\u2019s<!-- --> <!-- -->basic<!-- --> <!-- -->365 plan costs $15.49 a month, with its built-in AI assistant Copilot for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The highest tier costs $28.99 a month, with access to AI agents that can perform more complex tasks, such as generating source-cited research reports. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT costs $11 a month<!-- --> <!-- -->for the basic tier that<!-- --> <!-- -->promises faster responses<!-- --> <!-- -->than the free version<!-- --> <!-- -->of the tool and the ability to upload and analyse files. Its top-tier plan<!-- --> <!-- -->costs $300 a month and includes unlimited messages with the chatbot and image creation, as well as early access to experimental features.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/singaporeans-to-receive-free-premium-ai-subscriptions-from-second-half-of-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 Singaporeans who take up selected SkillsFuture artificial intelligence courses will receive six months of free access to premium AI tools from the second&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}