Augmenting Human Capabilities or Replacing Them? The Impact of Agentic AI in the Future of Work by Dr. Anton Ravindran
As agentic AI transforms the workforce, a critical question emerges: Will it augment human capabilities or replace them? This session will explore the role of agentic AI in the future of work, examining the potential benefits and risks of an AI-driven era. Will discuss the need for a balanced approach that prioritises human well-being and agency, and explore strategies for ensuring that AI enhances human capabilities without sacrificing jobs or autonomy.
About the Speaker
Dr. Anton Ravindran is an entrepreneur in the technology space, an author and an academic. As a technopreneur, he founded IT companies including Genovte Pte Ltd, GICT Pte Ltd, SmartLaw Pte Ltd, Alliance for AI & Humanity (not for profit), Rapidstart Pte Ltd, co Founder of Asia Entrepreneurs Exchange (not-for-profit) and Beyondseed Sdn Bhd. He is also the co-founder and former Group CEO of Genovate Pte Ltd, which under his leadership operated in 17 cities and 6 countries in Asia Pacific. Genovate was the largest SAP ATP (Authorised Training Partner) in the Asia Pacific region with a network of `17 centres in 7 countries. He is also on the boards of companies as director and/or advisor, including Veracity Group, Digital Insights and River Venture Studio. He is also a mentor with several organization including NTU (present) and NUS Enterprise (previously), amongst others.
He has been featured on CNBC, Channel News Asia (CNA), Straits Times, Business Times, PEAK, and TODAY, and other dailies in Singapore, TV channels overseas (including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Oman and Jordan) for his contributions to the ICT industry.
In industry, he worked for several major MNCs in technical and management capacities including IBM, Computer Associates, Sun Microsystems (Asia South), Oracle (Singapore) as well as Singalab (a former JV between the National Computer Board of Singapore and IBM). At Sun Microsystems he won the President’s Club award for outstanding performance amongst other awards. At Sun Microsystems he was responsible for managing more than 100 Authorized Training Partners (ATPs) in Asia South.
His credentials include and he obtained a BSc (Texas, USA) in Computing and an MBA (Texas, USA) with a specialization in Information Technology and obtained his Doctoral degree in IT Management (high distinction) from University of South Australia. He was awarded the International Information Technology Management Scholarship to pursue this doctoral degree. The Scholarship is awarded to international students for outstanding academic performance and achievement in previous tertiary studies. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) Fellow Singapore Computer Society(SCS), a Chartered Engineer (UK) and a Charter Member of TiE.
In Academia, He is currently a Visiting Professor(May 2025 – April 2027), University of Zadar, Croatia and was a Visiting Professor/Researcher at the Institute for Research in Applicable Computing (IRAC), University of Bedfordshire, UK (March 2013 to February 2015), an Adjunct Professor at Birla Institute of Technology & Science (October 2013 to October 2015), Dept of Management (Pilani – Dubai Campus), Visting Professor, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences (2018), Cologne, Germany and an Adjunct Professor (Faculty of Information Systems) at Bina Nusantara University (since October 2011). He is the author and co-editor of 6 books, including his latest book titled “Will AI Dictate the Future?” published in May 2022.
He has been invited, appointed and elected to serve on several committees including as President – Cloud Computing Chapter, Singapore Computer Society (2017 – 2024), Chairman - Technical Committee, Work-Study (3 year) Diploma in Cloud Management & Operations, ITE (2020-2025), Advsior, Talent Advisory Panel (Digital Skills) of Peoples Association Singapore (2016 – 2025), Vice- Chair (ICT & Technology) – EEAI IG of Singapore Manufacturing Federation (2016 – 2021), Executive Advisor (Technology) , Asia Institute of Mentoring (Present), Advisory Board Member – Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, Member – Singapore Cloud Computing Standards Technical Committee (CCSTC) (2019 – 2023), Member, IT & Technology Development Function Committee for SMa (2020 – 2024), Taman Jurong Citizens Consultative Committee (2004 – Present). He is also the former Chair, of the National Working Group, Cloud Computing Professional Development (CCDP), IDA; Former member of the National Internet Advisory Committee (NIAC) of the then Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts; was a mentor at FundedHere and NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, was an Exco member of the Singapore Enterprise Chapter (SEC) of SiTF, former Council Member, Business Continuity Group, amongst other committees and organizations.