Singapore companies are showing growing interest in AI agents, or artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can operate with minimal human input, but gaps in data and systems are slowing broader adoption.
HubSpot’s survey of more than 700 business leaders in the city-state reveals that 43% expect AI agents to become highly important to their operations within the next 12 to 24 months.
Yet, only 18% are currently using fully autonomous systems capable of making decisions and executing tasks end to end, underscoring a gap between interest and deployment.
AI use itself is no longer the issue. Nearly two-thirds of respondents say they are applying it consistently across daily workflows, suggesting most organisations have moved past initial trials. The difficulty now lies in extending those use cases into more advanced applications.
Data quality and integration challenges were cited by 37% of respondents as a major barrier to scaling AI, second only to concerns over trust and reliability at 43%.
Among companies already using autonomous systems, those constraints become more pronounced, with around 41% citing data integration challenges and 42% citing legacy system limitations, alongside skills shortages.
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"The key challenge among Singapore businesses is no longer whether they are using AI. It is whether they have the knowledge of customers, market trends, and operations needed to scale the business reliably," says Megan Hughes, managing director and vice president for Japan and Asia Pacific at HubSpot.
The findings point to a shift in how companies are approaching AI. Moving from tools that support employees to AI agents that can act independently requires more than software deployment. It depends on whether organisations have connected data and processes that allow those systems to operate with sufficient context.
That constraint is shaping how companies approach investment. While interest in AI agents is widespread, only 28% of respondents say they are actively investing, with most taking a wait-and-see approach.
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For many, the hurdle is evidence. About 30% of respondents say clearly demonstrated business results would be the main factor prompting further spending. Business leaders also ranked accuracy and reliability as the most important requirements for AI agents, followed by system integration, governance and access to relevant data.
"With Singapore's National AI Council and the Champions of AI programme, the government is making a clear commitment to building the conditions for AI to thrive, and businesses are responding. Only by powering AI with customer data and process understanding can businesses consistently transform generic outputs into tangible results,” says Hughes.
