AI pulls up the civil service ladder to Southeast Asia’s middle class

Artificial intelligence promises to make government bureaucracies leaner across Asia, but its biggest effect on public-sector employment may not come from the widely feared wave of lay-offs.

Instead, analysts say the technology is more likely to reshape existing jobs and narrow opportunities for young graduates hoping to enter the civil service, even as governments seek to improve efficiency without sacrificing job security.

Unlike the Netherlands, which aims to cut an estimated 25,000 full-time equivalent civil service posts over the next decade in an efficiency drive that includes plans to harness AI, Southeast Asian governments face competing pressures to improve public services while protecting employment.