These mid-career workers are back in class to learn AI. Is it paying off?

Many attendees at Vertical Institute’s AI workshops are mid-career professionals..

SINGAPORE – Tasks that once took an entire working day can now be completed in minutes, as more workers harness artificial intelligence to work faster.

This drive to boost productivity is fuelling demand for AI training. Private academies The Straits Times spoke to reported a sharp rise in enrolments for AI-related courses, with particularly strong interests from mid-career professionals.

Vertical Institute said enrolments in its AI courses more than doubled over the past year, while Tribe Academy reported that its three-month flagship programmes have been consistently oversubscribed across 10 intakes since January 2025.

The growing demand comes as Singapore steps up efforts to equip its workforce with AI skills, with more than 200 courses rolled out on Sept 16, covering applications ranging from workplace productivity to advanced AI capabilities.

For some workers, the benefits are already evident. Three professionals told The Straits Times how they are putting their newly acquired AI skills to use in their day-to-day work.

Kok Yokelee says the impact of AI is no longer a distant threat for those in the translation and transcription business.

For those in the business of media localisation, the impact of artificial intelligence is no longer a distant threat.

Kok Yokelee, general manager at media solution company Sky Vision Media, said AI has already changed what clients are willing to pay for transcription and translation services.

For example, her more budget-conscious clients have turned to AI-powered apps, which can process subtitles for an hour of TV show content for less than US$20 (S$25) – way cheaper than the costs of hiring human translators.

Sensing the real danger of losing some clients, Kok, who oversees business development for her company, began looking at how she could use AI to deliver faster and cheaper solutions.

After completing an introductory AI course at Vertical Institute, Kok, who is in her 40s, began using tools like Claude and Whisper, an open-source speech-to-text system, to automate parts of the subtitling workflow.