Singapore businesses have firmly moved past the experimental phase of AI, but a new study suggests that going further is proving harder than many anticipated. Research released Tuesday by customer platform company HubSpot found that nearly two-thirds of local businesses now apply AI consistently in their day-to-day operations, yet only 18 per cent have progressed to fully autonomous AI agents capable of making decisions and completing tasks without human oversight. The findings, drawn from surveys with more than 700 Singapore business leaders, paint a nuanced picture of an AI adoption landscape defined less by reluctance than by structural limitations.

The businesses struggling most, the data suggests, are often those that have gone furthest, not those still on the sidelines. Data quality and integration challenges ranked as the second-highest barrier to scaling AI, cited by 37 per cent of respondents, just behind trust and reliability concerns at 43 per cent. Crucially, these challenges become more acute—not less—as organisations advance.

Among companies already using fully autonomous agents, data integration difficulties rose to 41 per cent, legacy system limitations to 42 per cent, and skills gaps to 39 per cent. The pattern points to what HubSpot describes as a “context gap”: AI tools may be widely available, but without connected, high-quality data and integrated systems, they cannot operate reliably at scale. Solving for data quality, the report argues, would simultaneously address the trust concerns that sit atop the barrier list.

“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,” said Megan Hughes, Managing Director & Vice President, JAPAC, HubSpot. Also Read: Shopee, TikTok, Lazada: Three ways to win and no easy way in Hughes argued that businesses able to combine leading AI models with rich, unified context about their own customers and processes will gain a durable competitive edge, becoming what she called “reliable digital teammates” for sustained growth.

Despite the challenges, the appetite for more advanced AI remains strong. More than two in five business leaders—43 per cent—expect AI agents to become highly important to their operations within 12 to 24 months, and just two per cent said they have no intention to invest in the technology at all. More than a quarter are already investing, while the majority are in a wait-and-see mode.

When asked what would most accelerate their investment, about a third pointed to clearly demonstrated business results. Business leaders also identified the most important factors for agents to operate effectively: accuracy and reliability (66 per cent), system integration (56 per cent), governance (53 per cent), and access to relevant business context and data (48 per cent). HubSpot said it is responding to these demands by building what it calls an “agentic customer platform” that brings customer data and business knowledge together in a single place, making them accessible to both human teams and AI agents simultaneously.

Government commitment adds momentum The research arrives as Singapore’s government continues to signal strong institutional support for AI development through the National AI Council and its Champions of AI programme. Hughes noted that previous HubSpot research on Singapore business growth found that organisations with fully integrated systems are ten times more likely to outperform their peers—a benchmark that, she suggested, has now shifted from an aspirational edge to a baseline requirement. “That level of integration is now the entry point, not the edge,” Hughes said. “This context, combined with AI, is how a digitally advanced nation turns ambition into outcomes.”