Welcome back, Amplifiers!
You’re reading Amplified Human’s essential weekly dispatch guide to new waves in AI, work, and growth across Singapore and beyond.
This Week’s Stories
AI continues to reshape career paths, with leaders doubling down on skills-first hiring, students pursuing richer portfolios, and executives prioritizing audit readiness.
Featured companies this week: Starbucks, ExxonMobil, Nvidia.
Keep reading to get free access to our Agentic AI platform! You can also look forward to our recap of our latest exhibition in Gyeonggi, South Korea at the end!
Starbucks to close stores, cut more jobs as CEO deepens restructuring
“Back to Starbucks” plan: $1 billion effort leads to restructuring efforts.
On September 25, 2025, Starbucks announced a major restructuring plan (CNBC) under CEO Brian Niccol, involving significant store closures and layoffs aimed at reviving the company’s performance.
The company will close underperforming stores in North America, leading to a net reduction of about 1% in its company-operated store count for the fiscal year; reducing Starbucks locations in the U.S. and Canada to nearly 18,300 (Starbucks). Around 900 non-retail roles will also be removed to reduce expenses.
Which stores will close?
- Store closures target coffeehouses that either cannot provide the desired physical environment for customers and employees or lack a path to financial profitability. This includes moving away from the mobile pickup-only store format, a strategy of the previous management, in favor of creating a “third place” experience where customers can sit and stay (CNN).
What is Starbucks’ plan in the future?
- Despite the current closures, Starbucks plans to resume growing its store count in fiscal year 2026. The company is also investing in remodeling over 1,000 existing locations to create a more inviting atmosphere with improved seating, based on early positive customer feedback from already “uplifted” stores (CNN).
What other changes have been happening under new CEO Niccol?
- This is the second round of layoffs under Niccol, following 1,100 corporate job cuts earlier in the year. The “Back to Starbucks” initiative includes several other key changes, such as reducing the menu by 30% (NPR) to speed up service, bringing back condiment stations, and ending the universal open-bathroom policy.
What led to this decision?
- These efforts are a response to 6 consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales, driven by increased competition and price-conscious consumers.
Source: The Straits Times
“Starbucks is a global coffee giant; closures and job cuts signal deep restructuring amid changing market conditions. Next, what’s happening closer to home?”
ExxonMobil expects to cut up to 500 workers in Singapore by end-2027
ExxonMobil has announced a restructuring of its Singapore operations including:
A workforce reduction of 10% to 15% of its 3,500 Singapore employees (Business Times), potential job cuts of up to 500 positions, and relocation (Business Times) from HarbourFront to the Jurong Refinery site at Pioneer Road before end of 2027.
This move is part of a larger global restructuring where ExxonMobil plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide, primarily affecting Canada and the European Union (Reuters). The company stated these changes are intended to improve competitiveness and reshape its office-based organization (Channel News Asia).
Authorities and the union are coordinating support for affected employees. Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB), along with Workforce Singapore (WSG) and the NTUC Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), will work with ExxonMobil to facilitate job placements (Channel News Asia). The ExxonMobil Singapore Employees Union (EMSEU) is engaged with the company to protect members’ interests and ensure a supported transition.
Source: Channel News Asia
“Companies in Singapore have not been spared from restructuring and layoffs. What has Singapore done to keep it’s workforce on its feet? Hint: It has something to do with AI!”
Singapore’s SIT x Nvidia AI Centre to Fast-track Applied AI Across Industries
The SIT x NVIDIA AI Centre (SNAIC) is a collaborative hub between the Singapore Institute of Technology and NVIDIA, officially launched on October 2, 2025 .
It is designed to bridge the gap between advanced AI research and real-world business applications through 3 core pillars (SNAIC): applied research, industry enablement, and talent development.
SNAIC’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across various industries in Singapore and beyond. It aims to drive applied AI (Business Times) to address specific industry challenges and enhance business competitiveness, build a talent pipeline (Straits Times), directly supporting the national goal of expanding the pool of AI practitioners to 15,000, and to foster Human-AI Collaboration by developing tools that collaborate with people and nurture “AI bilingualists”—professionals who are experts in their own fields (like law or healthcare) and fluent in applying AI .
The establishment of SNAIC is a significant part of Singapore’s broader strategy to strengthen its AI ecosystem (Smart Nation). The center also extends its influence through international academic partnerships with institutions in Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam, facilitating cross-border research and talent exchange (SBR).
Source: Yahoo! Finance
The collaboration between SIT and Nvidia accelerates Singapore’s ambitions to become a regional AI powerhouse and fosters industry innovation through real-world AI applications and talent development. What are other institutions in Singapore doing similarly?
The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore is significantly expanding its flagship Turing AI Scholars Programme (TAISP), with a clear growth trajectory to nurture more home-grown AI talent.
The Turing AI Scholars Programme (Straits Times) is on a steady path to increase its intake, having 34 students in 2023 and 47 students in 2024. It aims to reach 60 students in 2027.
This four-year direct honours programme is designed for undergraduates in Computer Science, Data Science & AI, or AI & Society at NTU’s College of Computing and Data Science. It aims to stimulate bright minds passionate about developing AI innovations and solutions.
Selected scholars receive a comprehensive scholarship (NTU) that covers:
- Full subsidised tuition fees
- Living allowance of S$6,500 per academic year
- Computer allowance of S$2,000 (one-off)
- Travel grant of up to S$8,000 for overseas programmes
The programme distinguishes itself with masterclasses (Straits Times) by world-leading experts, 1-on-1 mentorship, global exposure, and research and leadership focus (NTU).
Graduates are expected to become global AI leaders in various roles such as AI/ML Engineer, AI Scientist, AI Policy Advisor, and AI Ethics Officer.
Source: The Straits Times
“With AI crucial to Singapore’s digital future, expanding NTU’s Turing AI Scholars Programme cultivates top talent, aligns with national AI strategy, and helps position Singapore as a global AI leader by developing a strong pipeline of home-grown talent.
With educational institutions integrating AI into students’ lives, how will they way students learn change?”
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Students’ Academic Development
A 2025 study conducted at the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest investigated the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on students’ academic development.
The research, which involved 85 second-year students, found that an overwhelming majority (95.6%) use AI tools for their studies, primarily virtual assistants like ChatGPT (88.2%) and AI-based educational platforms (42.4%).
Students reported significant benefits, including personalized learning, time savings, and improved academic performance, with 82.4% believing AI enhances their results.
However, the study also identified critical challenges. The primary concern among nearly half of the respondents (48.2%) was the accuracy of AI-generated information. Other major worries included the negative impact on critical thinking skills (16.5%) and over-dependence on technology (16.5%).
Source: MDPI
Download the Full Report here!
In this next section, we recommend the best suited AI tool to help you! This week, we’re helping with job search!
If you’re currently looking for a job… This might be you!
To helps job-seeking individuals like you, we created a Job Quest AI Agent to help you identify top local and remote jobs that match closely to your profile.
What is the Job Quest Agent?
It is an AI agent on our Amplified Human platform that takes your resume, the role you want to work in, then it does a job market analysis, collects relevant information, and reports back to you with a personalized proposal and application package.
Why is our Job Quest Agent better than what other companies are doing?
It transforms job searching by creating personalized, multi-role, and multi-location resumes and cover letters, something other platforms don’t offer. It guides users with clear micro-goal timelines, analyzes skill gaps, and recommends upskilling opportunities. This approach helps users submit 3 times more applications and increases interview callbacks by over 25%, leading to up to 30% faster job placements.
View Details Below:
Here’s How To Try it For Yourself:
Go to amplifiedhuman.biz → Job Quest Analyst → Start Chat
Here’s a bonus video on How we built our Job Quest Agent!
Moving on… We’ll be exploring how to effectively prompt AI to get comprehensive outputs! The example used aims to give users a clear path to reskill for in-demand roles.
Epic Prompt Card | Reskilling Map
The function of the prompt block is to leverage AI to identify skills that you’ll need to thrive based on your resume and steps to achieve that, presented in a timeline.
The following video shows how to use the prompt block:
The function of this prompt block is to leverage AI to fast-track employability by identifying AI-powered career pivots, matching current experience with in-demand, future-ready roles.
You can expect to receive 4 key deliverables:
- First, a list of priority job matches aligned with your current and past experience.
- Second, a personalized AI learning roadmap to help you acquire employer-demanded skills.
- Third, a recruiter-ready CV summary you can plug into your resume or LinkedIn profile.
- And last, a list of the Top 3 job boards currently featuring applied AI and digital transformation roles in your region.
Performance KPI: Interview conversion rate – baseline 5%, target 15%
Free Prompt Block for You to Try for Yourself!
Copy and paste the text below into the Amplified Human Platform or any LLM (e.g. ChatGPT). Replace the [Square Brackets] with your own information.
ROLE: Rapid Reskilling AI for Job Seekers
OBJECTIVE: Analyze my CV and recent job history to recommend the best AI-powered job roles I can target, suggest exact ATS keywords, and generate a three-step personalized upskilling roadmap aligned with employer demands.
INPUTS: CV [Paste your resume], RECENT JOB TITLES [List last 1–3 roles], AI SKILL INTEREST [e.g. AI Marketing, AI Data Operations, AI Project Management].
FORMAT: Table or list including (1) Priority job matches, (2) Personalized learning roadmap, (3) Recruiter-ready CV summary, (4) Top job boards for applied AI roles.
REFUSAL: Do not generate roles irrelevant to my actual experience.
Other than on the website, you can also try it on any LLM on our App for FREE!
Next… We’ll combine multiple agents that are in charge of separate tasks into one long workflow to generate one output package!
How to Build a Fast-Track AI Decision Support Workflow in Amplified Human (Non-Technical Guide)
What You’re Building:
A multi-agent workflow that helps C-suite leaders make fact-based AI investment decisions. This workflow standardizes project evaluation, benchmarks new proposals against historical ROI data, and automatically generates board-ready decision reports under high-pressure timelines.
This section provides a step-by-step overview for setting up your multi-agent decision support workflow. Each agent’s role is outlined below.
Agent 1: Project Intake & Data Collector
- Captures new project business case submissions, including scope, projected impact, and key metrics. Ensures all required fields are populated before proceeding.
- Output: Validated project intake dataset.
Agent 2: Benchmarking & ROI Analyzer
- Compares incoming project data against past initiatives, calculating benchmarks and identifying performance outliers.
- Output: ROI comparison table and performance deviation summary.
Agent 3: Decision Metrics Generator
- Produces a concise decision metrics report (e.g., cost-benefit, time-to-ROI, strategic alignment).
- Output: Decision metrics summary ready for executive review.
Agent 4: Report Compiler & Exporter
- Generates a polished, boardpack-ready PDF report that integrates with enterprise tools for review and approval.
- Output: Exported report.
Agent 5: Data Integrity & Alert Guardrail
- Monitors for incomplete data (e.g., >30% missing fields). Halts the workflow if critical inputs are missing.
- Output: Workflow validation log and issue notifications.
Build The AI Agents and Workflow In:
amplifiedhuman.ai → AI Agent (Build Multi-Agents) → Workflow → “Create Workflow”
*The above is a high level overview. Our team can help provide detailed recommendations for agent instruction design, knowledge base, and dashboard output.
*This site is only available to the Amplified Community. Register a free account on the App!
AH Team Spotlight: Gyeonggi Startup Summit 2025, Wrapped!
The Amplified Human Team consisting of CEO Clarence Khoh, Strategic Director Llewellan Vance, and Sales Director Jasmine Goh have returned from South Korea, after 2 fruitful days at the Gyeonggi Startup Summit!
They shared insights on stage, built valuable connections with venture capitals and fellow entrepreneurs, and showcased how Amplified Human is shaping the future of agentic AI for talent and transformation. From powerful pitches to inspiring conversations, the summit was a reminder that innovation knows no borders.
A big thank you to the Gyeonggi Startup Summit organizers, fellow founders, and partners who made this event such a success. Here’s to amplifying human potential using AI!
#Startup #GoingGlobal #Korea #Gyeonggi #FirstSteps
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See you next week for Edition 9 of The Amplified Times!
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Your Weekly AI Brain Juice,
The Amplified Human Team
#AI #Security #AgenticAI #Enterprise #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #Technology #AIGovernance
