SINGAPORE – In the future, when an e-mail from a client on the commencement of a legal suit lands in the inbox of law firm Rajah & Tann, an artificial intelligence (AI) agent programmed to process it can automatically forward it to lawyers with the most relevant experience, suggest key legal issues to be addressed and even draft preliminary legal opinions.

This is an example of how Rajah & Tann partner Rajesh Sreenivasan envisions agentic AI systems could supercharge the firm’s work, and he hopes the company will be able to tap on a newly launched AI accelerator programme to do that. 

Agentic AI are AI systems designed to autonomously make decisions, and it can plan and execute complex tasks to meet predetermined goals. An example of this is autonomous driving vehicles. 

On Aug 1, Microsoft announced the launch of its Agentic AI Accelerator programme, at an event at its office at Frasers Towers. 

The programme will offer selected businesses up to $700,000 in services to co-develop their agentic AI road map with technology partners like EY, NCS and Accenture Avanade. Up to 300 local businesses will also receive baseline support of up to $250,000 of Azure cloud credits and AI training and tools.

The AI accelerator programme is part of

the Government’s Enterprise Compute Initiative (ECI)

Announced in Budget 2025, the $150 million initiative sees the Government supporting firms by co-funding 70 per cent of consultancy costs, capped at $105,000 per enterprise. Microsoft is the third company coming on board the ECI programme, after Google and Amazon Web Services.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the launch, Mr Rajesh, who also heads his firm’s technology, media and telecommunications practice, said ...