Most popular stories, October 2025

By Sol Gonzalez

This month we highlight stories from Singapore, Malaysia, and The Philippines, which show how AI and digital technologies are transforming public services.

Most popular stories, October 2025.

Oh! October just ended. Time to get a refresher on what were our top reads for the tenth month of the year.

AWS Public Sector Day Singapore took place on the last day of September, and with it came a series of stories that captivated our readers' interests.

Singapore International Cyber Week also brought interesting insights on how the country is fostering private sector and international cooperation to govern agentic AI and quantum technologies.

Moving across Southeast Asia, we've got stories from Malaysia and the Philippines: from how Malaysia plans to become an AI Nation to how the Philippines is introducing blockchains to secure government transactions.

Enjoy reading!

1. Minister Jasmin Lau lays out Singapore’s AI vision: AI serves, human insight leads

At the AWS Public Sector Day 2025, the Minister urged civil servants and tech specialists to collaborate, bridging the gap between public service excellence and tech expertise to ensure AI benefits every citizen. Click image to access article >>>

“The more that we in government understand technology, the more we know what kind of support and enablers that our businesses and workers need,” Minister of State Jasmin Lau said during her opening keynote at the AWS Public Sector Day Singapore 2025, co-organised with GovInsider.

She highlighted that true transformation must start with people closest to the problems, and not through a top-down mandate.

2. Malaysia wants to be an AI Nation. What’s next to go from vision to impact?

To unlock the potential of technology and AI, the public sector must embrace collaboration both among its agencies and with different industries to deliver citizen impact on a large scale. Click image to access article >>>

The goal, according to Malaysia’s Ministry of Digital, Secretary General, Fabian Bigar, is to create a technologically empowered society where human values guide the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make the country a better place to live, work, and play.

At the Smart City Expo Kuala Lumpur, public sector officers shared about efforts, challenges and opportunities of using technology to benefit society, moving toward smarter and future-resilient AI cities in Malaysia and beyond.

3. Enhanced AWS AI Spring initiatives to boost Singapore’s ‘bilingual’ AI talent

*The flagship programme by AWS is partnering with public education institutes to expand its workforce pillar. Click image to access article >>>*

“Building a digital ready workforce isn't just about today. It's about nurturing tomorrow's talent," said AWS Country Manager, Public Sector Singapore, Elsie Tan.

She unveiled the Memorandums of Understanding with four public education institutes at the AWS Public Sector Day Singapore.

4. The Philippines is introducing blockchain to secure government transactions

*The government wants to use eGOVchain to deliver secure, transparent, and efficient public services. Click image to access article >>>*

The Philippines government is looking to use blockchain technology to make government processes more transparent, paperless, and corruption free.

Undersecretary for e-Government David L. Almirol, Jr, noted that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is enhancing its internal research and development capabilities to support existing platforms and position DICT as a key organisation for achieving interoperability and compatibility across government systems.

5. Agentic AI, quantum represent extraordinary moment in tech, says Singapore’s Digital Minister

Talking about agentic AI and quantum computing, Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, said it will take collective will, wisdom and action to govern these technologies before they govern us. *Click image to access article >>>*

Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, said the world was passing through “an extraordinary moment in technology” with agentic AI and quantum computing “reshaping the world right before our eyes”.

She was speaking at Singapore International Cyber Week 2025, where she noted that while both agentic AI and quantum computing pose great promise, they also come with risks.