Singapore reiterates commitment to use AI to improve lives

Talking about Singapore's approach to using artificial intelligence (AI) for the public good, Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, said the government is looking at, among other areas, the use of generative AI (GenAI) to identify scams and do a better job at law enforcement. 

Minister Teo highlighted Singapore’s commitment to using AI to improve lives. She shared examples of government initiatives, including two GovTech innovations: scam detection and AI-powered virtual assistants for public services. These two have been selected for showcase in the AI Summit Observatory platform in France. 

She was speaking in France at a panel discussion on Sunday, organised by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) titled Global Leadership in an Age of AI Opportunities on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit (AIAS) in which she is participating.  

The panel discussion highlighted the crucial role of political leadership in shaping AI’s strategic development and adoption. 

The session was moderated by the Tony Blair Institute of Global Change’s Chief Policy Strategist, Benedict Macon-Cooney. Apart from Minister Teo, the other panellists included Rwanda’s Minister for ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, Co-Founder of Entrepreneur First and UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency’s Chair, Matt Clifford, and General Catalyst Institute, Founding President, Teresa Carlson. 

Reiterating Singapore’s commitment to AI for the Public Good for Singapore and the world, the Minister spoke about the need to go back to the “fundamental understanding about how countries will have their competitive advantage, and that they are going to be better off cooperating than assuming that everything has to be done within their own jurisdiction”. 

Giving details about Singapore’s approach to virtual assistants, the Minister noted that the Government was not just looking at government agencies, products and services but also at their use by the private sector.  

For example, in transport, Singapore is looking at how to move from reactive management to more proactive and preventive maintenance using GenAI, she said.  

AI safety is important 

Talking about another priority area, Minister Teo also said the government was looking to develop a robust approach towards AI safety.  

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She noted that if it was possible to create an environment where AI could be trusted and people did not feel the risks that they were very concerned about, there could potentially be stronger support for AI implementation.  

“So, developing not just robust frameworks, but also a testing ability is something that we want to focus on,” the Minister said.  

Singapore is also committed to sharing best practices. “We will learn, and we will make mistakes. The mistakes that we make, not everybody has to go through them”, she said. 

Working with Rwanda 

The Minister added that Singapore was very pleased to have worked with Rwanda to create a playbook for AI that applies to small states.
 

“In all of these ways, we hope that we can help more countries to advance together in AI adoption,” she added.  

To a question on global international collaboration in technology, the Minister said Singapore’s starting point has always been to have a deeper understanding of the whole value chain and then identify where Singapore would be most effective in competing.  

“If you use the analogy of aviation in Singapore, we do not own aircraft technology, and it has not prevented us from developing a vibrant air hub. And out of the vibrant air hub, you can have very reasonable maintenance, repair and overall activities.  

“You can have a reasonable range of manufacturing activities that are suitable for your own context,” the Minister said.  

She noted that Singapore was not a very low-cost operating environment, but one “that will respect intellectual property. So that is the sort of environment where you can still find something that is meaningful and can be done within your own context,” the Minister added.  

How cooperation can make sense 

She added that if this approach was adopted then “international cooperation makes sense”.  

It goes back to the fundamental understanding about how countries will have their competitive advantage, and that they are going to be better off cooperating than if everything has to be done within their jurisdiction, the Minister added.  

“We have held fast to the belief, and we hope that calm minds will prevail, and then that you can return to this way of thinking,” she said adding that Singapore recognises that in the current context, there is concern about national security, sovereignty, and long-term competitive positioning of countries.  

“Those are not unreasonable. You have to think about building up your capabilities. But ultimately, you still have to accept that there is more to be gained by working together than always seeking to host the entire value chain,” Teo said. 

The Minister added that this is the kind of thinking that “perhaps a smaller country like Singapore can accept quite readily”.  

She added: “Maybe not everyone is going to be able to think like us, but we hope to be able to persuade more of our friends to continue to think like that.”