Singapore has announced a comprehensive three-point masterplan aimed at building a robust AI ecosystem. Unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, the strategy focuses on cultivating a rich talent pool, fostering industry growth, and establishing a thriving research environment.
Talent Development
The first pillar of the masterplan involves a significant investment in talent development. Singapore aims to increase the number of researchers, data scientists, machine learning engineers, and skilled AI practitioners to approximately 15,000. The goal is to empower individuals who can harness AI technologies effectively in various sectors.
Industry Growth
In the realm of industry, Singapore aims to attract companies to establish AI centers of excellence within its borders. The focus will be on creating new language models, developing innovative tools, and driving AI usage in key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, financial services, and biomedical sciences.
Research Excellence
The third pillar concentrates on research, with a specific emphasis on three areas where Singapore holds a competitive advantage: responsible AI, resource-efficient AI, and reasoning AI. Responsible AI aims to develop trustworthy and safe AI, reduce bias, enhance reliability, and allow for auditability. Resource-efficient AI focuses on studying the resource-intensiveness of AI on data, compute, energy, and carbon. Reasoning AI seeks to expand the applicability of AI by improving language models’ understanding of logical and physical concepts.
Building a Trusted Environment
Recognizing the potential harms associated with AI, including deep fakes, scams, cyberattacks, and the spread of misinformation, Singapore’s masterplan places a strong emphasis on building a trusted environment. Regulatory sandboxes and guard rails will be established to encourage innovation while preventing and containing systemic risks.
Balanced Regulatory Approach
Deputy Prime Minister Wong acknowledged the challenges of AI governance and emphasized a balanced regulatory approach. Singapore will avoid imposing strict regulations at this stage, opting instead for regulatory sandboxes to facilitate experimentation and innovation. These rules will evolve with AI advancements to remain adaptable and responsive to changing circumstances.
Global Collaboration for Responsible AI Governance
In recognition of the decentralized nature of AI and its potential global impact, Singapore intends to grow its international partnerships. By collaborating with like-minded countries, Singapore aims to shape the global governance architecture for responsible AI, ensuring that regulations are agile and nimble in response to emerging challenges.
Inclusive Consultation Process
The National AI Strategy 2.0, unveiled after consulting more than 300 experts globally, was developed by the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Smart Nation Group. Deputy Prime Minister Wong stressed that Singapore’s aspiration is to leverage AI’s capabilities for the public good, not only benefiting the nation but contributing positively to the world. The strategy sets the stage for Singapore to become a major hub for AI innovation, research, and industry growth.
