Outside of the United States and China, Singapore is one of the fastest adopters of AI in every facet of life, from using it to plan holidays to designing a PowerPoint deck at work.
As a small country at the crossroads of East and West, it draws on its strengths as a place where the newest ideas and technologies meet. The city-state has attracted the who’s who of AI – OpenAI, Google and Nvidia, to name a few – to set up and test the technologies, such as robotics, in university campuses and other real-world settings.
Singapore has also revamped its National AI Strategy (NAIS) to better equip citizens for a radically disrupted world, where AI will upend industries and impact jobs in unprecedented ways. All this is happening as AI is reshaping everyday life at a pace unlike any other technologies.
More than just jumping fast into AI, Singapore needs to make sure it is moving in the right direction, says Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo.
One way is to draw on the country’s strengths, she tells Techgoondu. For example, advanced manufacturing, financial services, connectivity and healthcare are areas where AI can be quickly scaled up to bring immense improvements, she notes.
In this month’s Q&A, she also fields questions on how AI-literate Singaporeans are and whether citizens see their country’s embrace of AI positively, given the recent backlash against the loss of jobs and impact on the environment.
To be sure, there are no easy answers, except to keep being ready for each wave of change.
“With every technology, there can be concerns about risks, safety and disruption,” says Teo. “Our approach is to try and spread the benefits as widely as possible, and to address the problems as robustly as we can.”
NOTE: Responses have been edited for style
Q: Singapore has made progress in its AI mission, and the latest refresh to the NAIS sets out Singapore’s ambitions for the next phase. Would you say the country has moved fast enough to adapt to keep pace with the developments in AI?
A: Speed is not such a good thing if we’re headed in the wrong direction. In the past, a strategy may be good for at least five years, maybe longer. Not with AI. More than just moving fast, we have to be agile and keep making sure our bearings are right.
This is the reason for refreshing our National AI Strategy. It was launched in 2019 and has already gone through two updates. The latest edition is more of a “double-click” than a system reboot.
We are going deeper in areas where Singapore has strengths. This will be through National AI Missions in advanced manufacturing, financial services, connectivity and healthcare. These sectors account for about 40 per cent of Singapore’s GDP, and they are areas where AI can transform at scale. We’re also doubling down on capability development in our workforce and businesses.
We’re continuing to look out for opportunities to make our AI hub even more vibrant.
Q: Partnerships with AI leaders such as OpenAI, Google and Nvidia place Singapore at the forefront of AI development. How does Singapore assess which collaborations benefit the country and should take precedence?
A: There are a few things we look at. A collaboration must fit our needs. At this stage, we would like to see more widespread AI adoption in the economy. We have a keen interest in supporting R&D efforts, to use AI for scientific discovery and understand AI risks more deeply.
For the partnerships to work, we also need to bring something to the table. Our partners know that we take our commitments seriously. They are attracted by the thriving community of AI creators, practitioners and users in Singapore who can help push the boundaries of innovation or scale AI solutions.
The recent partnerships reflect the alignment of needs and interests. OpenAI’s Applied AI Lab will support applied AI innovation and talent development. Nvidia’s research lab will work with our universities, industry and government agencies on embodied and efficient AI. Google’s partnership will support researchers and educators in using agentic AI tools.
They all help Singapore move from experimentation to deployment.
Q: You mentioned the importance of digital literacy in the era of AI at a recent conference. How would you assess the readiness of Singaporeans in this area, as AI continues to impact lives profoundly?
A: If you look at the surveys and rankings by different organisations, Singapore does quite well. But we always want to do better.
We think about readiness as a spectrum. At the baseline, everyone should have the confidence to use AI safely and sensibly in daily life. Beyond that, workers and professionals need to combine AI fluency with their own domain knowledge, because that creates real value.
That is why we are supporting 100,000 workers to become “AI bilingual”, starting with professions such as accountancy and law. For students, AI and data literacy are now part of the school curriculum, so they learn early not just how to use AI, but how to question its outputs and work with it responsibly.
The Government is itself taking steps to become more AI-capable. Through the new Institute of Digital Government, more than 150,000 public officers will be equipped with digital, data, and AI skills. We are also building AI into public services so that citizens can experience the benefits directly.
Q: In a few short years, we have seen AI as a force of positive change and a source of immense disruption as well. Do you think Singaporeans view their country’s embrace of AI as positively as other technological transformations in the past?
A: With every technology, there can be concerns about risks, safety and disruption. A person may also experience the downsides sooner and more intensely than the upsides.
Our approach is to try and spread the benefits as widely as possible, and to address the problems as robustly as we can. With AI, we understand the worries about potential job losses and rampant misinformation. We will have to work very hard to avoid being overwhelmed by these challenges, while helping our people make the best of AI.
