An SGD180 million has been additionally planned on top of the already budgeted SGD 500 million committed for artificial intelligence (AI) research, informed Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat while addressing at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) and Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2021.
On November 8, 2021, Mr Heng, in an opening speech announced that the SGD180 million would be only spent towards accelerating fundamental and translational research on AI. While fundamental research involves the advancement of new and novel applications for AI, translational research refers to its application in translating data into meaningful insights.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, the new silicon valley in Asia also announced that two new national programmes on AI would be initiated for the finance industry and government sector including the ‘National AI Programme in Finance’ and the ‘National AI Programme in Government’.
These two national programmes have been introduced as part of the Singapore government’s strategy to effectively utilize AI technology for economic and social good.
The first programme in Finance includes an industry-wide AI platform and will generate insights about financial risks. The second programme in Government will improve the delivery of public sector services through greater use of AI in planning and policymaking for providing more responsive and personalized services and optimizing governing processes for the benefit of the citizens.
The first programme, NovA! is an AI platform and in its initial phase will focus on helping financial institutions rightly evaluate the environmental impact of companies and identify associated environmental risks. This is a collaboration between Singapore-based banks and local fintech firms. Sustainability related investments and the risks involved can also be better assessed by the financial institutions with this initiative. Building solid and sound AI capabilities within the Singaporean financial sector and enhancing customer service, risk management and business competitiveness is the primary purpose of this initiative.
The second AI programme, besides improving the delivery of public sector services through AI text analytics, will also focus on exploiting AI technology to improve job-matching on the national jobs portal, MyCareersFuture and improve job placements through better and more effective use of personalized jobs and skills recommendations.
These nationwide programmes come as a strategic plan of the Government for large scale adoption of AI across the nation and position the country as a global platform for AI applications and testing. The new initiative aims to leverage AI technology for economic value creation and train Singapore’s workforce on AI technology know-how.
In its efforts to become a smart nation, the Singapore government emphasized the necessity of AI for resource identification and allocation for the key focus areas through increased collaboration between government agencies and researchers.
The national AI strategy has been developed by the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO), under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to position Singapore in a global leadership position for the development and deployment of “scalable, impactful AI solutions’ in key areas by 2030.
The government spearheaded the national strategy to make its citizens aware of the implications and benefits of AI in their lives and promote usage of this technology. Developing AI capabilities has also been on the government’s agenda to support an AI-driven digital economy by 2030. Plans and priorities are made by SNDGO so that Singaporean entrepreneurs and engineers can develop new and innovative AI products and services for both indigenous usage and exports.
“Domestically, our private and public sectors will use AI decisively to generate economic gains and improve lives. Internationally, Singapore will be recognised as a global hub in innovating, piloting, test-bedding, deploying and scaling AI solutions for impact,” emphasized the SNDGO.
Four focus areas have been identified for increased AI deployment including finance, manufacturing, government and cybersecurity. The nationwide projects that have been earmarked are management in healthcare, intelligent freight planning in transportation and logistics, and border clearance operations in national safety and security.
“The national AI strategy is a key step in our smart nation journey. It spells out our plans to deepen our use of AI technologies to transform our economy, going beyond just adopting technology, to fundamentally rethinking business models and making deep changes to reap productivity gains and create new areas of growth,” noted Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore.
He also added saying, “As a small country, Singapore lacks the scale of large markets and R&D ecosystems, but we can make up for this by building up AI research, and working together cohesively across government, industry, and research, to develop and deploy AI solutions in key sectors,” Lee added. “At the same time, we must also anticipate the social challenges that AI will create by maintaining public trust and building capabilities to manage and govern AI technologies, and guarding against cybersecurity attacks and breaches to data privacy.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has already developed the first phase of Veritas, an AI governance framework and Toolkit to ensure that financial institutions use AI responsibly. The framework will focus on three main areas including customer marketing, risk scoring, and fraud detection.
“AI has the potential to transform financial services, but it must be used safely and responsibly. Good governance is essential to AI adoption in the financial industry,” the special AI advisor for MAS David Hardoon emphasized.
As part of the national AI strategy and to develop and manage smart estates, Mr Heng also deliberated a new partnership between the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) for enhancing AI technological capabilities.
The rollout of a national AI strategy will empower Singapore to emerge as one of the smartest nations in the world and increasingly attract foreign innovative and tech-savvy SMEs and startups for the best Singapore company incorporation.
