SINGAPORE and the US will work together to support youth, women and future leaders in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), under a new programme launched on Wednesday (Jun 5).
The new AI Talent Bridge initiative expands on an existing US-Singapore programme for women in tech, which was launched in June 2022 by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“(We have) a commitment to making sure that everybody can have access to the skills necessary, including women,” said Raimondo on Wednesday, ahead of the closed-door US-Singapore Roundtable on AI co-hosted with Teo. Raimondo is in Singapore for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity’s ministerial meeting.
Teo noted that US companies have shown “tremendous confidence and commitment” to being part of Singapore’s digital economy.
In the coming years, US companies have a pipeline of committed investments here in AI and digital technologies that will “easily exceed” S$50 billion, said Teo, who is also Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity.
“We are very mindful that capital investments of this scale, they don’t get approved without very robust, hard-nosed assessments, with the expectations of strong ROI (return on investment),” Teo said.
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US companies are also working with Singapore firms to raise the AI capabilities of more than 130,000 workers here.
Attending Wednesday’s roundtable were executives from US and Singapore companies – including Google, Grab, Microsoft, Nvidia and Changi Airport Group – as well as government officials from both sides.
Beyond talent development, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and US Department of Commerce (DOC) will deepen collaboration in AI governance and safety efforts.
Both countries “share a commitment to making sure that AI is developed according to a set of standards and in a risk framework that mitigates the risk”, said Raimondo. This is needed not just to protect human rights, safety and national security, but because “the key to adoption is trust”, she added.
In a joint release, MCI and DOC said both countries believe that the rise of AI brings opportunities, but “recognise the need to mitigate the challenges that come with the rapid, global proliferation of AI”.
That is why both nations have overseen the development of new AI governance frameworks, and will continue to cooperate on sharing best practices and other information. Both countries’ respective AI safety institutes are planning “important collaborations on advancing the science of AI safety”.
The countries will collaborate on activities that support the responsible design, development, deployment and evaluation of AI technologies.
There will also be efforts to encourage commercialisation opportunities, develop international standards and cooperate on research, MCI and DOC added.
