June 6, 2024
Singapore Singapore is launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) program to develop talent and deepen economic ties with the United States.
The new AI Talent Bridge program is expected to deepen U.S.-Singapore cooperation on critical emerging technologies, including AI, with a focus on supporting youth, women, and future tech leaders, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said in a statement.
It will build on the existing U.S.-Singapore Women in Technology Partnership Program, which launched in 2022, and will feature networking and mentoring sessions, workshops, and other activities to foster partnerships between companies from the two countries. However, few details about the program have been revealed at this time.
AI workforce development was one of three areas identified as outcomes of a roundtable on AI led by US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo on June 5.
Two other areas of enhanced cooperation between Singapore and the US are digital infrastructure and services, and AI innovation and governance.
Ms Teo told reporters that skills development was the only lasting and sustainable way to help people retain their jobs and move on to better ones.
“When the International Monetary Fund says Singapore is the most AI-ready country in the world, we want to say we don't think anybody can be fully prepared,” Teo said.
In May, Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said Singapore was exploring the possibility of a talent exchange program with the United States in areas such as AI.
Teo said US companies plan to invest “well in excess of $50 billion” in Singapore's digital economy related to AI and other digital technologies over the next few years, describing it as a “very strong endorsement”.
She added that U.S. companies are also partnering with local businesses to build the AI capabilities of Singapore's more than 130,000 workers through schemes such as the TechSkills Accelerator, Singapore's national tech skills program.
Teo said Singapore continues to make foundational investments, with investments in undersea cables and data centres that could generate more than $20 billion in investment, and plans are also underway to expand existing AI research centres and set up new ones.
Singapore's tech spending will reach $22 billion in 2023, with the United States being the largest foreign investor.
The roundtable, held at the Ministry of Finance, was attended by government officials from both countries and representatives from US and Singaporean companies, including Google and Grab.
Raimondo added that the US is deeply invested in its bilateral relationship with Singapore and that US companies want to do more in Singapore.
AI is “the technology that will define our generation,” she said, noting its potential applications in a wide range of sectors, from clean energy to education. The United States in particular is keen to work with Singapore to advance the technology in partnership with private sector innovators.
Raimondo is on a three-day official visit to Singapore to attend the Indo-Pacific Prosperity Economy Framework Ministerial Meeting and the Clean Energy Investor Forum.
Raimondo added that the two countries are also focused on aligning safety standards and ways to mitigate risks associated with AI, which will increase trust in the technology and encourage its adoption.
First, the United States and Singapore have completed a mapping exercise between the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework and the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA) AI Validation Framework, both of which aim to ensure the safe deployment of AI technologies.
NIST and IMDA are also focusing their efforts on next-generation AI: On May 30, Singapore launched a Model Governance Framework for Generative AI, highlighting nine areas where governance of this emerging technology can be strengthened.
Meanwhile, the US AI Safety Institute and Singapore's Digital Trust Centre, an AI safety lab, plan to advance the science of AI safety.
Meanwhile, DOC and MCI said they would work together to ensure the responsible design and development of AI technologies, promote commercialization opportunities, and develop international standards.
