Singapore embraces AI to solve everyday problems

SINGAPORE — Booking a badminton court at one of Singapore’s 100-odd community centers can be a workout in itself, with residents forced to type in times and venues repeatedly on a website until they find a free slot. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), it could soon be easier.

The People’s Association, which runs the community centers, worked with a government tech agency to build a chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence to help residents find free courts in the city-state’s four official languages.

The booking chatbot, which could be rolled out shortly, is among more than 100 generative AI-based solutions spurred by the AI Trailblazers project, launched last year to find AI-based solutions to everyday problems.

The project, backed by Singapore government agencies and Google, has also led to the development of tools to scan job applicant’s CVs, develop customized teaching curriculums, and generate transcripts of customer service calls.

It is part of the Southeast Asian nation’s AI strategy that is light on regulation and keen on “AI for all,” said Josephine Teo, minister for communications and information.

“Regulations are certainly part of good governance, but in AI, we have to make sure there is good infrastructure to support the activities,” she said at a briefing last month at Google’s Singapore office where some of the new tools were demonstrated.

“Another very important aspect is building capabilities... (and) making sure that people not only have access to the tools, but are provided with opportunities to grow the skills that will enable them to use these tools well,” Ms. Teo said.

With an explosion in the use of generative AI globally, governments are racing to curb its harms — from election disinformation to deepfakes — without throttling innovation or the potential economic benefits.

In Singapore, the focus is on AI adoption in the public sector and industry, and building an enabling environment of research, skills and collaboration, said Denise Wong, an assistant chief executive at Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), which oversees the country’s digital strategy.

RESPONSIBLE AI

With its stable business environment, Singapore consistently ranks near the top of the global innovation index, climbing to fifth place last year on the strength of its institutions, human capital and infrastructure.

On AI, Singapore was an early adopter, releasing its first national AI strategy in 2019 with the aim of individuals, businesses, and communities using AI “with confidence, discernment, and trust.”

It began testing generative AI tools in its courts last year, and uses them in schools and in government agencies, and released its second national strategy in December, with the mission “AI for the public good, for Singapore and the world.”

Also last year, Singapore set up the AI Verify Foundation to develop testing tools for responsible use, and a generative AI sandbox for trialing products. IMDA, along with technology companies IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce, are among its primary members.

The toolkit, on code-sharing platform GitHub, has drawn the interest of dozens of local and global companies, Ms. Wong said.

In tests by tech firm Huawei, the toolkit highlighted racial bias in the data, while tests by UBS bank prompted reminders that certain attributes in the data could affect the model’s fairness, according to IMDA. —