Microsoft to explore conversational computing with Singapore government

Singapore is partnering with Microsoft on its Conversations as a Platform to explore opportunities in co-creating next-generation digital government services for a Smart Nation.

At this year’s World Cities Summit Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister-In-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, speaking at the Innovative Solutions for a Smart City conference track, announced that the Singapore government will explore next-generation government services based on a shift towards conversational computing. Dr Balakrishnan elaborated that intelligent software known as chatbots will be used for selected public services where appropriate. The chatbots will function as digital representatives, simulating human behaviour in order to make interactions simpler, more efficient, and more consistent.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will further explore with Microsoft a new computing proof-of-concept (POC) that builds conversational intelligence into public services, with the aim of making them more anticipatory, accessible, engaging and inclusive for citizens and constituents.

“I believe there are more intuitive ways for government services to be delivered to our citizens. Everybody expects responsive and personalised interactions in real time. The recent quantum improvement of natural language processing means that ‘conversations’ will be the new medium. This joint research project with Microsoft to demonstrate the utility of conversational computing for public services will be all the more pertinent,” said Dr Balakrishnan.

Conversations as a Platform represents a fundamental shift where the power of human language, artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied to add intelligence and context to technology, resulting in a bot that can enable productive human-to-machine interaction in a single text or spoken conversation. This is envisioned to solve problems more quickly than clicking through menus and icons or can through multiple Web pages to accomplish tasks.

“As everything around us becomes more digitised, Conversations as a Platform is a new shift that applies the understanding of human language to computers and computing, which can transform every industry,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “We’re excited to partner with organisations like the government of Singapore to help transform its engagements with citizens and businesses to seize the opportunities ahead.”

Source: IDA web page. 'Ask Jamie' appears as an icon to one corner of the IDA Web page, and represents a user-friendly way to interact with intelligent software.

“As part of a digital government, IDA continues to explore partnership opportunities with the industry to co-create digital solutions for citizens and businesses. We have done so with virtual assistant ‘Ask Jamie', which has been successfully rolled out to some government agencies including IDA. We are happy to work with more partners, including Microsoft, to test out POCs which may enhance the way citizens and businesses interact online with the government,” said Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of IDA.

The POC, which will be implemented in three phases, will involve intelligent chatbots, where users are able to converse with and call upon any applications within a single website to complete tasks. It will also explore potential future scenarios, including services that cater to a multilingual and multi-generational population.

· Phase one will see chatbots drawing from a vast database to answer simple factual questions from users of selected public services.

· This will transit into phase two, where chatbots expand their capability to help users complete simple tasks and transactions within government websites.

· Following this, phase three will see chatbots responding to personalised queries from users, further enhancing user engagement by providing an interactive conversational experience.

A Microsoft Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Leadership in Digital Transformation for Government and Industry will also be established to originate, develop and showcase new and innovative solutions that transform digital citizen and consumer services for better living. The Centre will also design and develop the next generation of services and interfaces influenced by this new shift to conversational computing, and incubate and nurture local innovators to strengthen the capabilities of entrepreneurs and startups for the new economy. The CoE will also support the POC with IDA.