Singapore has announced that its work in artificial intelligence (AI) governance and ethics has won a top award at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes*. The winners of the 18 categories** of the WSIS Prizes were announced at an award ceremony during the annual WSIS Forum held in Geneva, Switzerland. Singapore won in the Ethical Dimensions of the Information Society category, beating four other finalists*** from across the globe.
The WSIS Prizes recognise outstanding digital projects globally, which foster socioeconomic development across categories such as e-government, e-environment, e-science and media, and ethics in IT.
Singapore’s AI governance and ethics initiatives aim to build an ecosystem of trust to support AI adoption. The initiatives also advance Singapore’s vision to be a leading digital economy and Smart Nation through balancing business innovation and consumer trust and confidence in adopting AI. These include:
- Asia’s first Model AI Governance Framework released in January 2019;
- An international and industry-led Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data formed in June 2018; and
- A Research Programme on the Governance of AI and Data Use established in partnership with the Singapore Management University in September 2018.
Singapore Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran said, “Singapore’s win of the WSIS Award is affirmation of our approach that AI practices must be transparent, explainable and fair. These are important principles that will guide businesses in implementing AI solutions that are human-centric, while spurring innovation in a digital economy.”
VK Rajah SC, Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data said, “This award affirms Singapore’s balanced and pragmatic approach towards AI governance. We look forward to working further with the Singapore government in forming strong guidance which enable innovation while protecting consumer interests.”
*The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum is a global United Nations’ multi-stakeholder platform that is co-organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community, which provides an opportunity for information exchange, knowledge creation and sharing of best practices, while identifying emerging trends and fostering partnerships, taking into account the evolving information and knowledge societies.The WSIS Prizes is an international contest to evaluate and recognise individuals, governments, civil society, local, regional and international agencies, research institutions and private sector companies for outstanding success in implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of ICT as an enabler of development.
**There were 1,140 nominations sent in globally. Of these, 20 projects per category were selected to move on to the second phase of online voting. The top five voted champions were then judged by an expert panel before the winner for each category was selected.
***The other contenders were Mobile based age verification before marriage registration to stop child marriage from Bangladesh; Datasense – Human-Free GDPR Compliance and Data Security from the US; Why do I exist from the US; and Women/Research/Data from Kenya.
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