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| Dr Chng introduces Singapore's Smart Nation vision. |
Dr Zhenzhi Chng, Director, National AI Office, made the call during NVIDIA's AI Innovation Day in Singapore in early December.
Singapore's plan to develop and use AI to transform Singapore’s economy and improve the lives of citizens was announced in November. Dr Chng explained that AI is a key step in the Smart Nation journey as AI builds on existing digitalisation capabilities and infrastructure, but is currently hampered by bottlenecks in our ability to redesign processes, systems and regulations. The National AI Strategy addresses these challenges. Its objectives are for:
- Government and businesses to use AI to generate economic value and improve lives.
- Singapore to be a global hub for developing, test-bedding, deploying, and scaling AI solutions; as well as govern and manage the impact of AI.
- Singapore society to understand the benefits, limitations and risks of AI; and the local workforce to be equipped with the necessary competencies to thrive in an AI-driven economy.
The plan is to differentiate Singapore from other countries by transforming the economy, government and society with artificial intelligence (AI), Dr Chng explained.
"We see AI as the next step in our Smart Nation journey," she shared. "By 2030 Singapore will be the leader in developing and deploying scalable, impactful AI solutions in sectors of value and relevance."
However, AI applications must benefit citizens and businesses, and Singapore must proactively address risk and governance issues, she said.
There are five initial National AI projects, selected because they require "a concerted effort from the government", Dr Chng said, and because they have "clear, realistic outcomes that can be achieved in a reasonable timeline". "When successful, these will have a significant impact on our citizens," she said.
The projects address key national challenges and deliver impactful social and/or economic benefits to Singaporeans. The broad areas that these projects are in are:
- Transport and logistics: intelligent freight planning
Some of the use cases here include pooling and dynamic assignment of trucking assignments, ensuring that each trip taken by a truck is revenue-generating, and reducing wait times while on the road, Dr Chng said.
- Smart cities and estates: seamless and efficient municipal services
AI-powered chatbots that allow government agencies to respond in a timely manner to feedback would be a powerful use case, Dr Chng said. "Agencies find it very hard to respond because feedback doesn't contain enough or relevant information," she elaborated.
This project could also use sensors and AI to predict facility failures, and gather intelligent insights on how residents are using facilities.
- Healthcare: chronic disease prediction and management
The initiatives here could include generating personalised risk scores for individuals, providing clinical decision support for primary care doctors, and offering more personalised care and treatment. Chronic diseases could even be self-managed if reminders and health updates are sent to wearables, Dr Chng suggested.
- Education: personalised education through adaptive learning and assessment
The Singapore Ministry of Education's online learning portal, Student Learning Space, could be improved with AI, Dr Chng said.
"(We want to) enhance this system with AI so each student can experience a more personalised learning journey catered to their strengths and weaknesses."
Data-driven insights could be derived from automated marking systems, while AI-driven learning companions could encourage students and support them emotionally as part of the students' learning journey.
- Safety and security: border clearance operations
Imagine 100% automated immigration clearance, allowing travellers to "breeze through customs without having to show our passports", Dr Chng said.
AI-assisted enhanced border security could also be conducted by generating risk scores for travellers even before they arrive.
The National AI Strategy outlines the development of five key enablers to anchor a vibrant and sustainable AI ecosystem, and drive AI innovation and adoption across the economy:
- A triple-helix partnership between the research community, industry and government
Singapore will strengthen partnerships and the collective capabilities between the research community, industry, and government to accelerate the deployment and commercialisation of AI solutions. This will build on existing AI research and development (R&D) capabilities, and an existing S$500 million investment to further AI research, innovation and enterprise under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan.
According to Dr Chng, there are over 15 AI-based labs established through public-privataae partnerships. The opening of Punggol Digital District in 2023 will provide a platform for AI applications, she added.
- AI talent and education
Singaporeans will be equipped with relevant multidisciplinary skills to take on high-quality AI jobs and apply AI solutions to their respective domains. The country will also tap global ideas and talent.
"We need multidisciplinary talent for the successful deployment of AI," said Dr Chng.
- Data architecture
Singapore aims to strengthen the collective ability of the public and private sector to manage and exchange data in a secure manner, so that AI algorithms can access to high-quality datasets for training and testing.
Besides high-quality cross-sector data there must also be established frameworks for public-private data collaboration, Dr Chng said. She noted that the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) have already published a Trusted Data Sharing Framework, while there is established data architecture to share data securely within seven days.
- Progressive and trusted environment
Issues related to risk brought about by AI technologies will be proactively addressed, including through the Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data and the Model AI Governance Framework.
Singapore is providing an intellectual property (IP) regime and accelerated patent initiatives for AI, Dr Chng said.
- International collaboration
Singapore aims to learn from companies and jurisdictions across the world about the effective deployment of AI and positions itself as a venue that can adapt, test and deploy ideas in real life. At the same time, the country aims to be a thought leader in setting AI-related policies and standards by working closely with key international organisations and standards-setting organisations.
Singapore will act as an open and neutral party on international collaborations for AI, while also actively contributing to AI standards, Dr Chng said. "We will work with international partners to shape international AI discourse and develop horizontal enablers," she stated.
She also called on the audience to get involved. The National AI Office, under the umbrella of the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office was established on 1 October 2019 to set the national agenda for AI and to catalyse efforts across research, industry and government stakeholders to work on national AI priorities.The organisation:
- Welcomes proposals to solutions to National AI Projects as well as proposals for new AI projects
- encourages companies to transform their businesses with AI
- welcomes those outside Singapore to participate in Singapore's AI ecosystem
"We are hiring," Dr Chng said.
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