Clifford Chance

At the recent Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) conference held from 6 to 9 June 2023, Singapore's Minister for Communications and Information reiterated Singapore's aspiration to be a global leader in harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) for greater good, and its support of the safe and responsible development and deployment of AI.

AI Verify 

In connection with this, the AI Verify Foundation was launched at the ATxSG conference. A not-for-profit foundation, AI Verify Foundation states that it supports the development and use of AI Verify in addressing the risks of AI and aims to harness the collective power and contributions of the global open-source community to develop AI testing tools for the responsible use of AI.

AI Verify is an AI governance testing framework and software toolkit, first developed by the Singapore regulator, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), in consultation with industry players. Available to the open-source community, AI Verify is intended to help organisations validate the performance of their AI systems against internationally recognised AI governance principles through standardised tests.

Among other things, the AI Verify Foundation aims to gather expertise from the open-source community to expand AI Verify's capability to evaluate generative AI. It has also announced that it intends to foster a global community to contribute to the use and development of AI testing frameworks, code base, standards, and best practices, and create a neutral platform for open collaboration and idea-sharing on testing and governing AI.

Generative AI : trust and governance

Amidst the global discussions on generative AI, the IMDA and Aicadium have also published a discussion paper to share Singapore’s approach to building an ecosystem for trusted and responsible adoption of generative AI.  The paper identifies six key risks that have emerged from generative AI:

• mistakes and hallucinations
• privacy and confidentiality
• disinformation, toxicity and cyber-threats
• copyright challenges
• embedded biases 
• values and alignment.

The paper also sets out a systems approach to enable a trusted and vibrant ecosystem of generative AI. There are six dimensions which should be looked at and collectively, they provide an initial framework for policy makers to strengthen the foundation of AI governance to address the unique characteristic of generative AI. These six dimensions are:

• accountability as the basis for governance
• critical components of the model lifecycle from data
• model development and deployment
• third party assurance and evaluation
• longer term safety and alignment
• generative AI for public good.

While Singapore does not currently intend to implement general AI regulation, the discussion paper represents concrete action by Singapore to develop technical tools, standards and technology aimed at upholding trust and safety in digital developments, which in turn may lay the groundwork for clear and effective regulation in the future.

Digital Connectivity Blueprint & National Quantum-Safe Network Plus 

Ahead of ATxSG, Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information unveiled Singapore's Digital Connectivity Blueprint (DCB). Intended as a masterplan of Singapore's strategic priorities and a signal of its commitment to stay ahead of the digital curve, the DCB includes plans for an expansive digital infrastructure stack to set the foundation for the next bound of Singapore’s digital connectivity up to 2030. Among other things, Singapore intends to continue to prioritise infrastructure investment (including submarine cable landings and new Green Data Centres) and move into nascent areas (such as green software, Low Earth Orbit satellite services and quantum-safety).

As part of the DCB, Singapore has launched a quantum-safe network infrastructure, the National Quantum-Safe Network Plus (NQSN+), which aims to help businesses adopt quantum-safe technologies while building resilience against quantum attacks. This is a first step towards Singapore's broader vision of becoming a quantum-safe nation in the next ten years. The NQSN+ will start with at least two network operators. Each will build a nationwide, interoperable quantum-safe network that can serve all businesses, so that businesses can access solutions to safeguard their critical data.

To drive international standardisation of quantum-safe technologies and the eventual integration of NQSN+ with quantum-safe networks of other cities, Singapore and Japan will co-lead the first standardisation of the Quantum Key Distribution protocol framework at the ITU Telecommunication Standardisation Sector. Singapore's IMDA has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Korea’s National Information Society Agency to collaborate on quantum technologies and standardisation efforts.

As part of the DCB and to push the sustainability agenda in the digital space, Singapore has also introduced a standard for optimising energy efficiency for data centres (DCs) operating in tropical climate countries. The new standard aims to help DCs develop a roadmap to support the gradual increase in the DC operating temperatures to 26°C and above in a tropical climate. In the longer term, Singapore will also chart a roadmap towards net-zero DCs that are powered by renewable energy.

Conclusion

The legal landscape for AI is constantly evolving and in some jurisdictions is moving towards regulation. It is interesting to note how Singapore has chosen, for the time being, to not specifically regulate AI, but to continue to rely on existing regulatory frameworks and guidance issued by regulators. Singapore is also adopting a highly collaborative and open-source approach to develop tools and standards to address trust and safety issues arising from the use of AI.

Further, Singapore's DCB provides useful insights as to the broad issues other regulators may likewise be concerned with when planning for their jurisdictions' own digital economies. In particular, given the pressing net-zero commitments that bind many jurisdictions, it is envisaged that other jurisdictions will, like Singapore, start exploring or further progressing their sustainability agendas when charting their own digital roadmaps.