The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) has partnered with Google Cloud to launch the Artificial Intelligence Government Cloud Cluster (AGCC), at the Google Cloud Summit in Singapore earlier today.
The AGCC will be implemented for use within government agencies. It will allow access to Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology stack and partner ecosystem to encourage quicker public sector adoption of AI, and to support the growth of the local AI start-up scene.
At present, the Government Technology Agency (GovTech)’s Open Government Products (OGP) team is using AGCC, according to Sherie Ng, country director for Singapore, Google Cloud.
The team utilises Google Cloud’s PaLM API on Vertex AI to power PAIR, an assistive chatbot for civil servants to “boost their productivity with privacy and security safeguards in place to maintain the confidentiality of government information”.
Besides the launch of AGCC, Google Cloud has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and announced a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Information and Communication (MCI), at the event.
MAS seeks to explore opportunities to advance the development and use of responsible generative AI applications, by conducting technical pilots and co-creating solutions for the central bank’s internal and industry-facing digital services. It will also aid technical competency development on deep AI skill sets for MAS’s technologists.
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Meanwhile, MCI will bear the responsibility of “bolstering” Singapore’s national AI vision and strategy.
Using AI to move forward
Speaking at the Google Cloud Summit, MAS’s assistant managing director for technology Vincent Loy explained the central bank’s reason for working with Google Cloud.
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“I firmly believe that the use of intelligent data will be critical to the success of MAS as a progressive and established financial regulator,” says Loy, who credits the use of data as the key differentiating factor for Singapore in being an innovative and progressive nation and financial services sector.
Likewise, government chief digital technology officer for Singapore, Chan Cheow Hoe, says that the Singapore government has been very progressive in recognising that slow adoption of technology will set them back by a decade.
Using the government’s adoption of commercial cloud as an example, Chan highlights that the industry and regulators have to work in tandem to build the future of the nation.
But Loy does not dismiss the larger issue at hand that most regulators around the world are presently concerned with in the wake of mass generative AI adoption.
He highlights that there are cross industry data issues that need to be dealt with – referring to data privacy and sovereignty concerns that have surfaced of late – before announcing that MAS is working with the industry to issue a responsible AI framework over the next few years.
This announcement comes at a time where talks of AI regulation have come to the fore, and a day after G7 government leaders have convened to consider problems posed by generative AI, tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
