Josephine Teo on Singapore's national AI strategy

Speaking at Google's Singapore event, Josephine Teo placed AI within the broader "digital development" frame. Singapore deliberately uses that term, not "digital technology," because the four pillars span more: a vibrant digital economy, a cohesive digital society, comprehensive digital security, and a progressive digital government. Policymakers must understand how the technology actually works — otherwise their judgement on when to regulate, and when not to, breaks down.

Infrastructure comes first. Singapore's data centre density is already among the world's highest, but the next phase pushes the boundaries on green: lower-energy chips, greener algorithms, sustainable capacity expansion. Capability building works across three layers — individual skills, enterprise transformation (a common frustration: people learn AI but find no interest from their bosses back at the office), and industry and government readiness. Google will set up one of ten engineering centres in Singapore, helping move AI agents from theory into reliable production for citizen-facing services.

Singapore's National AI Strategy explicitly targets "AI for the public good" — for Singapore and for the world. MedGemma and other DeepMind partnerships exemplify this. She previewed: in 48 hours the PM's Budget speech will carry significant AI announcements; she heads to the Delhi AI Impact Summit next Wednesday; Singapore hosts Asia Tech Summit in May; and as ASEAN chair in 2027, Singapore will push the ASEAN Digital Economy Agreement.

Caption language: en · Fetched: 2026-05-02

Afternoon colleagues and friends. Uh thank you to Google for inviting me back again for the second edition of Google and for Singapore. Um Dr. Sha, excellency ambassador to Singapore. Uh I've visited Google many more times than you. But I have to tell you that uh as many times as I've been here, each visit brings new surprises. Uh each interaction with the very dynamic Google team in Singapore encourages me more uh that there is a greater impact that we can create together. How about another round of applause for all the wonderful presentations [applause] by the team here. >> [applause] >> Uh in the course of my work, I'm often asked how does Singapore think about digital development and uh what you know are your plans for AI?

uh because certainly in the current um period the most exciting things that um are are happening in the technology world uh include AI and um in just I think 48 hours on Thursday around this time the prime minister whose picture you saw at least twice um who is also our finance minister he is going to be delivering the budget statement. And what I can share with you without giving too much away is that there are some very significant announcements that concern AI uh particularly in the area of how we will promote accelerate its adoption in industry amongst enterprises and within the workforce. So I think in Singapore we like to say akandatang. it means it's coming therefore just another 48 hours or so. Uh but I think it is useful for us to ground all the efforts that we are making in AI on our broader approach to digital development.

There is a reason why we you know uh chose to think about it as digital development instead of digital technologies or digital advancement. In fact, the presentation you just heard um across the four different pillars, they quite accurately capture the breadth uh the that we think about when we ask ourselves what should we want to see in terms of the outcomes of our efforts in digital development. It's not just having a vibrant digital economy. Uh it's also about having a cohesive and stable digital society where people communities can still live you know harmoniously with one another and that's not always a given. Uh it's about digital security how comprehensive it is how we are able to trust the day-to-day interactions that we have online with other individuals with systems with services that are being delivered to us digitally.

It's I think also importantly for us as policy makers a challenge how we can ourselves be progressive as a digital government uh not lagards but leaders in the adoption of the most advanced tools available as a way of improving the quality of our delivery to our citizens but also as a way of encouraging them to believe that technology can be a force for Good. Of course, it's also very important for us as a government to know exactly how the technology operates. If we didn't, we would have very little credibility and we would also be quite circumscribed in the way we think about the right way to govern and when regulations make sense and when they don't. So, this is the broader thinking that we have when we talk about digital development.

But if you then unpack it and say what are the different components, what are the different pillars that go into it, there are a couple. The first is that ultimately everything that happens in the online world, everything that involves a digital interaction, it has to be grounded in some form of infrastructure and there is a physics associated with it. There is only so much you can push through the digital pipelines and unless you invest in growing the infrastructure. And what that means involves putting in place not just the data centers but also in terms of how we build up the network our whether it is a mobile network or a broadband network and in terms of how we think about the submarine cables that connect us to other countries other regions and globally.

So all of these digital infrastructure takes years of planning because they don't materialize overnight and in our context right now uh even though we have by way of data center capacity one of the densest relative to our population relative to our GDP we are still creating headroom but we want to do it in a responsible way. We want to do it in a way that is environmentally sustainable. What that means is greener data centers and that essentially boils down to two things. One, data centers that use less techn less energy or data centers that use greener energy. But beyond that, we think that there is also the opportunity to push the boundaries. We are very interested in, for example, chips can be made to work effectively using less energy. We're even asking ourselves, can algorithms be written in a greener way?

So if you think about it, there is a lot of scope not just in terms of putting in more dollars to build up the data center capacity, but also in pushing the boundaries of innovation that could eventually benefit not just Singapore, but many other places that are energy constrained around the world. That's really just in the infrastructure pillar. And you see that um you know whether today or on other occasions our interactions with our colleagues and our friends in Google there are many discussions that go down to those levels of sophistication and I'm glad to say that those cons those conversations are continuing. Uh yet another area that uh is important in digital development is in terms of building capabilities and we think of capabilities in a few areas.

There is capabilities at the workforce level and some of the programs that um were highlighted today speak to the importance of ensuring that individuals have the confidence and they have the capacity to use AI tools and to think about transforming their own work processes as well as their domains with the uh power that AI brings to them. uh but individual capability development is only one part of it. It is quite frustrating for individuals who feel that they are AI enabled to then go back to their employment contexts and to their workplaces only to find that no one else is interested, least of all the bosses. and um the capacity then to bring their individual skills into the workplace and transform it into a higher order capability that is lacking. So we also believe that there must be a way for us to make the two work together.

Thirdly, there is capabilities development at the industry level, also at the government level. And for that, we often need to crowd in our resources and our colleagues in the research and development community as well as those amongst our uh techn technical teams, our technology teams working uh within the government. And here again I think there are many exciting areas that uh Google and Singapore can partner together. A few months ago when Thomas Kuran was in Singapore we had talked about uh how um Singapore's experimentation with using agents and including starting to use Google agent work agent space that is a good foundation and we're continuing to try and push the boundaries. Um I'm therefore delighted with Mo's announcement, one of the 10 that you are going to build up the engineering center.

Uh and the reason is because um it's theoretical when we uh talk about the potential of AI agents, you have to be able to put it into production. You have to be able to find the kings. You have to be able to architect in a way that feels like you can count on it. especially when a government interacts with so many members of the public. Um a a point of failure will almost always create um too much excitement and uh we want to do our best to try and ensure that whatever is put out is properly tested and has been built you know with all the necessary safeguards. So that's really in the area of capabilities. There are three other areas. I don't go into them in great detail but just to say that in all those areas there are also very good partnerships with Google.

Um for example uh what um Karen just described um is our whole approach to regulations and legislation. Um in governance there will sometimes be a need for us to do so. However, the approach that we take in Singapore, especially when it comes to dealing with the impacts of technology, is first to ask whether existing laws and regulations already enable us to deal with their outcomes that may not be so helpful or desirable for society before we think about whether new laws or regulations need to be added. And in this process, the conversations that we have with companies like yourselves makes us more thoughtful about what are the right things to do. And we want to thank you for continuously engaging with us and enabling us to make more meaningful uh interventions when it's necessary to do so.

Um one other area is um in terms of crowding in the entire community accepting the fact that when it comes to technology developments it's very often the case that the answers lie in more than one entity and the value is in bringing people together uh allowing them to offer their perspectives allowing them to suggest what are the right uh solutions to bring to bear and that is another area that we enjoy very much working with Google. There is just one final area I wanted to touch on and also to share with Google as an opportunity for the future. Um we believe very much that whatever it is that we create in Singapore goes so much further when others get a chance to benefit from them.

And that is why some years ago when we decided to refresh our national AI strategy, we decided that it should be AI for the public good uh but not just for Singapore also for the world.

And that gives me a great sense of um uh hope uh especially when I see that some of the projects that we are working on medge gemma is a very good example what we're trying to do with a Google deep mind is another very good example of how we can stretch the potential further um on a regular basis I interact with my colleagues around the world for example next Wednesday I head to New Delhi for the AI impact summit Uh in May, Singapore itself hosts the Asia Tech Summit where we bring together our colleagues uh in order to discuss the issues that matter in terms of technology development and of course in the current time frame uh AI is of greater interest, greatest interest.

I would also like to suggest to Google to think about how the products, the services, the innovations that you are creating in Singapore can be showcased through the world through these platforms. some that take place in Singapore, others that because Singapore participates in, we're very happy to also share um the exciting developments that have taken place here. Um in 2027, which is I think just 11 months away, Singapore chairs the uh Association for Southeast Nations annual meetings. There will be many developments in the Azan domain that will be relevant to you too. For example, Azan member states are coming together on a digital economy agreement.

uh some of this um elements of this uh framework agreement I think will have great opportunities presented to companies like Google because whilst you are anchored in Singapore um your markets certainly extend beyond here and there is also tremendous interest in the innovations that you can equally bring to the other markets. So this invitation is open to you. I look forward to all the future exchanges that we will have across the many different domains and pillars. Congratulations on all the areas that you have uh advanced and made progress on. I have every confidence that u the next time I visit and and Dr. Sha you are very welcome to join me the next time I visit there will be more innovations that they are introducing and more exciting developments. Congratulations once again.