預算辯論 · 2024-03-01 · 屆國會 14
新加坡AI戰略與數字基礎設施投資
議員質詢新加坡在AI時代如何加強數字基礎設施建設及人才培養，強調AI既帶來機遇也有風險，需保持人類控制。政府回應將繼續加大投資，推動國家AI戰略2.0，提升網路速度和計算能力，保障數字信任。核心爭議在於如何平衡技術發展與安全倫理，以及投資力度是否足夠。
關鍵要點
- • AI是未來關鍵技術
- • 需加強數字基礎設施
- • 保持技術人類控制
積極推進AI戰略與基礎設施建設
加大AI基礎設施與人才投資
“Singapore believes that AI can be a potent force for good – to uplift human potential and to unlock economic opportunities.”
參與人員 (11)
- Christopher de Souza
- Eric Chua
- Hany Soh
- Janil Puthucheary
- Mark Lee
- Minister for Communications and Information
- Pritam Singh
- Sharael Taha
- Tan Kiat How
- Tin Pei Ling
- Xie Yao Quan
完整譯文（中文）
Hansard 原始記錄 · 2026-05-02
下午4時15分
主席：通訊及資訊部Q項。田佩玲女士。
投資智慧未來
田佩玲女士（麥波申選區）：主席女士，我請求動議：“將估算表中通訊及資訊部Q項的總撥款減少100元。”
縱觀歷史，掌握技術一直是一個國家進步和戰略競爭能力的關鍵。在現代社會，這一重要性愈加突出。因此，通過投資關鍵基礎設施、創新和人才培養，國家可以在新興技術領域佔據領導地位，塑造全球經濟和地緣政治的未來。
作為一個小型開放經濟體，新加坡不追求成為超級大國，但我們必須投資以克服生產力挑戰，釋放新的經濟潛力，並造福人民。
隨著時間推移，新的顛覆性技術不斷湧現。這些技術帶來的變革發生得越來越頻繁且迅速。在數字化發展的關鍵階段，人工智慧（AI）正成為焦點。在DeepMind創始人穆斯塔法·蘇萊曼的著作《即將來臨的浪潮》中，他認為未來十年將由一波強大且快速擴散的新技術定義，而AI是這波浪潮的核心。
AI的一些突破以意想不到的方式發生，極大地加速了進展。因此，我們必須為一個AI幾乎滲透生活各方面的未來做好準備。
然而，如果AI不負責任地發展，也可能帶來重大危害。因此，保持人類對強大技術的控制是我們時代的重要挑戰。
雖然聽起來令人擔憂，技術本質上只是工具——好壞取決於使用者。新加坡相信AI可以成為推動人類潛能和釋放經濟機會的強大力量，這一點在《國家人工智慧戰略2.0》中有所體現。值得注意的是，AI戰略已從視AI為“機會”轉變為“必需”。
鑑於這一信念轉變，新加坡需要加大對數字基礎設施、人才和關鍵能力的投資，以推動下一階段經濟發展，同時加強數字信任，利用數字能力建設社群，改善生活——所有這些都發生在AI時代。
首先，關於數字基礎設施和韌性。
正如我在一月份關於“建設包容和安全的數字社會”動議中的發言所述，提前建設基礎設施對於保持競爭優勢至關重要，新加坡一直如此。
同樣，隨著我們邁向AI時代的智慧未來，新加坡需要加倍投資於更高速的網路和更高效能的計算能力。請問部委能否更新目前在加強此類數字基礎設施投資方面的進展？
鑑於基礎設施對提供基本服務和推動創新至關重要，數字安全和韌性的重要性不容忽視，因為它們不僅確保業務連續性，還塑造公眾信心。
正如我在一月份動議辯論中再次強調的，2023年DBS多次發生數字服務中斷，中央公積金儲蓄因安卓惡意軟體詐騙受損，公共醫療個人資料洩露。即使這些事件並非企業或機構直接過錯，也影響了大量民眾，進而影響公眾對數字的信任。
法規有效地設定界限，明確可為與不可為。隨著技術，尤其是AI的發展，法規必須跟進。但僅靠法規不足以解決問題。解決方案需要更上游，使企業和機構能在產品和運營設計中整合安全和韌性。因此，請問政府如何更新法規？又如何幫助企業和機構實施更高的數字安全和韌性標準？
相關地，政府去年推出了首席資訊安全官（CISO）即服務。請部長更新網路安全健康計劃的實施情況。
其次，為釋放經濟機會，產業和企業必須能夠充分且迅速轉型。政府推出了2017年中小企業“Go Digital”計劃，過去十年多實施了多項企業資助，並定期更新產業轉型路線圖。這些舉措深思熟慮且有益。
大型企業或許更精明，更能利用這些舉措，有些甚至不需依賴。但微型、小型和中型企業（MSMEs）往往缺乏資源和專業知識，難以選擇能提升生產力的數字解決方案。因此，即使有資助和方案，他們也可能未採用適合的數字方案，或採用不相關的方案，導致不必要的成本和轉型風險。政府於2021年推出技術長（CTO）即服務，協助中小企業轉型。進入第三年，該服務表現如何？政府還將如何更好地幫助中小企業採用符合其業務需求的數字方案？
隨著新加坡數字化程序推進，AI戰略從機會轉向必需，我欣慰地看到2023年6月釋出了數字連線藍圖，旨在提升新加坡企業和民眾的數字基礎設施，以捕捉數字領域新機遇。半年過去了，部委能否更新藍圖計劃的實施情況，並分享初步成果？
第三，我們需確保人民為未來做好準備。我們深知新技術，尤其是AI帶來的機遇與挑戰。我在本院過去的發言中談及此事，尊敬的同事們也多次闡述AI的優點和問題，我相信稍後還會繼續討論。
數字進步的承諾之一是為新加坡人提供更好的就業機會。但近期我們見證了Lazada、Google和Grab等大規模科技裁員，或因其調整組織結構和資源以配合新的AI戰略。受影響員工措手不及，有些因勞動力市場緊張而被其他公司吸納，有些則需更長時間並重新技能培訓。雖然企業有權如此，但顯然我們的勞動力必須具備未來準備，因為技術顛覆只會加速，工作性質也將改變。
在人才培養方面，教育重要，因為它為我們構建新知識和技能提供基礎，以跟上新發展。但僅靠教育不足。我們需要機會讓年輕人和人才與新加坡外的傑出人士交流思想，激發新想法。我們需要空間和平臺讓這些傑出人才聚集，學習、研究、試驗、失敗、迭代、交付並推向市場。
因此，政府如何支援勞動力具備AI和未來準備，並利用AI保持競爭力？
主席女士，我可以將剩餘的削減一併提出嗎？
主席：不行，我必須先表決。
田佩玲女士：好的，那我先暫停。
[（程式文本）提出動議。 （程式文本）]
主席：田佩玲女士，你可以將剩餘四項削減一併提出。
科技向善
本地語公共傳播
邁向數字韌性
數字信任
田佩玲女士：繼續剛才的發言。
第四，為了讓全社會全面擁抱智慧數字未來，我們必須確保利用技術彌合差距，建設社群，改善生活。
一月份動議辯論中已廣泛討論詐騙及如何打擊詐騙以維護數字時代的社會信任，這裡不再贅述。
我想強調的是錯誤資訊的危害。昨天我對外交部的削減中提到，某些資訊可能被傳播以製造新加坡人之間的分裂。但錯誤資訊還可能帶來其他危害，如阻礙對嚴重但可預防疾病的疫苗接種。因此，擁有可信賴的公共服務媒體渠道，且能覆蓋所有人口群體，對於打擊錯誤資訊和維護安全的公共空間至關重要。
那麼，政府如何確保我們的公共服務媒體繼續維護社會凝聚力和公共空間，繼續反映我們的社會價值觀，如多元文化主義？
此外，為促進更大理解和建設社群，各年齡和背景的公民必須能夠相互溝通。若要持續與長者及各社群互動，準確可靠地用不同語言傳遞資訊能力至關重要。因此，政府如何保護我們的本地語能力？又如何利用不斷進步的技術實現這一目標？
最後，隨著社會進步，問題日益複雜，人民更為精明，政府不可能獨自解決所有問題。正如一月份動議辯論強調的，需要全社會共同努力。那麼，政府將如何促進公民更廣泛參與，識別問題並共同創造成功的數字解決方案？
總之，技術進步和AI的普及正在重塑產業和全球格局。新加坡必須提前準備，通過投資、維護和加強數字信任，利用數字能力彌合差距，建設社群，改善生活。
SPH媒體信託基金資助
普里坦·辛格先生（亞逸拉惹選區）：主席，SPH媒體信託基金的第一筆公共資金於2023年3月發放。政府在本院四次部長宣告中說明了為何納稅人需補貼SPH媒體信託基金的運營，至少部分補貼。
我們被告知公共資金有三大理由。
第一，沒有公共資金，SPH媒體信託基金轉型為數字新聞公司將無法承擔專業新聞編輯部的投資和運營成本，預計廣告收入難以覆蓋，因線上爭奪眼球競爭激烈。
第二，維護本地新聞媒體，尤其是本地語新聞媒體，符合公眾利益，這些媒體對多元種族社群發聲重要，但因讀者或觀眾較少，財務難以維持。
第三，公共資金有助於支援SPH媒體信託基金，公眾將受益於受信任的主流媒體。
例如，2021年路透社數字新聞報告顯示，77%的受訪者信任《海峽時報》，高於2018年的70%。去年6月，SPH媒體信託基金的審計與風險委員會發現SPH在2020年9月至2022年3月間確實誇大了發行量，並已報案。
鑑於納稅人資金支援SPH媒體信託基金，公眾對新加坡主流媒體如何更好服務新加坡人有重大興趣。這反映了尋求更大編輯獨立性、更廣泛觀點、多元反饋政府政策，甚至對重大公共利益事項進行調查性報道的新加坡人訴求。
我們被告知SPH媒體信託基金將設有關鍵績效指標（KPI），並須向通訊及資訊部（MCI）半年報風險管理框架。部長能否告知公眾——現為SPH媒體信託基金利益相關者：一、SPH媒體信託基金在資助框架下須達成哪些KPI？二、資助一年後，其KPI表現如何？三、未達標的KPI有哪些，原因何在？四、MCI對其半年風險更新是否滿意？五、SPH媒體信託基金如何改進風險管理框架？
我期待部委回覆，並請求說明補貼SPH媒體信託基金的款項在收入與支出估算表中屬於哪個專案和頁碼？2023年支出及2024/2025年預算金額是多少？
我之所以詢問，是因為估算表中沒有專門提及重大市場影響力（SMP）或SPH媒體信託基金的專案。
主席：沙拉爾·塔哈先生，你有六項削減，可以一併提出。
下午4時30分
國家人工智慧戰略（NAIS 2.0）投資
削減標題
產業轉型圖與就業轉型圖
支援中小企業利用AI
AI基礎設施投資
支援本地語報紙
通過數字化改善生活
沙拉爾·塔哈先生（巴西立-榜鵝選區）：謝謝，主席女士。上個月我們黨團在本院提出“建設包容和安全的數字社會”動議，議會重申了採用全民方法以維持信任，建設包容安全的數字社會的承諾。
本週早些時候的預算辯論中，我分享了很高興我們承諾在五年內投資超過10億新元用於國家人工智慧戰略2.0，重點建設基礎設施、發展勞動力和產業。接下來幾項削減，我將聚焦國家人工智慧戰略2.0的幾個關鍵點。
首先，如何提供平等機會，確保AI帶來的機遇不僅惠及少數頂層人士？我在一月份動議中也提出過。這包括確保NAIS 2.0為所有新加坡群體提供機會，彌合貧富差距，並確保中小企業參與能力建設。
其次，AI被稱為跨行業的通用能力，將影響多個行業。NAIS 2.0如何更新產業轉型圖和就業轉型圖？我們如何建設人才管道？
第三，如何建設新加坡成為AI發展強國所需的基礎設施？
最後，如何通過數字化改善生活？
首先，隨著數字化和國家人工智慧戰略的轉型，如何確保新加坡所有群體都能利用AI和數字帶來的機會？如何確保數字擁有者和數字缺乏者，尤其是低收入家庭的在校兒童，享有平等機會？
從商業角度看，AI是跨行業的通用技術，不僅限於科技公司或跨國企業。我們如何支援各行業中小企業利用AI提升價值主張、生產力和流程？
其次，有報告稱70%的工人將受到AI影響。部長能否更新各行業的產業和就業轉型圖？AI如何改變產業轉型圖？我們如何積極支援可能被技術替代的工人？
通過NAIS 2.0，我們如何識別工人提升技能並應用AI以提升生產力和行業價值的機會？
預計AI領域需要超過15,000名工人。MCI如何與人力部合作，培養所需的15,000名AI從業者？如何設立具體的職業轉換計劃，提供更多具備此技能的人才？
隨著從業者規模擴大，我們還需培養行業深度人才。在高階領域，如何吸引世界級人才將AI能力帶入新加坡？如何在本地機構培養AI研究人才？
第三，主席女士，為發展繁榮的AI產業生態，新加坡必須建設基礎設施以領先新興趨勢和需求。除了高速網路，AI還需高效能運算能力。政府有何計劃建設計算能力以支援日益增長的AI和數字化需求？如何保障晶片供應，避免過度依賴單一來源？如何可持續發展這一能源密集型高效能運算？
最後，鑑於Singpass、HealthHub等平臺的成功，我們如何繼續通過數字化改善新加坡人的生活？我們如何通過數字化為新加坡人提供更便捷的政府服務？我們如何利用數字技術幫助有特殊需要的居民，如視障人士和老年人？我們如何利用數字技術拉近社群成員之間的距離？
支援方言報紙
主席女士，接下來請允許我用馬來語發言。
（馬來語）：【請參閱方言發言稿。】自2023年以來，《Berita Harian》已經轉型，從單純的印刷媒體轉向數字化平臺。現在，它在馬來語和多個數字平臺上推出了許多創新產品，以吸引現有和新讀者。
從#notapis播客、Instagram短影片、TikTok、BH Hub、BH實驗室、創新內容，甚至組織社群論壇，《Berita Harian》團隊已經改變了向馬來讀者傳遞新聞的方式，符合社群的需求。
我的第一個問題是，我們如何繼續在人力或預算方面支援《Berita Harian》，以持續開發這些馬來語產品？
其次，雖然馬來語在新加坡的使用者基數較小，但該地區有更多的馬來語讀者。
在我們努力建設成功社群的過程中，我們如何支援《Berita Harian》的能力，使其能夠為該地區提供新加坡馬來人的時事視角？
生成式人工智慧沙盒
李顯龍先生（提名議員）：女士，新加坡企業發展局和信息通信媒體發展局（IMDA）推出的生成式人工智慧（GenAI）沙盒，是一項受歡迎的舉措，幫助中小企業利用生成式人工智慧提升運營、產品和服務。我希望部長考慮採取分層支援策略，鼓勵企業採用越來越先進的技術——從20%的低層支援用於後臺和運營數字化，到60%的高層支援用於使用人工智慧技術，並提供補助支援進一步的定製需求及資料集建立。
此外，隨著人工智慧的普及，文化、社區及青年部（MCI）是否會引入治理和倫理框架，以確保人工智慧的負責任和有效使用？
主席：亞歷克斯·嚴先生。不在場。克里斯托弗·德索薩先生。
克里斯托弗·德索薩先生（荷蘭-武吉知馬）：主席女士，我有三項發言請求，可以合併發言嗎？
主席：可以，請合併發言。
人工智慧——治理與國際合作
克里斯托弗·德索薩先生：謝謝。新加坡於2022年推出了AI Verify，作為全球首批人工智慧治理測試框架和工具包之一。AI Verify的理念是為企業使用的人工智慧系統提供客觀的可驗證性，以證明人工智慧系統按其宣告的方式執行。
正如大家所想，AI Verify在人工智慧法規的實施和執行中發揮著極其關鍵的作用，全球各地的相關法規正在陸續出臺，例如歐盟人工智慧法案。IMDA已與國際合作夥伴開展相關工作。例如，去年宣佈與美國國家標準與技術研究院（NIST）的人工智慧風險管理框架建立對應關係。這本質上是一項對映工作，將AI Verify的元素對映到美國框架。
MCI有何計劃繼續將新加坡置於人工智慧創新和治理的前沿？未來有何計劃與其他國家合作制定治理框架？
人工智慧——深度偽造生成式人工智慧的危害
主席女士，隨著生成式人工智慧的興起，深度偽造影像及其他內容日益普遍，個人可能惡意利用這些內容謀取私利或傷害他人。這導致詐騙、欺詐甚至通過深度偽造色情影像進行騷擾的激增。這也威脅到商業企業和行業，例如通過深度偽造廣告，並影響媒體和政治領域。
【議長主持】
此類內容的威脅在於，即使人們知道人工智慧生成的影像是假的，公眾的認知仍可能被影響。同樣，即使深度偽造的色情影像被認定為假，個人可能已經遭受無法挽回的傷害。
MCI如何監控此類情況，確保生成式人工智慧的危害不會損害我們的經濟和社會契約？
人工智慧——數字安全與安全保障
主席先生，隨著社會轉型，公民學習使用人工智慧，我們必須考慮如何在過渡期及未來保護他們。
我們希望建設一個人工智慧賦能的社會，讓所有人共同參與轉型，數字安全和安全保障是確保轉型順利並鼓勵所有人的關鍵。我們需要確保風險合理分配給合適的商業實體，以激勵風險管理和風險思維。
這將使市場力量自然平衡國家經濟利益與保護個人消費者和使用者利益。通過與企業合作，監管可以吸納行業反饋，量身定製適合新加坡社會的治理。
主席：謝耀權先生，您可以合併四項發言。
AI Verify
謝耀權先生（裕廊）：主席先生，我們去年推出了AI Verify，幫助開發負責任使用人工智慧的測試工具。該計劃進展如何？下一步措施是什麼，以確保人工智慧的使用負責任且安全？
生成式人工智慧
主席先生，訓練生成式人工智慧需要大量資料，其中部分可能涉及私人性質。政府如何更好地保護我們的個人資料免遭不當使用？
此外，生成式人工智慧訓練和執行需要大量計算和電力，我們的其他數字需求亦如此。這些都需要耗電量大的資料中心。我們如何可持續地為數字未來和未來資料中心供電？
數字安全與韌性
主席先生，鑑於近期影響銀行和醫療機構的停機事件，我們如何增強對數字經濟和社會關鍵數字基礎設施及服務的韌性和安全？
此外，量子計算預計將削弱或破解當前保護數字通訊和交易的加密演算法。我們如何確保資料和通訊網路的安全？
第三，MCI去年曾宣佈推出首席資訊安全官（CISO）即服務，幫助中小企業根據風險狀況和承受能力制定定製化的網路安全健康計劃。MCI能否提供該計劃的實施進展？
數字企業藍圖
主席先生，MCI去年宣佈啟動數字企業藍圖的行業諮詢，匯聚行業領袖、行業協會和各部門公司，更好地洞察和解決新加坡企業的數字需求。請問該部能否提供相關進展更新？
主席：蔡振輝先生，請合併兩項發言。
網路危害
蔡振輝先生（丹戎巴葛）：近期媒體頭條包括：“青少年涉及多名受害者的系列性犯罪”；“偷窺女同事如廁者獲判八週監禁”；“少年承認多次性侵兩名妹妹”；“2022至2023年偷窺案增長12.3%：新加坡警察部隊近期年度犯罪簡報五大要點之一”。
我可以繼續列舉，但議員們對這些高調新聞已十分了解。令我警覺的是，儘管過去十年青少年逮捕總數總體下降，青少年性犯罪卻逆勢上升。根據新加坡警察部隊資料，2016年至2020年，青少年實施猥褻和強姦罪案數從109起增至162起，增長48.6%。
下午4時45分
為更好理解此現象，我曾與幾名青少年性犯罪者深入交談，分別與三名年輕罪犯各花約一小時交流。他們背景各異，但並非全部來自問題家庭。根據他們的分享，有一點令我印象深刻：他們都在與色情材料成癮作鬥爭。
當然，這只是三個人的個案分享，不能代表整體，但也不應輕易忽視這一發現。
數字技術的普及為接觸和消費色情材料，尤其是暴力性質的色情材料，開闢了新途徑。雖然我不主張色情使用與青少年犯罪之間有直接因果關係，但大量研究顯示，青少年使用色情與性侵害行為有關，無論是施害還是受害。
2019年一項針對美國高中生的研究發現，接觸暴力色情的男性青少年實施青少年約會性暴力的可能性是未接觸者的三倍以上。網路色情的使用還與青少年的自我發展和信念相關，影響其對外貌理想的內化和身體監控。
簡言之，性犯罪只是冰山一角。色情成癮雖然多數情況下不表現為犯罪，但會持續困擾個人生活，破壞人際關係，擾亂日常作息。
這類似持續的低燒，是一系列深層問題的症狀，若不解決，潛能難以發揮，生產力下降。社會為此付出代價，表現為家庭機構弱化，極端情況下，變態和暴力犯罪率上升。鑑於新加坡網際網路和社交媒體的高普及率，我們必須更加關注網路危害及其對社會的廣泛溢位影響。
另一個相關話題是，網路上不切實際的身體標準助長了對完美和外部認可的盲目追求。近20%的新加坡成年活躍社交媒體使用者存在身體形象焦慮，其中男性約佔40%。我個人也感受到保持體型的壓力，有時甚至在午夜後去健身房，決心在漫長一天結束前鍛鍊。令我驚訝的是，健身房裡總有許多年輕人，尤其是年輕男性，依然堅持鍛鍊，甚至在深夜。
長期以來，傳統媒體如電影和電視一直引領傳播不切實際的身體標準。然而，社交媒體的普及和內容創作的民主化加劇了同齡人比較，極大地強化了對自身身體形象的不切實際期望。
簡而言之，追求完美體型的需求非常真實。迄今為止，相關討論多將身體形象不安全感視為女性問題，但事實遠非如此。男性同樣面臨壓力，且往往被勸阻承認或分享自己的不安全感。
核心問題是，我們需要開始討論當代新加坡社會中“男子氣概”的含義。我最近偶然看到NPR.org上的一篇文章，想借此內容與議員們做個思維實驗。希望大家認真聽我說。
我將讀出三組描述詞對，議員們可以自行判斷哪組更恰當地描述了男子氣概。開始。
第一組：表達憤怒勝過表達悲傷。第二組：即使不舒服也堅稱沒事，還是在需要時向親人和可信朋友求助。第三組：面對恐懼和危險大笑，還是坦誠表達思想和感受。
議員們，您認為哪組更能描述男子氣概？您無需告訴我您的立場或答案，更不必投票。我希望這個簡單的練習能說明刻板印象的影響。
誠然，這是一場艱難的對話。對某些人來說，討論重新定義男子氣概可能被視為女性化甚至去男性化。我們越來越多地看到與傳統男子氣概相悖的現象：全職在家的父親承擔主要照顧責任；異性戀關係中女性收入更高的“倒追”，這些都帶來挑戰和社會汙名。
回到我之前提到的網路危害及其對社會，尤其是年輕男性的影響，這是我們共同需要解決的問題：政府、社群、家庭、父母都在努力中。但最核心的是，我們需要有意識地對話，探討在當今語境下，什麼才是真正的“夠男人”。
技術與老年人
先生，昆士敦是新加坡第一個建屋發展局（HDB）衛星公共組屋區，居住著許多老年居民。昆士敦約三分之一居民年齡在60歲及以上，我們已實施多項計劃和市政改善，確保老年人能夠安享晚年。
例如，梅嶺街和斯特靈路的丘陵地形及寬闊道路對老年人過馬路構成安全隱患。為提升安全並讓老年人有短暫休息的空間，中央隔離帶已加寬，此外還有其他改善措施。
昆士敦還有多項服務老年人的計劃，包括心理健康專案SafePod、未來照護規劃工作坊，以及正在籌備的老年節。該節旨在賦能老年人，向他們及其家屬展示無需懼怕老齡化，且有多種方式享受黃金歲月。
昆士敦也是昆士敦健康區試點的一部分，旨在利用合作伙伴的多元專業知識，創造綜合解決方案，提升昆士敦居民各生命階段的健康與福祉。其中一合作伙伴是獅子會友伴者。在梅嶺活躍老齡中心，他們將推出Gym Tonic力量訓練計劃，利用適合老年人的健身器材跟蹤老年人的體能和進展。他們還利用技術開發了名為i-Boleh的系統，允許老年人與獅子會友伴者工作人員自我交流，同時提供幫助提升認知能力、降低痴呆風險的遊戲。
儘管我們為老年人設立了許多計劃，他們仍面臨一個持續的難題——跟上技術發展。我經常聽到老年人反饋需要自動櫃員機（ATM），尤其是帶存摺更新功能的ATM。許多人告訴我，必須遠距離前往最近的ATM非常不便，尤其是行動不便時。他們向我訴說這些困難，我深感同情。
儘管數字銀行普及，許多老年人仍偏好現金交易。有些人表示不熟悉數字銀行應用程式，另一些則擔心被騙。他們的擔憂並非無的放矢。理解他們的顧慮後，我多次向銀行呼籲，雖然未必總是成功，但我不會放棄。
雖然部分老年人猶豫不決，我欣慰的是，許多老年人仍願意學習數字技能，並掌握如何安全上網的技巧。因此，我感謝位於昆士敦的嶺記社群俱樂部被新加坡數字辦公室（SDO）指定為新加坡數字社群中心。新加坡數字社群中心由IMDA發起，作為新加坡數字化推動的一部分，便利地分佈在各個心臟地帶。嶺記社群中心每天上午10點至下午6點開放，老年人可獲得一對一的定製指導，幫助他們數字化生活。
老年人數字活動包通過遊戲化學習體驗，鼓勵老年人利用線上資源自主學習。鑑於新加坡人口快速老齡化及昆士敦居民的超高齡特徵，數字社群中心在裝備老年人及未來老年人適應數字生活方面將變得更加重要，隨著技術不斷發展。
為此，我想請問部委，島內有多少比例的老年人已通過數字社群中心參與活動？老年人數字活動包的接受度如何？
除了社群中心，近年來還實施了“弱勢老年人移動接入”計劃，為低收入老年人提供補貼智慧手機和移動套餐，幫助他們數字化。申請資格為60歲及以上，且為社會及家庭發展部長期或短中期ComCare援助受益人，或屬於建屋發展局公共租賃計劃受益人。
此外，我們也鼓勵長者在社群中心提升並掌握基本的數字技能。符合條件的長者可享受為期兩年的每月5.10新元的手機計劃，並可一次性低至20新元購買智慧手機。鑑於當今線上溝通的重要性，此類計劃鼓勵更多長者數字化，融入社群，同時與家人保持聯絡。
因此，我想請教相關部委，這項計劃在長者中的反響和參與率如何？
在我們繼續為長者裝備數字時代技能的同時，技術也可以用來保持情感上的聯絡。各位議員可能聽說過VintageRadio.sg——這是一個為長者設計的數字服務，旨在讓他們保持資訊靈通、娛樂和參與。通過一個應用程式，VintageRadio.sg旨在激發長者探索陌生數字世界的信心，同時喚起熟悉感。
播放1950年代、1960年代和1970年代的多語種流行曲目，並由資深主持人如Patrick Kwek、Brian Richmond、Rahimah Rahim和PN Bala引導他們使用應用程式，這些都是在數字學習旅程中注入熟悉感的例子。這些曲目和主持人對許多長者來說都很熟悉，有他們的陪伴，希望能讓數字化過程不那麼令人生畏。
在此，我想讚揚VintageRadio團隊為長者提供了一個重要的渠道，使他們在數字和情感上都能保持聯絡。
先生，最後總結，長者與技術不必像油和水那樣格格不入。採用技術不意味著服務自動變得不夠人性化或高科技而缺乏溫度。相反，技術的使用應如同在清水中注入水果或草本植物，增添色彩、味道和營養。
所以，我想問部委同事，我們獨特的新加坡式“注水配方”是什麼？
主席：Jessica Tan女士，請將您的四個發言點合併發言。
人工智慧的潛力與能力建設
Jessica Tan Soon Neo女士（東海岸）：謝謝主席。
主席先生，作為2024年預算的一部分，副總理黃循財宣佈將在未來五年投入10億新元用於國家人工智慧戰略2.0，以提升新加坡的人工智慧能力、容量和價值，目標是卓越與賦能。
人工智慧和生成式人工智慧有潛力改變產業並提升我們的生活質量，重新想象我們的生活和工作方式。然而，人工智慧的發展和部署也存在風險，如訓練資料或演算法設計的偏見、分析大量資料時的隱私問題、人工智慧系統的複雜性及有時缺乏透明度。還有利用人工智慧複雜手段利用系統漏洞的安全風險。儘管存在風險，生成式人工智慧和機器學習能夠高效地從大量資料中學習，預測潛在的網路威脅並保障系統安全。
下午5時
對於新加坡來說，戰略重點是利用人工智慧應對重大挑戰，如人口健康和氣候變化。我們如何發展能力，提升企業和政府的生產力與競爭力，並準備好勞動力，尤其是那些因人工智慧應用而受到衝擊的低技能工人，進行再培訓並抓住機遇？我們如何應對和最小化人工智慧的風險？
數字人才與能力建設
主席先生，技術固然重要，但如果沒有能夠想象技術可能性、能夠利用、開發和創新技術的人才，我們就無法實現技術的潛力和價值。
到2025年，新加坡經濟將需要額外120萬名具備數字技能的工人。這是2021年亞馬遜網路服務委託對亞太六國進行的報告結果。
隨著數字化不僅在新加坡而且在整個地區的推進，人才競爭將更加激烈。我們如何確保培養能力，發展並留住支援數字化願景和增長所需的人才和技能？隨著技術和數字化（包括人工智慧）的普及，我們可以預期每個職位都會以某種形式被重新設計。
大多數工作都需要某種形式的數字素養。培訓和再技能提升是必需的。如何支援企業，尤其是數字化準備不足的中小企業，發展數字能力以提升生產力和競爭力？
維護數字領域的信任
主席先生，在新加坡，隨著技術的快速發展，推動數字化以及對數字技術的更廣泛使用和依賴，數字技術已成為企業運營和許多行業人員工作的組成部分。對個人而言，數字化已深深融入生活——從社互動動、購物支付到休閒娛樂。
隨著我們對數字生活、工作和娛樂的依賴日益增加，政府將如何營造一個值得信賴的數字環境，保障政府服務的韌性和安全，以及數字技術（包括人工智慧）的負責任使用？我們如何向民眾保證服務的可用性、個人資料的保護和數字交易的安全？政府如何確保新加坡的數字基礎設施保持安全和韌性，使企業能夠有信心開展數字業務，提供無縫、可靠和安全的服務？
數字化——改善新加坡人的生活
主席先生，我們智慧國的願景是“一個讓人民更有能力過上有意義和充實生活的國家，技術無縫支援，提供激動人心的機會給所有人。”智慧國的核心是以人為本，改善生活。智慧國的目標是提升新加坡人的日常便利和生活質量，推動企業更高效和創造價值，支援創新新領域，確保無人被落下。
智慧國已進入第十年，數字化已成為新加坡生活的重要部分，智慧國如何轉化為企業機會和新加坡人的就業機會？智慧國和數字化推動如何改善新加坡人的生活？
主席：Hany Soh女士，您可以將兩個發言點合併發言。
數字化中的人文關懷
Hany Soh女士（馬西嶺-裕廊西）：（中文發言）[請參閱母語發言稿。]根據去年的新加坡數字社會報告，越來越多的新加坡人在日常生活中使用數字技能。其中，老年人在使用移動支付應用和上網瀏覽方面取得了顯著進步。然而，在理解和使用新技術方面仍有提升空間。
我在Woodgrove的許多老年居民也向我表達，雖然他們認可數字技術在日常生活中的好處，但他們幾乎感到無力跟上這些數字技術的快速發展和變革。
（英文發言）：主席，爭取全社會支援數字轉型是一項艱鉅任務。雖然數字化的優勢被普遍認可，但仍有人不願意接受。聽取Woodgrove居民的意見，我發現許多長者在國家數字化程序中感到難以跟上。對他們大多數人來說，耐心且有人情味的學習方式更受歡迎且更有效。
在我們繼續引入新技術時，必須首先了解終端使用者的需求和整體使用者體驗，並確定最有效的知識和技能傳授方式。但每個人的學習方式不同。作為全社會推進數字化的過程中，我們是否曾停下來思考，我們是否足夠包容長者和有特殊需求的居民？
因此，我懇請信息通信媒體發展部（MCI）牽頭確保為那些迷失方向、感到無助的長者提供隨時可用的面對面替代方案。以我們典型的社群圖書館為例：長者更願意向圖書館員或接待員尋求幫助，而不是求助於虛擬幫助臺。
所以，我想問，政府將如何確保我們的長者掌握必要技能，使他們能夠有意義地參與快速變化的數字社會？
其次，MCI如何平衡保持人文關懷與確保數字化程序不受阻礙之間看似矛盾的利益，特別是在未來政府專案推出和社群互動中？
流動圖書館
主席先生，我Woodgrove的許多居民每個月的第三個星期六喜歡帶著孩子去伍德蘭茲區域圖書館——那裡四至六歲的孩子們參加充滿樂趣的下午活動，聽故事並參與基於圖書的手工和測驗等活動。
國家圖書館局（NLB）精心策劃的此類活動深受歡迎，許多居民向我反饋希望社群內，甚至圖書館外能舉辦更多類似活動。
據我瞭解，NLB的流動圖書館服務MOLLY可能滿足此類需求。自2008年成立以來，MOLLY流動圖書館一直在新加坡各地巡迴，為缺乏公共圖書館便利的社群帶去圖書、服務和專案。
請問MCI能否更新迄今取得的成果，以及是否有計劃擴大範圍和推廣力度，在社群俱樂部、長者活動中心和幼兒園等地更好地促進閱讀和終身學習？
主席：通訊及資訊部長Josephine Teo女士。
通訊及資訊部長（Josephine Teo女士）：主席先生，感謝各位議員的發言。
十年前，我們啟動了智慧國計劃，願景是讓新加坡成為一個人民通過技術過上有意義和充實生活、為所有人提供激動人心機會的國家。毫無疑問，技術已成為新加坡人日常生活的重要部分。總體上，84%的人表示數字技術讓生活更便捷，超過一半的人願意嘗試新技術。
今年一月，國會就數字包容和安全議題進行了廣泛辯論。因此，在供應委員會（COS）階段，信息通信媒體發展部將涵蓋智慧國發展的三個重要方面。
第一，利用技術提升我們的集體潛力。第二，維護數字領域的信任。第三，保障事實基礎設施。在預算和供應委員會辯論中，不少於15位議員提及人工智慧發展。總體上，他們支援未來五年投入超過10億新元以推動新加坡的人工智慧活動。
正如副總理黃循財指出，人工智慧是一種通用技術，將有許多應用，其中一些我們尚無法想象。但這並非新加坡唯一投資的技術。例如，我們也在量子技術方面建立了能力。儘管如此，鑑於當前對人工智慧的強烈興趣，我將詳細介紹政府加強新加坡人工智慧生態系統和防範其風險的計劃。
去年十二月，我們推出了更新版的國家人工智慧戰略（NAIS 2.0），作為智慧國努力的關鍵支柱之一。它建立在2019年推出的首個國家人工智慧戰略的投資基礎上。信息通信媒體發展部認同Mariam Jaafar女士的觀點，我們的人工智慧抱負不應被炒作驅動。
雖然我們投資建設Sea-Lion，以提升能力並驗證在東南亞語言上訓練大型語言模型（LLM）的價值假設，但我們避免與成本更高的前沿大型模型開發者正面競爭。正如Mariam Jaafar女士所言，我們相信新加坡的利益更好地通過部署基於全球任何地方可開發的最合適基礎模型的用例來實現。
NAIS 2.0的目標之一是打造在領先經濟部門和與智慧國優先事項相符領域的新卓越高峰。今天早些時候，顏金勇部長宣佈計劃與100家公司合作設立人工智慧卓越中心（CoEs），推動製造業等關鍵領域的人工智慧發展。隨後，高階國務部長Janil Puthucheary博士也將向議員更新提升支援人工智慧活動基礎設施的計劃。
我將重點介紹人才培養和治理。
在人工智慧領域，我們可以廣義地劃分為三類群體：人工智慧創造者，他們進行前沿研究、設計前沿系統並推動新穎用例；人工智慧實踐者，具備在組織中實施和部署人工智慧系統、模型和演算法的技能；以及人工智慧使用者，能夠使用人工智慧驅動的解決方案和服務，提高生產力，獲得更好工作。
每個有人工智慧抱負的城市都希望擁有儘可能多的創造者、實踐者和使用者。正如Tin Pei Ling女士和Sharael Taha先生所提，競爭非常激烈。
以Koh Pang Wei博士為例——他是獲獎的人工智慧研究員，目前在華盛頓大學任職。Koh博士因專注於構建能處理不完美資料的人工智慧模型而備受追捧，這在現實應用中是常見問題。在新冠疫情期間，Koh博士開發了從原始資料估計人群流動的新方法，幫助政府理解病毒傳播並制定重啟政策。
Koh博士是土生土長的新加坡人。雖然我們希望他回國，但也認識到他因現任職位而建立的網路價值。
事實上，還有來自不同國籍的研究人員希望與我們加強合作。我們歡迎他們，並將很快推出新的人工智慧訪問教授計劃，邀請世界級人工智慧研究人員與新加坡合作。我們還將與AI Singapore和本地大學合作，推出新的人工智慧加速碩士課程，培養新加坡人工智慧研究人才。
同時，我們將在未來五年內將人工智慧實踐者人數增加三倍，達到15,000人。實踐者包括資料科學家和機器學習工程師，他們在經濟各領域開發和應用人工智慧。
下午5時15分
以SG Digital學者Joshua Wong為例。SG Digital獎學金讓Wong先生有機會在劍橋大學學習電腦科學，接觸人工智慧研究，並與全球頂尖人工智慧人才建立網路，助他實現創業夢想。
2020年，他共同創辦了Hypotenuse.AI，一家為企業提供人工智慧驅動營銷內容生成平臺的初創公司。如今，Wong先生繼續與其他學者交流，並指導年輕人才。我們將支援更多有類似抱負的新加坡青年。
作為初步措施，我們將在未來三年投入超過2,000萬新元，提升學生的人工智慧實踐者培訓，包括人工智慧相關的SG Digital獎學金和海外實習。除學生外，我們還將支援應屆畢業生和中年轉職者成為人工智慧實踐者。
信息通信媒體發展局計劃擴大科技技能加速器（TeSA）專案，為有相關職位空缺的僱主提供資金支援，幫助本地員工通過技能提升和行業相關培訓勝任崗位。
在努力發展創造者和實踐者群體的同時，我們將裝備更廣泛的勞動力成為自信的人工智慧使用者。這可能是防止人工智慧引發的就業置換的最佳方式，許多議員包括葉漢榮先生對此表達了關切。
正如以往技術浪潮，工人擔心被取代。人工智慧不僅讓基層員工擔憂，專業人士、管理人員、執行人員和技術人員（PMETs）也感到風險，他們擔心人工智慧工具和代理會接管他們當前的任務，包括基於知識的任務，如研究、編碼和寫作。
許多有見地的觀察者指出，問題不在於人工智慧取代工人，而是掌握人工智慧技能的工人取代缺乏人工智慧技能的工人。正如議員們所知，人民行動黨政府一貫投資於工人技能提升和再培訓，常常領先需求並與全國職工總會合作。我們將繼續這樣做。
讓我介紹一下就業轉型地圖（JTM）及其如何支援受人工智慧影響的工人，正如Sharael Taha先生所問。目前已有16張就業轉型地圖，識別受各種技術影響的職位，其中13張專門說明人工智慧的影響。這些地圖涵蓋至少140萬名工人，涉及數百個職位。
雖然我們無法完全預測人工智慧帶來的衝擊範圍和規模，但這些職業技能地圖（JTM）為僱主、工會和工人提供了有用的指引，幫助他們規劃崗位重設計或培訓干預。因此，許多全國職工總會（NTUC）的公司培訓委員會都會參考這些地圖。負責行業發展的機構也可以據此確定合適的培訓干預措施。
例如，信息通信發展管理局（IMDA）於去年九月在資訊與通訊職業技能地圖下任命了五家培訓合作伙伴。他們目前提供超過180門與人工智慧相關的課程。截至去年十二月，已培訓約1000人，使他們成為自信的人工智慧使用者。未來三年內，將有數千人接受培訓。
今年的預算也為技能未來積分（SkillsFuture Credits）和麵向中年新加坡人的升級計劃（Level-Up Programme）提供了豐厚的追加資金，幫助他們通過全日制文憑課程進行再技能培訓。IMDA將與技能未來新加坡（SkillsFuture Singapore）合作，確保提供合適的課程，幫助更多新加坡人掌握人工智慧技能，保持職場競爭力。
正如嚴傑利先生（Mr Gerald Giam）所建議的，我們不僅僅依靠培訓專案來促進實踐學習。一個很好的例子是國家圖書館局（NLB）的MakeIT專案，允許參與者嘗試3D建模與列印、機器人技術和編碼。我之前在全國職工總會辯論會上談過這個專案。
公共部門本身也提供正式和非正式的學習體驗，以培養人工智慧能力。例如，我們推出了Pair工具，這是我們安全版的ChatGPT，幫助公務員完成寫作、頭腦風暴、研究和編碼等任務。目前約有35,000名公務員在工作中使用Pair，提高工作效率。
先生，我還應補充，維持高就業率和減少失業的最重要策略是持續創造就業機會。這意味著確保企業持續增長，包括通過使用人工智慧等技術。通過這樣做，我們無需被動應對人工智慧帶來的崗位流失，而是積極利用人工智慧為人民創造更好的工作崗位。這也是我們將投資推動企業採用人工智慧的原因，資政陳杰輝高階部長稍後將對此進行闡述。
現在讓我轉向人工智慧治理的話題。雖然我們歡迎人工智慧進步帶來的機遇，但也必須防範濫用風險。例如，人工智慧可能加劇現有威脅，如網路攻擊、詐騙或虛假資訊和錯誤資訊。因此，設立防護措施是必要的。
克里斯托弗·德索薩先生（Mr Christopher de Souza）、謝耀權先生（Mr Xie Yao Quan）和李顯龍先生（Mr Mark Lee）詢問我們如何促進人工智慧的安全和負責任使用，以及如何保護可能用於訓練人工智慧模型的個人資料。信息通信媒體發展部（MCI）理解他們的關切。在去年全國職工總會辯論會上，我闡述了我們計劃明確《個人資料保護法》（PDPA）如何適用於人工智慧系統。
經過與利益相關者的廣泛磋商，個人資料保護委員會（PDPC）已最終確定《人工智慧推薦和決策系統中個人資料使用的諮詢指南》，並將於今日釋出。PDPC接下來將考慮就使用個人資料訓練生成式人工智慧（GenAI）系統提供指導。
德索薩先生問MCI將如何繼續使新加坡處於人工智慧治理的前沿。事實上，新加坡已被認可為人工智慧治理的積極且可信賴的貢獻者。去年，我們成立了AI Verify基金會，利用全球開源社群的專業知識，促進人工智慧的負責任使用。這是基於2022年推出的AI Verify測試框架和軟體工具包。如今，該基金會成員包括IBM、谷歌、德勤、星展銀行（DBS）和新加坡航空（SIA）等組織。
今年一月在世界經濟論壇上，我們公佈了《生成式人工智慧模型治理框架》（MGF-GenAI）草案，並徵求合作伙伴意見。該框架基於早期的《模型人工智慧治理框架》，反映了生成式人工智慧的新興原則、關注點和技術發展。最近，新加坡牽頭制定了《東盟人工智慧治理與倫理指南》，該指南於上月在本地舉行的第四屆東盟數字部長會議上獲得通過。
我現在轉向演講的第二個主題：維護數字領域的信任。蘇涵妮女士（Ms Hany Soh）和蔡偉業先生（Mr Eric Chua）都問到，在數字化日益加深的背景下，我們如何保持人文關懷。先生，巧合的是，我昨天在內政部全國職工總會辯論會上也談到了這個問題。
現實是，沒有靈丹妙藥。數字化正在多個場景中展開，極大地改變了我們彼此的互動方式。因此，我們必須摸索前進，願意調整方法。政府方面，我們注意到通過數字手段提供公共服務應精心設計，以滿足不同人群的需求，包括老年人。
兩天前，陳振聲部長也重申政府承諾確保我們的服務對所有人都可及。例如，需要政府服務支援的公民可以前往任何ServiceSG中心，這些中心可協助辦理來自25個以上機構的近600項服務和計劃。IMDA的數字大使也在多個社群接觸點隨時為老年人提供指導。
隨著數字環境的發展，我們的圖書館也將繼續推廣閱讀和終身學習。這包括國家圖書館局的移動圖書館服務MOLLY，蘇涵妮女士提到了這一點。我感謝蘇女士對MOLLY所幫助國家圖書館局實現的外展工作的支援和認可。自2008年啟動以來，MOLLY已服務超過500個機構，接待約140萬人次訪問，促成約270萬次借閱。圖書館對此成就感到非常自豪，並將繼續儘可能多地服務更多人群。
我還應補充，不僅僅是MOLLY將圖書館帶給市民，圖書館還有其他方式展現其存在。例如，在繁忙的購物中心和其他人流密集地點設有快閃站點，您會在那裡看到圖書館的身影。
我現在將回答蘇婷女士（Ms Tin）、陳潔儀女士（Ms Jessica Tan）、德索薩先生和謝耀權先生提出的數字信任的另外兩個方面：安全性和韌性。這主要涉及支撐我們數字經濟並滿足市民日常需求的數字基礎設施和服務。
2023年，新加坡經歷了政府線上服務、銀行和支付服務以及公共醫療機構網站訪問的中斷。但我們並非孤例。隨著數字化程度加深，許多國家也面臨類似問題。例如，法國一家資料中心的故障導致政府及其他服務廣泛中斷。美國一次雲服務故障使許多網站無法訪問，包括新聞媒體和航空公司的網站。
為應對這類中斷的影響，歐盟、德國和澳大利亞已出臺法規，加強數字基礎設施（如雲服務和資料中心）的安全性和韌性。雖然我們無法完全消除中斷，但將採取更多措施減少其發生。由MCI牽頭的跨部門工作組正在審視不斷變化的形勢並制定緩解措施。
我們關注兩個關鍵舉措。首先，將加強監管手段。即將修訂的《網路安全法》將提升基礎數字基礎設施及其他系統和實體的網路安全水平，覆蓋範圍超出目前的關鍵資訊基礎設施（CII）。擴充套件範圍將包括資料中心、雲服務及可能持有敏感資料或執行重要公共職能的關鍵實體。
我高興地向議員們通報，關於修訂案的公眾諮詢已於一月完成。我們計劃下週在議會提交修訂法案，屆時將分享更多細節。[請參閱《通訊及資訊部長澄清宣告》，官方報告，2024年3月1日，第95卷，第128期，書面宣告更正部分。]
雖然提升網路安全態勢很重要，但這還不夠。新加坡及其他地方過去的中斷事件表明，中斷可能由非網路原因引起，包括雲架構配置錯誤，或因火災、水洩漏和冷卻系統故障導致資料中心停機。
因此，工作組還在研究引入新的《數字基礎設施法》（DIA），以解決關鍵數字基礎設施和服務的更廣泛安全和韌性問題，超越網路安全範疇。DIA將聚焦於那些一旦中斷可能對經濟和社會造成重大影響的數字基礎設施。
例如，大型雲服務提供商和資料中心對企業和消費者日常使用的各種數字服務至關重要。因此，這些運營商可能需要滿足更高的安全和韌性標準，以降低系統性中斷的可能性。
工作組正在進一步研究DIA的範圍和提案。挑戰複雜，包括數字基礎設施運營商（如雲服務提供商）的跨境性質。我們還需在風險緩解與合規成本增加之間權衡。我們將繼續與行業參與者和相關利益相關者磋商，確保DIA與《網路安全法》之間要求的一致性。
其次，工作組正在探索補充法律法規的非監管措施。這可能包括向數字基礎設施和服務提供商提供安全和韌性最佳實踐指導。政府盡最大努力確保數字基礎設施和服務的安全與韌性，但企業和消費者也需發揮作用。
例如，企業必須制定健全的業務連續性和事件恢復計劃。較小企業可參考新加坡網路安全域性（CSA）的網路安全基礎專案；較大企業應採用CSA的網路信任標誌。消費者也應準備在數字服務中斷時使用替代方案。這將激勵服務提供商提升服務質量。
下午5點30分
謝耀權先生詢問量子計算相關風險，特別是對我們的資料和通訊網路的影響。
去年六月，副總理王瑞傑宣佈啟動國家量子安全網路加（NQSN+）。新電信（Singtel）、SPTel及另一家本地公司SpeQtral被任命建設新加坡首個量子安全網路——這也是東南亞首個此類網路。該網路預計於2024年底完成。
我們還在建設能力，開發支援安全可信資料共享的解決方案——這是瑪麗亞姆·賈法爾女士（Ms Mariam Jaafar）提到的內容。2022年7月，我們啟動了隱私增強技術沙盒計劃，支援企業試點技術解決方案，使其在保護個人資料和商業敏感資料的同時，安全地從資料中提取價值。
萬事達卡（Mastercard）是參與企業之一，試點了一種跨國界共享金融犯罪資訊的解決方案，同時遵守現行法規。萬事達卡目前正在研究在商業環境中的實施。
我現在轉向演講的第三個也是最後一個主題：維護事實基礎設施以維護社會凝聚力。該基礎設施有多個支柱。
國際上，我們目睹了深度偽造技術被濫用來傳播虛假資訊、操縱公眾輿論（如美國的槍支暴力事件）、以色列-哈馬斯衝突，甚至破壞選舉誠信。正如克里斯托弗·德索薩先生、蘇婷女士和蔡偉業先生指出的，這些技術的逼真性使其成為特別危險的武器。我們對惡意的人工智慧生成內容採取強硬立場。針對它們的專項立法以迅速應對，是該基礎設施的一個支柱。
這包括《防止網路虛假資訊和操縱法案》（POFMA），該法案使我們能夠釋出更正宣告，並用正確事實標註人工智慧生成的虛假資訊。如果內容對公共利益造成嚴重危害，我們也可以考慮停用指令。
另一個支柱是公眾教育計劃，旨在使新加坡人具備辨別資訊真偽的能力，成為資訊的明智消費者和生產者。我們的圖書館在這方面發揮關鍵作用。去年，國家圖書館局在其S.U.R.E計劃中引入了關於生成式人工智慧的資源和工作坊，教育新加坡人瞭解人工智慧的利弊，並傳授驗證和事實核查可能由人工智慧生成的線上內容的技能。這些努力已覆蓋超過66,000人。
今年晚些時候，國家圖書館局將推出新的專案和學習包，教育新加坡人認識人工智慧生成虛假資訊對社會可能帶來的風險。我們也認識到需要培養新的能力。
我們此前宣佈，信息通信媒體發展部和科學技術研究局將成立線上安全先進技術中心（CATOS）。該中心將開發檢測有害內容（包括深度偽造）的工具和措施。
在充斥人工智慧生成內容的碎片化媒體環境中，受眾很難分辨真偽。因此，我們還需要值得信賴的新聞媒體來告知和引導民眾，確保大家資訊一致。這是一個關鍵支柱。
普里坦·辛格先生（Mr Pritam Singh）詢問政府對新加坡報業控股（SPH Media）的資助情況。作為公共服務媒體實體，SPH Media在向新加坡人傳達國家重要議題、反映新加坡價值觀和生活方式、以新加坡視角報道國際事件以及向世界展示新加坡觀點方面發揮著關鍵作用。
SPH Media也是我們共同記憶的機構和儲存庫。去年，《聯合早報》慶祝了百年華誕，而《海峽時報》即將迎來180週年。馬來語報紙《Berita Harian》和泰米爾語報紙《Tamil Murasu》也歷史悠久，滿足馬來語和泰米爾語社群的需求，正如沙拉爾·塔哈先生和蘇婷女士所關心的。
然而，SPH Media正面臨其有史以來最大的挑戰。整個媒體行業因數字化和社交媒體而遭受嚴重衝擊。讀者數量下降，受眾選擇多樣。傳統收入來源大幅減少，廣告轉向社交媒體和其他線上平臺。這些問題並非SPH Media獨有。
即使是像《華盛頓郵報》這樣成熟的媒體公司，去年也虧損了1億美元，不得不裁員10%，儘管進行了廣泛的轉型努力。純數字平臺也未能倖免。普利策獎得主BuzzFeed News去年四月關閉，儘管聘請了頂尖記者並在全球設立了分社。
據《紐約時報》報道，2005年存在的報紙中有四分之一已不復存在。
在重組為擔保有限公司之前，SPH首次出現虧損。如果任由市場力量和商業壓力主導，其結局很可能與《華盛頓郵報》和BuzzFeed類似。尤其是其本地語種報紙，受眾自然較小，正如沙拉爾·塔哈先生和蘇婷女士所關心的。
政府決定介入，給予SPH Media在新媒體環境中一搏的機會。截至目前，2022和2023財年已向SPH Media撥付約3.2億新元。鑑於前述更具挑戰性的環境，我們已為2024財年預算約2.6億新元資助SPH Media。
這在信息通信媒體發展部的預算書中有所體現，作為對其他機構整體撥款的一部分。
正如我之前在議會所述，SPH Media的資金主要用於三大領域：人才、技術和本地語種能力。這反映了政府對優質新聞、數字轉型和維護多元文化的重要性。
為確保公共問責和財政審慎，SPH Media信託結構包括代表社會不同群體的成員——從商業實體如星展銀行、大華銀行和華僑銀行，到本地高等學府如新加坡國立大學、南洋理工大學、新加坡管理大學和新加坡科技設計大學。但歸根結底，SPH Media對新加坡人負責。新聞業是以人為本的行業，SPH Media承擔著重要的公共服務媒體角色。
因此，設定了關鍵績效指標（KPI）以跟蹤各社群的覆蓋和參與度，包括本地語種媒體、青年和數字覆蓋的具體目標。信息通信媒體發展部還要求SPH Media定期報告這些領域的表現，並遵守相關審計，以確保對資金使用的監督，以及公共服務媒體成果的所有權和問責。
迄今為止，已撥付的資金已被有效利用。SPH Media一直在加強其數字系統以提升影響力，符合其他全球出版物的做法。例如，《紐約時報》和《華爾街日報》已從印刷轉向數字優先模式，採用多媒體格式以增加讀者群。
同樣，SPH傳媒最近採用了新的數字內容管理系統，以支援其線上報道並在其英文及本地語新聞品牌中推出移動應用程式。它還通過與海外機構如路透新聞學院的培訓、獎學金和研究員專案，做出了大量努力以提升新聞編輯部的留存率和質量。然而，SPH傳媒仍有相當大的追趕空間。
雖然其整體覆蓋率保持穩定，並實現了數字訂閱的適度增長，但在數字覆蓋率、青年覆蓋率、本地語覆蓋率以及網站和應用的平均停留時間等關鍵績效指標方面未能全部達標。因此，它未能獲得全部承諾的資金支援。
更重要的是，這些結果表明迄今為止所做的努力只是一個開始。SPH傳媒需要做更多工作，以在這個充滿挑戰的媒體環境中保持其相關性，並在努力站穩腳跟的過程中需要持續支援。
主席先生，我希望各位議員同意，在一個真相必須與虛假資訊競爭的資訊環境中，公共服務媒體是我們社會事實基礎設施的重要支柱。在值得公眾關注的事項上，如關鍵的全球事件、本地語社群新聞，甚至是議會程式，利潤驅動的平臺可能除了炒作或加入自己的解讀外，別無興趣。
我們還需要公共服務媒體講述新加坡的故事，傳遞新加坡的聲音。我們不能指望其他地方的媒體機構為我們做到這一點。事關我們作為一個民族對當下問題的共同理解，瞭解我們的國家利益所在，以及我們必須做什麼以確保持續成功。
因此，對我們的公共服務媒體實體進行持續投資，不是可有可無的，而是必須的，如果我們要維護支援公共利益的高質量新聞業。我因此請求議員們支援持續對公共服務媒體實體的公共投資，以維護我們的事實基礎設施，並保持公眾對公共服務媒體的高度信任。
主席先生，若獲准，請允許我用中文結束髮言，回到我開頭提及的人工智慧話題。
（中文發言）：[請參見本地語發言。]人工智慧將繼續滲透全球各地區和行業，包括新加坡的社會和經濟。我們必須抓住機遇，幫助人民和企業做好準備。為此，我今天宣佈了若干舉措。
首先，我們將啟動一項新計劃，吸引全球頂尖的人工智慧創作者來到獅城，與本地專家和學者合作，在我國建立尖端技術。為了加強我國的人工智慧人才隊伍，我們計劃在未來五年內將該領域專業人士人數增加到15,000人。政府還將投資2億新元培養本地人才，提供獎學金和海外實習機會。
然而，數字技術帶來機遇的同時，也帶來風險。因此，我們將推出新的指導方針，規範人工智慧系統中個人資料的使用。政府還在探索一項新法律，以增強我國數字基礎設施和服務的安全性，確保民眾能夠更安心地使用數字技術。
我一直倡導“數字優先，但非數字唯一”。政府將繼續為尚未準備好上網的公民提供非數字選項。然而，人工智慧發展的勢頭不會減緩。新加坡政府將秉持前瞻性的治理理念，採用以人為本的方式實施上述計劃。
主席：通訊及資訊高階國務部長陳杰輝。
通訊及資訊高階國務部長（陳杰輝先生）：主席先生，我們在數字化經濟方面取得了良好進展。2022年，新加坡數字經濟創造了1,060億新元的附加值，約佔名義GDP的17%；而2017年為580億新元，佔GDP的13%。
越來越多企業實現數字化。例如，現今超過九成企業使用電子支付，而2018年僅為六成。企業也在部署更先進的數字解決方案，如雲計算和資料分析。令人欣慰的是，我們的中小企業也在積極採用。
2023年，95%的中小企業採用了數字解決方案，而2018年為74%。連小販也加入了數字化。截至去年11月，60%的小販接受SGQR數字支付。該平臺每月平均促成510萬筆交易，金額達4,200萬新元。
下午5時45分
資訊通訊媒體發展局（IMDA）推出的“中小企業數字化”和“小販數字化”等計劃推動了進展。與此同時，尤其是人工智慧領域的技術進步速度加快。我們希望為企業和員工提供能力，乘勢而上。
我們正在制定《數字企業藍圖》，規劃下一階段工作，謝耀權議員對此有所詢問。我們已廣泛諮詢行業夥伴和業界，根據反饋完善藍圖，並將在未來幾個月釋出諮詢檔案，徵求更廣泛業界和公眾意見。
但我藉此機會簡要介紹藍圖的總體輪廓。
《數字企業藍圖》旨在“提升企業和員工在人工智慧時代的能力”。我們將通過三大重點推進：第一，賦能企業更智慧，利用人工智慧驅動的數字解決方案；第二，支援企業通過採用整合數字解決方案更快擴充套件；第三，提升企業網路安全韌性，使其更安全。即更智慧、更快擴充套件、更安全。
《數字企業藍圖》是動態檔案，將持續更新。因此，我們已開始實施一些獲得廣泛支援的“無悔”舉措。請允許我詳細說明。
Jessica Tan女士、田佩玲女士、Sharael Taha先生、Mark Lee先生等人詢問我們如何支援中小企業從人工智慧中受益。
我們將通過IMDA的“中小企業數字化”計劃，幫助企業和員工獲得人工智慧能力帶來的好處。首先，對於絕大多數中小企業，IMDA策劃了一份適合廣泛採用的預批准數字解決方案清單。我們已開始與科技行業合作，將人工智慧能力融入其數字解決方案。很高興地分享，截至目前，約20%的預批准解決方案已具備人工智慧功能。
例如，人工智慧能力已無縫整合到客戶關係管理解決方案中，幫助企業分析客戶互動和資料，建議個性化營銷活動。2023年，超過3,000家中小企業採用並受益於這些具備人工智慧功能的預批准解決方案。這是針對廣大中小企業的支援。
其次，在行業層面，IMDA與行業負責人合作，共同制定行業數字計劃（IDP），作為企業的路線圖，突出滿足行業特定需求的解決方案。我們2018年啟動了五個IDP。如今，已有22個涵蓋批發、建築、零售和餐飲服務等多個行業，覆蓋了經濟的廣泛領域。
IMDA將更新IDP，納入適合滿足該行業企業需求的人工智慧解決方案。我們已在去年推出或更新的四個IDP中開始這樣做，分別是法律、旅遊、零售和安全行業。
舉個好例子，我曾拜訪一家名為Ghows LLC的律師事務所。他們使用一款具備人工智慧功能的校對工具，幫助檢查合同草案中的衝突和不一致。據律師們介紹，這一過程過去是手工完成，既繁瑣又耗時且易出錯。採用該人工智慧工具後，Ghows的生產力提升了50%，錯誤減少。我們將逐步更新所有IDP，納入行業特定的人工智慧解決方案，讓企業受益。
田佩玲女士詢問了CTO即服務計劃。已有超過92,000名使用者訪問該平臺資源，超過1,600家中小企業受益於數字諮詢服務。舉例來說，餐飲企業西門街面對市場上眾多技術解決方案感到不知所措，團隊求助於CTO即服務計劃下的數字顧問，幫助整合數字系統。該企業實現了15%的人力節約和銷售增長。我鼓勵所有中小企業利用這些計劃。
對於希望做更多的企業，我們通過高階數字解決方案（ADS）計劃支援他們，該計劃匯聚技術生態系統，為行業負責人確定的關鍵問題策劃解決方案。我們在ADS下推出了兩項新計劃，幫助企業體驗生成式人工智慧（GenAI）。[請參見《通訊及資訊高階國務部長澄清》，官方報告，2024年3月1日，第95卷，第128期，書面宣告更正部分。]
第一項計劃是IMDA與EnterpriseSG合作，為一批試點中小企業提供13款專門策劃的生成式人工智慧解決方案，涵蓋營銷和銷售等常見業務功能。如果這些解決方案證明有效，我們將把它們納入“中小企業數字化”預批准數字解決方案清單，惠及更多企業。
第二項計劃面向規模更大、數字化更成熟的企業，幫助他們開發和部署自有的生成式人工智慧數字解決方案。IMDA推出名為“數字領導者生成式人工智慧”的新舉措，技術合作夥伴包括科技巨頭，將與參與企業合作，幫助開發和實施創新的生成式人工智慧解決方案。我們對企業的早期興趣感到鼓舞，歡迎更多企業報名參與。
先生，請允許我轉向第二大重點，支援企業更快擴充套件。
在諮詢過程中，中小企業反映，隨著業務增長，發現數字解決方案缺乏互操作性和可擴充套件性成為限制因素。
例如，食品服務中小企業Bread Createur採用了多種銷售渠道和配送平臺，但發現無法自動彙總訂單和跟蹤第三方配送平臺及銷售渠道的銷售資料。對於小規模運營來說，這只是個不便，但隨著業務增長，成為了瓶頸。這種孤立的解決方案也阻礙企業充分利用數字化潛力，包括從資料分析中獲得商業洞察。
因此，我們將加大力度：(a) 在“中小企業數字化”計劃中納入更多整合數字解決方案；(b) 儘可能規定這些解決方案的互操作性要求；(c) 鼓勵更多解決方案採用雲原生架構，以增強可擴充套件性。
市場上若無整合解決方案，我們將通過ADS計劃策劃此類方案。一個例子是面向食品服務中小企業的“連線業務套件”解決方案，使這些企業能夠整合管理前端和後端功能。藉助該整合方案，我提到的Bread Createur能夠輕鬆跟蹤不同銷售渠道的所有銷售和交易，包括直接送達廚房的第三方訂單。
未來，我們將與行業負責人和協會緊密合作，推出更多預批准的整合數字解決方案和雲端解決方案，支援企業在成長過程中快速擴充套件。先生，此時我必須強調，正如其他人早先提到的，技術不是萬能鑰匙。整合且可擴充套件的數字解決方案還需要行業和企業重新設計流程和運營。
接下來，我談談第三大重點，保障企業更安全。我很高興看到CSA最新的網路安全調查顯示，75%的組織意識到網路安全的重要性。然而，儘管企業採取措施改善網路衛生狀況，仍有很大提升空間。
同一調查發現，新加坡超過八成企業在一年內遭遇至少一次網路安全事件，幾乎所有企業都遭受了負面業務影響。CSA還發現，只有三分之一的組織實施了CSA網路安全基本認證計劃下五類網路安全措施中的一半以上。缺乏實施網路安全解決方案的知識是普遍挑戰。
田佩玲女士和謝耀權先生詢問我們如何幫助中小企業提升網路韌性。雖然我們將在《數字企業藍圖》中詳細闡述，但我先簡要介紹我們的三級策略。
第一，我們支援中小企業採取措施改善網路衛生。將推出網路安全健康檢查工具，幫助企業評估網路衛生狀況，與同行業企業比較，並獲取資源以彌補不足。
需要更多支援的企業可利用CISO即服務計劃，聘請網路安全顧問制定定製化網路安全健康計劃。符合條件的企業可獲得共資支援，抵消服務費用。迄今已有55家中小企業受益。
第二，我們將從上游提升企業使用的數字系統的網路安全標準，特別惠及無內部網路安全資源的中小企業。將從IMDA“中小企業數字化”計劃下的預批准數字解決方案開始。
第三，我們將與行業負責人合作，制定行業特定的網路安全指南。例如，在醫療領域，CSA與衛生部合作，制定網路安全指南，提升醫療服務提供者的網路安全水平。
因此，主席先生，我簡要介紹了《數字企業藍圖》的三大重點，通過更智慧、更快擴充套件、更安全，提升企業和員工在人工智慧時代的能力。
接下來談談我們如何培養勞動力的技術能力。
在更廣泛的勞動力層面，更多人需要掌握有效使用數字工具的技能。隨著技術變革加速，我們需將再培訓和技能提升視為工作文化的一部分，視為對自身的持續投資。
僱主也必須將員工的再培訓和技能提升視為投資，以充分利用已部署的數字系統。打個比方，就像擁有一輛強勁的汽車，卻只能用一檔。我們需要提升員工技能，才能充分發揮這臺強大引擎的效能。
因此，每個行業數字計劃不僅包含為企業策劃的數字解決方案，還附帶相關數字工具的培訓課程清單。例如，零售行業數字計劃包括員工學習如何有效利用社交電商解決方案增加銷售的課程，包括如何通過直播銷售商品。
IMDA還與新加坡技能未來合作，為許多課程提供資金支援。我鼓勵僱主和員工充分利用這些計劃。
充足且優質的技術人才對實現我們的目標至關重要。鑑於科技公司裁員，田佩玲女士提及了對科技行業前景的擔憂。
全球科技公司在更具挑戰的經濟環境下，調整和最佳化運營，優先發展新增長領域。不幸的是，這有時導致裁員，給相關人員帶來痛苦和壓力。新加坡也不例外，部分科技公司裁員主要影響非技術崗位。
幸運的是，新加坡仍是許多科技公司全球戰略中的關鍵節點。隨著它們加深和擴大在本地區的參與，對新加坡技術人才的需求將持續增長。目前，技術崗位在整體就業中的比例從2018年的4.5%上升至2023年的5.2%。
這一增長由資訊通訊行業和非資訊通訊行業共同推動，後者在2023年佔技術崗位約57%。
隨著更多企業採用數字化，包括更先進的數字解決方案如人工智慧，我們預計對技術人才的需求將進一步增長。這些崗位對新加坡人來說是優質工作。例如，資訊與數字技術專業的大學畢業生月均起薪仍為最高，達5,500新元。
下午6時整
譚潔西卡女士、陳佩玲女士、任國權先生和莎瑞爾·塔哈先生詢問了我們如何確保科技人才的穩定供應。約瑟芬部長早些時候談到了我們培養人工智慧人才和具備人工智慧技能的勞動力的努力，包括加強現有的科技技能加速器（TeSA）計劃的舉措。迄今為止，該計劃已幫助超過17,000名本地人獲得科技崗位，並提升和再培訓了超過231,000名專業人士的技能。
我們還在努力加強工藝教育學院（ITE）和理工學院畢業生在科技領域的就業成果，併為他們在整個職業生涯中提供更多發展路徑。我們於2022年成立了ITE和理工學院TeSA聯盟（TIP聯盟），匯聚志同道合的合作伙伴——學校領導、科技行業協會以及如NCS、埃森哲和新加坡科技工程等主要科技人才僱主，共同推動變革。
令我欣慰的是，僱主們正在改變他們的思維方式和人力資源（HR）做法。僱主們不再僅僅關注學術資格，而是給予申請者的技能和能力足夠的重視，以評估其適合度。
為了推動整個行業的變革，信息通信媒體發展局（IMDA）和TIP聯盟發起了基於技能招聘運動，並推出了一本手冊，為企業基於能力吸引、評估和培養科技人才提供實用指導。在三個月內，我很高興地分享，承諾支援基於技能招聘的公司數量已從100家增加到200家。
甲骨文公司是承諾支援基於技能招聘的企業之一，已根據技能招聘其職位空缺。作為承諾的一部分，其招聘團隊選擇在新加坡所有技術崗位的招聘廣告中不突出教育要求。
埃森哲是另一家採用基於技能招聘的公司。他們採用嚴格的多階段評估，側重於技能、能力和成長潛力，結果招聘時間縮短了75%，優質人才儲備增加了40%。基於技能的招聘方法與我們作為“前進新加坡”（Forward SG）計劃的一部分所做的轉變相一致，擁抱超越成績的學習，創造多元化路徑。
學校也在發揮作用。例如，響應行業反饋，我們工藝教育學院和理工學院的資訊與數字技術（IDT）專業已將實習期限從六個月延長至十二個月。去年，超過400名理工學院和工藝教育學院學生進行了為期一年的實習，以獲得更多行業經驗。我已與許多學生見面。我們將支援提供這些為期一年的實習的公司，提供共同資助以覆蓋培訓成本。
伍妮女士是該計劃的受益者。在義安理工學院就讀期間，她在華僑銀行擔任全棧開發員，進行了為期一年的實習，參與儀表盤和架構專案以提升運營效率。伍妮發現專案規模令人震撼。與較小規模的學校專案相比，實習讓她接觸到更復雜的系統及其相互關聯。這段經歷拓寬了她對動態科技行業及其眾多激動人心職業選擇的理解。先生，請允許我用普通話說幾句話。
（普通話）：[請參閱方言發言。] 先生，人工智慧正引領我們進一步走向數字化道路。除了為我們的企業帶來競爭優勢外，它還提升了勞動力的生產力。因此，政府將協助企業，特別是中小企業及其員工，利用人工智慧謀取利益。
迄今為止，IMDA已與各行業合作推出了22個行業數字計劃（IDPs）。在即將更新的IDPs中，機構還將納入人工智慧相關內容。此外，在中小企業數字化計劃下，IMDA將與科技行業合作，將人工智慧技術納入預先批准的數字解決方案。目前，20%的數字解決方案由人工智慧驅動，惠及超過3,000家中小企業。更重要的是，我們將與各行業合作，規劃相關培訓課程，幫助員工掌握技能，保持更新，抓住人工智慧帶來的新機遇。
（英語）：先生，新加坡沒有許多其他經濟體所具備的自然優勢。我們沒有龐大的國內市場、龐大的本地勞動力，也沒有自然資源。但我們能夠通過靈活應變，充分利用數字化和人工智慧等技術賦能，繼續擴大企業的市場機會，為新加坡人創造優質且激動人心的工作崗位，我們正建立在堅實的基礎之上。
政府將在數字化旅程的下一階段，堅定地成為企業和員工的合作伙伴，提升企業和員工在人工智慧時代的能力。這將是一段激動人心的旅程。因此，我歡迎更多志同道合的合作伙伴與我們攜手，並邀請所有企業和員工加入我們，共同踏上這段激動人心的旅程。
主席：通訊及資訊部高階國務部長賈尼爾·普圖切裡。
通訊及資訊部及衛生部高階國務部長（賈尼爾·普圖切裡博士）：主席先生，感謝議員們的發言和提問。
今天，我想借此機會說明通訊及資訊部對數字政府的策略：我們如何需要並正在打造有效的數字產品，以公民為中心，關注新加坡人的需求，勇於嘗試和擁抱試驗，以及我們如何投資數字基礎設施和研發。所有這些，都是為了讓新加坡具備實現智慧國願景的能力。
先生，良好的數字政府始於瞭解公民需求，解決他們關心的問題。我們最成功的產品都是基於同一個問題：新加坡人面臨哪些挑戰？
一個例子是RedeemSG。該平臺讓居民領取並使用政府發放的數字券，包括社群發展理事會（CDC）券。它是我們從紙質券轉向數字券的關鍵推動力。紙質券對消費者的弊端顯而易見，商戶也面臨挑戰。收到的紙質券每天需捆綁、收集、手工處理，報銷需時數天或數週。RedeemSG提供了更好的方式。自2020年以來，家庭已領取超過10億新元的數字券。簡單有效的數字產品能對人們生活產生切實影響。
陳佩玲女士詢問政府如何促進公民更積極參與識別問題和共同創造成功的數字解決方案。莎瑞爾·塔哈先生也問政府如何通過新的數字產品持續改善新加坡人的生活。
“為善而建”（Build For Good）是我們如何做到這兩點的好例子。該專案匯聚志願者為同胞建設數字解決方案。我們採用問題優先的方法。在2023年“為善而建”活動前，組織者從公眾收集了700多個問題陳述。其中一個團隊解決了學生輔導員需花時間撰寫個案筆記的問題。他們的解決方案是名為NoteFlow的產品，一種用於轉錄和總結個案訪談的工具，使輔導員能專注於關懷學生。NoteFlow及其他“為善而建”中湧現的有前景的想法目前是原型，我們希望其中一些能成熟併為公共利益做出貢獻。
確定問題後，我們探索不同解決方案：快速構建原型；與真實使用者測試；並推廣有潛力的想法。政府需解決的問題具有挑戰性，嘗試不同方法找出最佳方案是解決新加坡問題的最佳途徑。
正如我所述，針對單一問題採用多種方法意味著我們嘗試的一些想法可能不會成功。舉個例子：一款名為MoneySound的產品。團隊觀察到，尤其是年長的小販，有時難以目視確認顧客裝置上的電子支付憑證。確定問題後，GovTech的小團隊在幾個月內構建了MoneySound的“概念驗證”原型。這是一款能朗讀數字支付的裝置，解放小販雙手，無需目視確認支付。
我們與小販測試後發現他們興趣不大，反饋負面。他們對裝置安裝、維護及工作方式有顧慮。考慮這些反饋後，團隊在啟動三個月後暫停了MoneySound的開發。提出想法，快速行動，通過“概念驗證”確定其受歡迎程度，若不理想則暫停。
這些想法未如預期成功令人失望，但這是我們數字政府工程師正在經歷的試驗過程。這種方法帶來的見解有助於我們解決下一個問題或產品的下一版本。
這種試驗方法還允許我們同時嘗試多種策略解決重大問題。例如，GovTech團隊一直在探索如何幫助公民從政府網站獲取相關資訊。為公民以合適方式提供正確的資訊是個大問題。我們沒有尋找單一靈丹妙藥，而是推出了多個產品。每個產品針對不同使用者群體，滿足不同需求。
需要幫助的新加坡人可以使用SupportGoWhere。這是一個一站式門戶，幫助尋找政府計劃或資助服務。其關鍵功能之一是為照顧者推薦護理服務、財政支援計劃和未來規劃工具，方便他們根據自身情況找到支援，無需瀏覽多個政府網站尋找資訊。他們不必知道去哪兒找相關資訊，只需一個門戶。
但有時需要更通用的資訊，我們開發了另一款產品SearchSG，這是一個搜尋引擎，利用人工智慧從多種政府來源抓取資訊，為公民提供相關且最新的搜尋結果。
因此，我們採用多種策略嘗試解決同一問題。通過此過程，我們能瞭解使用者在使用數字產品時的需求和體驗。學習越快，改進越快。
譚潔西卡女士問數字化推動如何改善新加坡人生活，隨著智慧國計劃進入第十年。2014年至2023年間，公民對政府服務的滿意度從73%提升至83%。同期，企業對政府服務的滿意度也從69%升至83%。請允許我分享我們認為促成這一提升的三大戰略。
第一，我們致力於改善新加坡人的日常生活。第二，在此過程中，我們提供更好、更整合的政府服務。第三，我們更加包容。若允許，我願分享每個類別的一些例子。
通過網站、應用商店或其他渠道提供了許多數字服務。市場也存在未能滿足或難以滿足的需求。
其中一個例子是保護新加坡人免受詐騙的ScamShield。市場難以提供同樣有效的解決方案。詐騙是日常影響我們的難題。現在我們有了ScamShield，且反響良好——下載量達85萬次。它是我們打擊詐騙的最廣泛工具之一，我鼓勵新加坡人使用它。
第二，提供更好、更整合的政府服務，舉幾個例子。其一是健康預約系統（HAS）。使用者可輕鬆預約疫苗接種、篩查（如乳腺X光檢查）。該產品支援英語、普通話、馬來語和泰米爾語。市場難以以多語言形式滿足此類需求。該產品還允許使用者檢視社群健康援助計劃和醫療儲蓄賬戶等計劃對健康預約的補貼。
下午6點15分
我們將兩三項市場難以提供的服務整合——多語言預約系統及補貼資訊展示，幫助使用者做出決策。
另一個例子是MyLegacy@LifeSG。它更進一步，將與臨終規劃及身後事相關的可靠資訊和數字服務匯聚於便捷門戶。處理此類事務不易，即使是有提前規劃的人也如此。這些時刻不常發生，充滿壓力、不確定性和繁雜事務。任何支援都彌足珍貴。
一個例子是克里斯托弗·哈姆扎先生。他已婚，有一個四個月大的女兒。2021年，哈姆扎先生親眼目睹好友在哀悼中處理其已故父親事務的挑戰。受此啟發，他與妻子決定提前規劃，並求助於MyLegacy。通過該產品，哈姆扎先生輕鬆記錄重要資訊——各類賬戶、保險單——並與可信賴人士共享。他形容門戶儀表盤直觀、易用，且安心資訊不會被用於第三方營銷，已成為MyLegacy的熱心推廣者。我也鼓勵議員們關注MyLegacy，鼓勵居民和選民註冊使用。
第三部分策略是更加包容。蔡艾立先生對此有提問並提出觀點。他詢問了老年人的手機使用情況。
主席，2022年，89%的60歲及以上老年人擁有智慧手機，較2017年的74%有所提升。自2020年該計劃啟動以來，我們的“老年人手機接入”計劃已批准超過16,000份低收入老年人援助包。蔡先生還提到需更好支援老年人使用數字空間。為此，我們推出了“老年人數字化”計劃，迄今已培訓超過280,000名老年人。
同時，我們也努力在設計和開發中體現包容性，將過程帶給老年人。我們與廣泛使用者群體（包括老年人）測試數字服務，確保滿足他們的需求。我們還開發了專門支援不同需求群體的工具。
一個例子，議員們可在一層親自體驗，是名為“ReadLiao”的產品。它是我們最近“為公共利益駭客馬拉松”活動中湧現的原型之一。如今，老年人有時難以理解冗長複雜的信件，常需依賴照顧者（包括子女）為其總結資訊。擁有年長親屬的人可能熟悉檢視和解釋此類信件的經歷。問題不僅在語言，還在於材料的呈現方式。
因此，ReadLiao結合光學字元識別和人工智慧平臺，將檔案重新包裝並以清晰易懂的格式展示，更好地傳達內容給老年人。我們計劃在未來幾個月內在社群試點ReadLiao，並希望將其發展為成熟產品。該產品目前僅幾周曆史，處於原型階段。
我們還有另一款更成熟的工具，名為“Purple A11y”，是GovTech的開源自動化測試工具。它掃描網頁，識別潛在的無障礙問題。開發者可用它識別標籤錯誤的按鈕或圖片。對大多數人而言，這些問題不易察覺，也不影響使用體驗，但對視障人士或使用螢幕閱讀器的使用者來說，正確設計至關重要。自2023年以來，我們利用Purple A11y提升政府數字服務的無障礙性，並已直接整合到MyCareersFuture等網站的開發中，確保其可訪問性。
先生，迄今為止我主要關注數字產品。但我們的工作還有另一個方面需要關注——基礎設施，即必須協同工作的互聯絡統，才能使這些產品成為可能。現在我想解釋一下我們如何加強新加坡的數字基礎設施並投資研發，以便我們能夠繼續擁有有利於數字創新的環境。
沙拉爾·塔哈先生問及文化、社區及青年部（MCI）如何裝備新加坡以充分利用最新技術發展，尤其是人工智慧（AI）。確保新加坡擁有支援人工智慧活動的基礎設施至關重要。為此，我們將投資高達5億新元，確保新加坡擁有足夠的高效能運算能力，以支援我們在人工智慧創新和能力建設方面的雄心。
我們預計這些資源將支援跨行業的應用場景，如金融服務、醫療保健、交通和物流。隨著時間推移，我們希望這筆種子資金能夠催化新加坡人工智慧的更大發展和應用，並激發產業對計算基礎設施的額外投資。
田佩玲女士詢問實施數字連線藍圖（Digital Connectivity Blueprint，DCB）的計劃。該藍圖由文化、社區及青年部和信息通信媒體發展局（IMDA）於去年六月釋出，概述了新加坡建設下一代數字基礎設施的戰略。它涵蓋了各種基礎設施組成部分——如連線世界的海底光纜等硬體基礎設施；連線不同系統、應用和裝置以實現協同工作的中介軟體；以及許多其他因素。數字連線藍圖旨在通過綜合總體規劃，確保我們在需要時擁有所需資源。
在未來幾年，我們可以期待看到數字連線藍圖中大膽的構想逐步實現。這一程序已經開始。
例如，數字連線藍圖的戰略重點之一是在未來五年內實現無縫的10吉位元每秒（10G）國內連線。我們已預留資金以提升全國寬頻網路（NBN）的容量，使10G寬頻成為現實。信息通信媒體發展局將投資高達1億新元，支援運營商升級基礎設施，並以有競爭力的價格提供創新服務。
正如2000年代全國寬頻網路建設時一樣，我們是在需求到來之前進行投資。這是為了應對人工智慧、沉浸式數字體驗和自動化解決方案等領域即將出現的機會，這些領域將需要更高頻寬的連線。我們計劃於2026年前完成10G全國寬頻網路的升級，預計未來五年將有超過50萬個家庭註冊並受益於更高速的寬頻。
謝耀權先生詢問如何更可持續地推動我們的數字未來。正如預算演講中提到的，能源效率補助金（EEG）將擴充套件至資料中心行業。隨著2024年底能源效率補助金在資料中心行業的推廣，我們希望更多資料中心運營商和終端使用者採用節能裝置。能源效率補助金只是信息通信媒體發展局今年晚些時候將推出的綠色資料中心路線圖下多項可持續發展舉措之一。
除了產品和基礎設施，我們還需要確保能夠獲得合適的技術。這一點至關重要。新加坡需要強大的研發能力，以開發和定製適合本地環境的技術。
在網路安全方面，我們已在南洋理工大學設立了CyberSG研發專案辦公室，撥款6200萬新元支援網路安全研究。該專案辦公室於去年九月啟動，作為協調機構，推動新加坡將研究成果轉化為政府機構和產業的商業解決方案。它是加強數字安全和發展數字經濟的關鍵推動力。
沙拉爾·塔哈先生還問及文化、社區及青年部如何建設新加坡在人工智慧領域的研究能力。過去五年，我們在人工智慧研究上投資超過5億新元，投資已取得成效。根據頂級人工智慧會議的論文發表數量，我們位列全球前十。我們的研究人員獲得了國際認可，如谷歌人工智慧博士獎學金，該獎學金每年全球約授予50名研究生，以表彰其卓越和創新的研究工作。此外，我們支援了近150項與政府和產業合作的研究專案，有些專案規模較大，有些較小，甚至涉及意想不到的領域，例如人工智慧新加坡與牙科連鎖機構Q&M合作，幫助牙醫從X光片中檢測疾病，執行自動牙科圖表繪製並推薦治療方案。我建議所有議員定期檢查牙齒，必要時藉助人工智慧。
隨著獲取最新技術變得越來越必要以吸引投資，我們必須繼續投資研發，以保持我們在全球市場的競爭優勢。
先生，請允許我總結。數字技術是我們滿足公民和企業需求的最強大工具之一。我們擁抱大膽的發展和敏捷的試驗，以便利用數字技術為新加坡人和新加坡創造最大的影響力。同時，我們必須未雨綢繆，投資數字基礎設施和研發，以提前促進我們的數字化目標。迄今為止，這一方法已取得成功，隨著我們進入智慧國旅程的第二個十年，這一方法還能為新加坡帶來更多成果。[掌聲]
主席：我們已進入澄清時間。傑西卡·陳女士。
傑西卡·陳順娘女士：謝謝主席。我想問高階國務部長詹尼爾關於全國寬頻網路升級的問題。2006年升級時，我們確實看到不少居民沒有註冊。因此，您提到預計有50萬人註冊，我希望能有良好的溝通，確保居民和企業都能註冊，不錯過週期。我們也看到當時有很多物流挑戰，所以我希望有充分的溝通，讓大家明白該做什麼、何時註冊，以避免重蹈覆轍。
詹尼爾·普圖查裡博士：先生，感謝傑西卡·陳女士提出這一點。確實，推出新產品和過渡到新模式——這可能是也可能不是新商業模式，取決於運營商的做法——我們必須確保充分向消費者群體傳達資訊。她的觀點很好，我們一定會跟進。
主席：辛格先生。
普里塔姆·辛格先生：謝謝主席。感謝張玉娟部長回應我的發言。請允許我向部長提兩個簡短問題。
第一個問題關於我之前提到的預算書中特定條目，基本上是闡明對SPH傳媒信託的資金支援。感謝部長指出這屬於“對其他機構的撥款補助和資本注入”項。鑑於這筆鉅額撥款，我建議部長考慮未來為SPH傳媒信託設立單獨條目。我之所以這樣說，是因為考慮到資金框架以及政府介入公共服務媒體領域的方式，如果能持續追蹤納稅人資金投入SPH傳媒的情況，將對公眾有所幫助。這只是給部委的一個建議。
第二個問題涉及部長分享的一些關鍵績效指標（KPI），某些指標未達標。預算書中每個部委末尾都有KPI部分，列出部委如何看待其向公眾提供的服務等關鍵指標。鑑於SPH傳媒的長期資金支援，我建議在預算書的KPI部分納入相關指標，讓公眾瞭解其表現優劣。例如，部長提到的覆蓋率、參與度、方言目標等。這是給部長的建議，盼望得到回應。
下午6時30分
張玉娟女士：主席，謝謝辛格先生的建議。
我認為預算書中如何報告這些內容並非完全由文化、社區及青年部決定，因為政府有一定慣例。我不記得具體細節，但印象中，比如公共交通補貼，我不認為預算書會細分到補貼給SMRT、SBS Transit或其他巴士運營商。情況並非如此。
當然，如果考慮學前教育服務的資金，我也不記得預算書會細分到具體實體。通常是為一系列活動提供資金，而不具體反映資金流向哪個實體。我可能記錯了，但這確實是我們會考慮的事項。不過，預算書中如何展示這些內容並非完全由文化、社區及青年部決定。
KPI也是如此。預算書中報告的是部委必須達成的KPI。部委與許多其他利益相關者互動。
例如，文化、社區及青年部負責信息通信媒體發展局（IMDA）。IMDA與電信公司（電信運營商）有互動。我們可能不直接資助他們，但對他們進行許可。他們也是新加坡非常關鍵的服務提供者。為了繼續持有牌照，他們也必須達成KPI。這並不意味著我們會將所有KPI直接搬入預算書。這是另一種展現我們職責範圍的方式。
感謝議員提出這些可能性。我認為他的更廣泛觀點是，公眾會從更多關於公共服務媒體實體表現的資訊中受益。
這些問題非常合理。我們需要找到更合理的方式釋出資訊。不過，我想補充一點，主席，我們可以繼續關注覆蓋率、讀者數、參與度等指標。但如果回到支援公共服務媒體的根本原因，那就是新加坡人是否擁有可信賴的媒體來源。信任才是最重要的。
在這方面，至少路透社研究所（Reuters Institute），辛格先生自己提到的，釋出了非常有用的年度報告，評估新加坡媒體組織中最受信任的品牌。辛格先生引用了2021年的調查結果，他說《海峽時報》（SPH傳媒信託旗下刊物之一）信任度約為77%。
我想說這份報告對我們形成思路非常有幫助。最新的2023年報告已釋出。如果看2023年報告，在新加坡最受信任的五大品牌中，全部是本地公共服務媒體實體；在前十名中，有八個是我們的公共服務媒體實體。
如果剔除本地公共服務媒體實體，剩下的就是美國的CNN、英國的BBC和雅虎新聞。用這個視角思考為何及如何繼續支援本地公共服務媒體，我認為這在某種程度上勝過我們能設定的所有指標。
我並非說那些KPI不重要。我認為它們必須與辛格先生提到的其他驗證方式一起持續評估。
主席：蘇涵妮女士。
蘇涵妮女士：感謝部長剛才對辛格先生的澄清。關於KPI，我也強烈建議文化、社區及青年部在考慮KPI時，應關注多個因素。儘管某些KPI因現有情況未達標，我們也應強調其他優先事項，重視其他KPI的重要性，例如部長提到的公眾信任。
對我而言，另一個非常重要的關鍵因素是品牌。例如，《海峽時報》和《聯合早報》等品牌如何與新加坡的品牌和身份相關，向外界展示新加坡的真實情況，吸引更多外國投資者來新加坡。這些都是我們希望向外界傳達的良好渠道和方式，絕不能被遺忘。
張玉娟女士：主席，我完全同意蘇涵妮女士的觀點。確實如此。用管理術語來說，我們喜歡說“被衡量的事情才會被完成”，所以設定KPI有其意義。
但在文化、社區及青年部內部，我們完全清楚這些指標並不能完全反映我們對公共服務媒體實體的期望。它們在世界上的地位無法完全量化。它們幫助新加坡人形成的身份認同和團結，也難以用數字衡量。
我們非常清楚，現有指標體系可能非常不足。因此，我們不斷與公共服務媒體實體討論是否有更好的方式反映其進展。蘇女士的觀點非常重要。
主席：看起來部長和兩位高階國務部長沒有更多澄清問題。請問田佩玲女士，您是否願意撤回您的修正案？
田佩玲女士：工作繁重，主席，我請求撤回我的修正案。
[(程式文本) 修正案，經許可，撤回。 (程式文本)]
[(程式文本) 預算總額中，Q項2,378,410,000新元獲批准。 (程式文本)]
[(程式文本) 發展預算中，Q項327,254,700新元獲批准。 (程式文本)]
英文原文
SPRS Hansard · Fetched: 2026-05-02
4.15 pm
The Chairman : Head Q, Ministry of Communications and Information. Ms Tin Pei Ling.
Investing in Smart Future
Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson) : Mdm Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates be reduced by $100".
Throughout history, the mastery of technology has been essential for a nation's progress and its ability to compete strategically. This importance has only heightened in the modern era. Hence, by investing in critical infrastructure, innovation and talent development, countries can position themselves as leaders in emerging technologies and shape the future of the global economy and geopolitical landscape.
Singapore, as a small and open economy, does not aspire to be a superpower but we too must invest so as to overcome productivity challenges, unlock new economic potential and do good for our people.
New game changing technologies emerge over time. Disruptions brought about by such technologies are happening more frequently and quickly. Amidst key digital developments, artificial intelligence (AI) is now taking centrestage. In the book, "The Coming Wave" by DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman, he argued that the coming decade will be defined by a wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies and AI is central to this wave.
Some of the breakthroughs in AI took place in an unexpected manner and accelerated progress significantly. So, we must be prepared for a future in which AI is pervasive in almost all aspects of our lives.
Yet, AI, if left to develop irresponsibly, could bring about significant harms too. Hence, the task of maintaining human control over powerful technologies is an essential challenge of our time.
While that sounds ominously frightening, technology is but a tool – good or bad depends on who wields it. Singapore believes that AI can be a potent force for good – to uplift human potential and to unlock economic opportunities, as set out in the National AI Strategy 2.0. Notably, there is a shift in the AI strategy, seeing AI as a "necessity" and no longer just an "opportunity".
Given this shift in belief, Singapore needs to invest even more in digital infrastructures, talents and capabilities critical to Singapore's next bound of economic development and do more to preserve and enhance digital trust as well as leveraging digital capabilities to build communities and better lives. All these in the age of AI.
First, on digital infrastructure and resilience.
As I had articulated in my speech during the January Motion on "Building an Inclusive and Safe Digital Society", building infrastructure ahead of demand is important to maintaining competitive edge and Singapore has always done so.
Likewise, as we march on towards a smart future in the age of AI, Singapore needs to double down on our investments into higher speed networks and higher performance computing power. May I seek an update from the Ministry on what is being done to enhance investment into such digital infrastructure?
Given how critical infrastructures are to deliver essential services and drive innovation, the importance of digital security and resilience cannot be undermined as they not only ensure business continuity, but also shape public confidence.
As I had highlighted again in my January's Motion debate speech, with the likes of DBS' repeated digital service disruptions in 2023, Central Provident Fund savings lost to Android malware scams and personal data breaches in public healthcare. Even if the incidents were no direct fault of the enterprises or institutions, these incidents would have affected significant portion of our population and, in turn, affect public's trust in digital.
Regulations are effective in setting boundaries and making clear the Dos and Do nots. As technologies and especially as AI evolve, regulations will have to play catch up. But regulations alone will not be sufficient to address these issues. The solution needs to go further upstream so that companies and institutions can integrate security and resilience into their products and operations by design. Hence, may I ask what is the Government doing to update our regulations and what is being done to help companies and institutions implement higher digital security and resilience standards?
In relation to this, the Government launched the Chief Information Security Officer or CISO-as-a-Service last year. May I ask the Minister to also give an update on the implementation of the Cybersecurity Health Plan?
Secondly, to unlock economic opportunities, the industries and businesses must be able to transform adequately and quickly. The Government has introduced initiatives, such as small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) Go Digital programme in 2017, various enterprise grants over the past decade or so and implemented Industry Transformation Roadmaps that are regularly updated. These initiatives are thoughtful and beneficial.
Larger enterprises are perhaps savvier and better placed to leverage such initiatives. Some perhaps do not even need to tap into them. But for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), they often lack resources and expertise to select digital solutions that could enable them to improve their productivity. So, even with grants and solutions made available to them, they run the risk of either not employing digital solutions that are beneficial to them or undertaking digital solutions that might not be relevant to them; thereby incurring unnecessary costs and transition risks. The Government introduced Chief Technology Officer or CTO-as-a-Service in 2021 to help SMEs transform. Into the third year now, how has this service fared so far? What else will the Government do to better help SMEs adopt digital solutions that are relevant to their business needs?
As Singapore marches on in our digitalisation journey and as we shift our AI strategy from opportunity to necessity, I am heartened that that the Digital Connectivity Blueprint was launched in June 2023 with the aim of enhancing Singapore's digital infrastructure for enterprises and people to capture emerging opportunities in the digital space. Now that half a year has passed, could the Ministry give an update on the implementation of the plans within the Blueprint and share what preliminary results that we may have observed so far?
Thirdly, we need to ensure our people are ready for what is to come. We are well aware of the opportunities and challenges that come with the new technologies and in this case, AI. I spoke about it in my past speeches in this House and my hon colleagues have also expounded the merits and issues surrounding AI several times before and I believe later as well.
One of the promises of making digital advancements was to avail better job opportunities for Singaporeans. But in recent times, we witnessed large-scale tech layoffs by the likes of Lazada, Google and Grab, arguably because they want to better align their organisational structure and resources with their new AI strategies. Affected workers were caught by surprise. Some managed to get absorbed into other firms given the tight labour market. Some took longer and had to reskill. While it is the businesses' prerogative to do so, what is clear is that our workforce must be future-ready as tech disruptions will only pick up in pace and the nature of jobs will change.
In talent development, education is important as it provides us with the foundation from which we build new knowledge and skills to keep up with new developments. But education alone is not enough. We need opportunities for our young and our talents to meet other bright minds from outside of Singapore to exchange ideas and spark off new ones. We need to have the space and platform for these bright minds to come together to learn; to research and experiment; to fail and iterate; to deliver and go to market.
Therefore, what is the Government doing to support our workforce to be AI- and future-ready and to leverage AI to remain competitive?
Mdm Chairman, do I take the rest of my cuts together?
The Chairman : No, I have to put the question.
Ms Tin Pei Ling : Okay, then, I will pause here.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
The Chairman : Ms Tin Pei Ling, you can take your four remaining cuts together.
Technology for Good
Vernacular Public Communications
Towards Digital Resilience
Digital Trust
Ms Tin Pei Ling : Continuing from my earlier speech.
Fourthly, for the vision of a smart and digital future to be fully embraced by the whole-of-society, we must ensure that we use technology to bridge gaps, build communities and better lives.
Much was said about scams and how we must combat it to preserve social trust in a digital age during the January Motion debate so I would not repeat it here.
What I would like to highlight is the danger of misinformation. In my cut to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) yesterday, I spoke of how certain messages could be spread with an intent to create schisms between Singaporeans. But there could also be other harms associated with misinformation, such as discouraging vaccinations against what could have been severe but preventable diseases. Therefore, having trustworthy public service media channels that are accessible to all demographic groups is important in combatting misinformation and maintaining a common space that is safe for all citizens.
Hence, what is the Government doing to ensure that our Public Service Media continues to safeguard our social cohesion and common space and continues to reflect our societal values, such as multiculturalism?
Also, in fostering greater understanding and building communities, citizens of all ages and backgrounds must be able to communicate with each other. The ability to deliver accurate and reliable information in different languages is imperative if we are to continue engaging our seniors and various communities. Hence, what is the Government doing to preserve our vernacular capabilities and how is the Government leveraging the ever-improving technology to do so?
Finally, as our society advances; as issues faced become more complex; and as our people become savvier, the Government cannot possibly solve everything on its own. As emphasised in the January's Motion debate, a whole-of-society effort is needed. How then will the Government facilitate greater citizen involvement and participation in identifying problems and co-creating successful digital solutions?
In conclusion, technology advancement and the proliferation of AI are reshaping industries and the global landscape. Singapore will have to be ready for what is to come by investing ahead of time, preserving and strengthening digital trust and leverage digital capabilities to bridge gaps, build communities and better lives.
Funding for SPH Media Trust
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied) : Chair, the first tranche of public funds was disbursed to SPH Media Trust in March 2023. Over four Ministerial Statements in this House, the Government has put out its reasons for making the taxpayers subsidise the running of SPH Media Trust or at least, partly subsidising the running of SPH Media Trust.
What we have been told is that public funding is needed for three reasons.
First, without public funding, SPH Media Trust's transformation into a digital news company will not be able to afford the investment and costs of running its professional newsrooms, which is expected to outstrip advertising revenue given the intense competition for eyeballs online.
Second, it is in the public interest to preserve local news media, particularly those in the local vernacular languages, that are important to give voice to our multiracial communities, but which are difficult to sustain financially given their inherently smaller readership or viewership.
Third, we were told public funding is necessary to support SPH Media Trust as the public will be well-served by a mainstream media that is trusted.
One example of this was the Reuters Institute Digital News Report of 2021, where 77% of respondents expressed trust in The Straits Times – up from 70% in 2018. In June last year, SPH Media Trust's Audit and Risk Committee found that SPH had indeed overstated its circulation numbers between September 2020 and March 2022 and a Police report was also filed.
Given the provision of taxpayer funding for SPH Media Trust, there is considerable public interest in how Singaporeans will be better served by the mainstream media in Singapore. This is represented by Singaporeans who seek greater editorial independence, a wider diversity of views, providing important feedback on Government policies and even investigative journalism on matters of significant public interest.
We were told that there will be key performance indicators (KPIs) for SPH Media Trust and it has to provide the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) with half-yearly updates on its risk management framework. Can the Minister inform the public – who are now SPH Media Trust's stakeholders; one, what are the KPIs that SPH Media Trust has to meet under the funding framework? Two, how has SMP fared on its KPIs thus far, after being subsidised for one year? Three, which KPIs did it fail to meet and why? Four, has MCI found SPH Media Trust's half-yearly risk updates satisfactory? Five, how has SPH Media Trust addressed its risk management framework?
I look forward to the Ministry's replies and request the officeholder to share under which line item and page of the Revenue and Expenditure Estimates the subsidy to SPH Media Trust is reflected at and what is the expenditure for 2023 and the amount budgeted for 2024/2025?
I ask because there is not a specific line item making reference to significant market power (SMP) or SPH Media Trust.
The Chairman : Mr Sharael Taha, you have six cuts. You can take them all together.
4.30 pm
Investment in National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS 2.0)
Title of the Cut
Industry Transformation Maps and Jobs Transformation Maps
Supporting SMEs to Leverage AI
Investment in Infrastructure for AI
Support for Vernacular Papers
Better Lives through Digitalisation
Mr Sharael Taha (Pasir Ris-Punggol) : Thank you, Mdm Chair. Madam, in the Motion on "Building an Inclusive and Safe Digital Society" that was raised by our GPC in this House last month, the House reaffirmed our commitment to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to sustain trust by building an inclusive and safe digital society.
In the Budget Debate earlier this week, I shared that I am glad that we commit to invest more than $1 billion over five years for our National AI Strategy 2.0 which will focus on building the infrastructure, developing our workforce and the industry. In my next few cuts on this, I will focus on a few key items on the National AI Strategy 2.0.
Firstly, how can we provide equal and equitable opportunities such that the opportunities brought about by AI do not only benefit the few at the top? I raised this during our Motion in January, too. This includes ensuring NAIS 2.0 provides opportunities for all segments of Singaporeans, bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots and also ensuring our SMEs are involved in developing their capability.
Secondly, AI is said to be a general capability that reads across industries and will have impact across multiple industries. How will NAIS 2.0 refresh our Industry Transformation Maps and Job Transformation Maps? How do we build the talent pipeline?
Thirdly, how do we build the infrastructure necessary for Singapore to be a powerhouse in AI development?
Lastly, how do we better lives through digitalisation?
Firstly, as we go digital and embark on transformation under the National AI Strategy, how can we ensure that all segments of Singapore are able to tap on the opportunities AI and digital provide? How do we ensure the digital haves and the digital have-nots, especially school-going children from lower-income families. have equal opportunities that AI and digital provide?
From a business perspective, AI is a general purpose technology that applies across industries. The technology is not confined to just companies in the tech industries or MNEs only. How can we support our SMEs across industries to leverage AI to improve their value proposition, productivity and processes?
Secondly, some reports mentioned that 70% of workers will see AI impacting their current jobs. Can the Minister provide an update on the Industry and Jobs Transformation Maps across the industries? How has AI changed the Industry Transformation Maps? How do we proactively support workers who may be displaced by this technology?
Through NAIS 2.0, how do we identify opportunities for our workers to upskill and apply AI in their jobs to boost their productivity and add value to the industries that they are in?
It is also anticipated that more than 15,000 workers are required in the AI field. How will MCI work together with MOM to deliver the 15,000 AI practitioners required in the industry? How can we have specific Career Conversion Programmes to provide more talent with this skillset?
As we build the critical mass of practitioners, we will also have to develop our depth talent in the industry. At the top end, how do we attract world-class talents to bring AI capability into Singapore? How do we build our own depth capability with researchers in AI in our local institutions?
Thirdly, Mdm Chair, to develop a thriving AI industry ecosystem in Singapore, we must develop the infrastructure to stay ahead of the emerging trends and demands. Other than fast network speeds, high-performance computing capability is also a necessity for AI. What are the Government’s plans to build compute capacity to support our growing AI and digitalisation needs? How do we secure the chips and not be overly reliant on a single source? And how can we develop this energy-intensive, high-performance computing sustainably for Singapore?
Lastly, given the success of platforms, such as Singpass, HealthHub and so on, how can we continue to better Singaporeans’ lives through digital? How can we provide Singaporeans easier access to Government services through digital? How can we use digital and technology to assist residents with special needs, such as the visually handicapped and our seniors? How can we use digital to bring our community closer together?
Support for Vernacular Papers
Mdm Chair, for my next cut, in Malay please.
( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Since 2023, Berita Harian has transformed and shifted its focus from a newspaper that is exclusively print-only media to a digitally-ready platform. It now offers many innovative products in the Malay language and on multiple digital platforms to engage current and new readers.
From a podcast like #notapis, Instagram Reels, TikTok, BH Hub, BH lab, innovative content, and even organising community forums, the Berita Harian team has transformed how news is delivered to Malay readers, in line with the needs of the community.
My first question is how do we continue to support Berita Harian in terms of its manpower or budget to continue developing these Malay language products?
Secondly, although the Malay language has a small user base in Singapore, there are many more Malay readers in the region.
As we strive towards building a Community of Success, how can we support Berita Harian's capabilities so that it can provide a Singaporean Malay perspective on current affairs for the region?
GenAI Sandbox
Mr Mark Lee (Nominated Member) : Madam, the GenAI Sandbox by Enterprise Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is a welcome initiative for SMEs to tap on generative AI (GenAI) to enhance their operations, products and services. I would like to ask the Minister to consider a tiered support approach to encourage businesses to adopt increasingly advanced technologies – a lower tier of 20% for back office and operational digitalisation, all the way to top tier of 60% for using AI technology, and for grants to support further customisation requirements as well dataset creation.
Additionally, as AI adoption grows, will MCI introduce governance and ethical frameworks to ensure AI's responsible and effective use?
The Chairman : Mr Alex Yam. Not here. Mr Christopher de Souza.
Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah) : Mdm Chair, I have three cuts. May I take them together?
The Chairman : Yes, please take them together.
AI – Governance and International Cooperation
Mr Christopher de Souza : Thank you. Singapore launched AI Verify in 2022 as one of the world's first AI governance testing framework and toolkits. The idea behind AI Verify is to provide objective verifiability for AI systems used by companies so that they can show that the AI system is working as it has claimed.
As one might imagine, AI Verify can play a highly crucial role in the implementation and enforcement of AI regulations, which are starting to emerge around the world, such as the European Union (EU) AI Act. IMDA is already working on this with international partners. For instance, last year, it announced a crosswalk with the AI risk management framework of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. This is essentially a mapping exercise that maps elements of AI Verify to the US framework.
What is MCI's plan to continue to place Singapore at the forefront of AI innovation and governance, and what further plans are there to work with other countries in developing governance frameworks?
AI – Dangers of Deepfake Generative AI
Mdm Chair, with the rise of GenAI comes the prevalence of deepfake images and other content, which allow an individual to maliciously use such content for personal gain or to harm others. This has led to a proliferation of scams, frauds and even harassment through deepfake explicit images. This also threatens commercial businesses and industries, such as through deepfake advertisements, and affects the media and political arena.
[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
The threat of such content is because even when people know an AI-generated image is fake, the perception that people retain could nonetheless be swayed. Similarly, even if deepfake explicit images are known to be fake, the damage to an individual might already be irrecoverable.
How is MCI monitoring the situation to ensure the dangers of such GenAI do not harm our economy and social compact?
AI – Digital Security and Safety
Mr Chairman, as our society transforms, as our citizens learn to use AI, we must consider how we might protect them in the midst of the transition and going forward.
While we want to build an AI-enabled society and bring everyone along in the transition, digital security and safety are key in ensuring the transition is smooth and encouraging to all individuals. We need to ensure that the risks are properly allocated to the right commercial entities to incentivise risk management and risk thinking.
That would allow market forces to naturally balance the interests of the national economy with the interests of protecting individual consumers and users. By engaging with corporate partners, the regulation can take in industry feedback to tailor our governance for Singapore's society.
The Chairman : Mr Xie Yao Quan, you may take your four cuts together.
AI Verify
Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong) : Mr Chairman, we have introduced AI Verify last year to help develop testing tools for the responsible use of AI. How has the programme developed and what are our next steps to ensure the use of AI is responsible and safe?
Generative AI
Chairman, the training of GenAI requires large amounts of data, some of which could be private in nature. How could the Government better protect our personal data from inappropriate use in this regard?
Also, GenAI requires large amounts of compute and power to train and operate, and so do our other digital needs. These require power-hungry data centres. How could we power our digital future, our future data centres sustainably?
Digital Security and Resilience
Mr Chairman, in light of the recent outages affecting our banking and healthcare institutions, how can we enhance the resilience and security of digital infrastructure and services that are critical to our digital economy and society?
Also, quantum computing is expected to weaken or break current encryption algorithms that protect our digital communications and transactions. How can we ensure that our data and communications networks remain safe and secure?
Third, MCI had announced previously the CISO-as-a-Service last year, to help SMEs develop tailored cybersecurity health plans based on their risk profile and appetite. Could MCI provide an update on its implementation?
Digital Enterprise Blueprint
Mr Chairman, MCI had announced the launch of industry consultations for the Digital Enterprise Blueprint last year to bring together industry leaders, trade associations and companies across different sectors to better derive insights and solutions to meet Singapore businesses’ digital needs. Could the Ministry provide an update on the progress in this regard?
The Chairman : Mr Eric Chua, please take your two cuts together.
Online Harms
Mr Eric Chua (Tanjong Pagar) : There have been recent media headlines: "Youth committed series of sexual offences involving multiple victims, including minors"; "Eight weeks’ jail for voyeur who filmed female colleague using toilet"; "Teen admits to sexually assaulting his two younger sisters multiple times"; "A 12.3% increase in voyeurism cases from 2022 to 2023: one of five things the Singapore Police Force wants us to know from their recent annual crime brief".
I could go on, but Members would be well aware of these recent high profile headlines. What raises the alarm for me is this: while there is a general decrease in the overall number of youth arrests over the last decade, youth sexual offending has bucked the trend. According to SPF, the number of youth offenders who committed outrage of modesty and rape offences climbed by 48.6% from 109 cases 2016 to 162 in 2020.
4.45 pm
To better understand this, I asked to speak with some youth sexual offenders some time ago. I separately spoke to three young offenders at length, spending about an hour with each of them. The three I spoke to came from diverse backgrounds, but not all had challenging family situations. Based on what they shared with me, one commonality struck me: how each of them struggled with addiction to the consumption of sexually explicit materials.
To be sure, we are talking about anecdotes from the experiences shared by three individuals. While this is by no means representative, one also should not simply wave this revelation away.
The pervasiveness of digital technology has opened new avenues for exposure to and consumption of sexually explicit materials, especially ones of a violent nature. While I do not claim a direct causality between pornography use and juvenile crime, extensive research has shown that adolescents' pornography use is related to more sexual aggression, both in terms of perpetuation and victimisation.
A 2019 study conducted with high school youths in US found that male adolescents exposed to violent pornography were over three times as likely to perpetuate sexual teen-dating violence. The use of online pornography has also been linked to youth self-development and beliefs, influencing one's internalisation of appearance ideals and body surveillance.
Simply put, sexual offending as a consequence and endpoint is just the tip of the iceberg. Pornography addiction, for instance, while not actually manifesting in a crime in most instances, can continue to plague an individual's life, damaging relationships, disrupting daily routines.
It is akin to a persistent, low-grade fever, symptomatic of a slew of deep-seated problems, which if left untackled can leave potentials untapped and productivity flagging. Society pays the bill in the form of a weakened family institution and in the most extreme scenarios, an increased rate of perverse and violent crimes. With the high internet and social media adoption rates in Singapore, it is high time that we paid much closer attention to online harms and the widespread spillover impacts it has on society at large.
On a separate but related note, unrealistic body standards paraded on the internet fuel a mindless pursuit of perfection and external validation. Nearly 20%, or one in five Singaporean adults who are active social media users are at risk of body image anxiety – with men representing some 40% of this at-risk group. I admit I personally feel some pressure to stay in the right shape. So, I sometimes hit the gym after midnight, determined to squeeze in a workout before the end of a long day. However, I am almost always surprised by the fact that I always have company at the gym by the number of young people, most of whom are young men, who remain seriously committed to sculpting their bodies even at unearthly hours.
Yes, for as long as we can remember, traditional media like the big and small screens – that is, film and TV – has led the charge in peddling unrealistic body standards. However, the proliferation of social media and the democratisation of content creation has only intensified peer comparison and hyper-fuelled unrealistic expectations of our own body image.
Simply put, the need to be that perfect bod is as real as it gets. Much of the conversation thus far, frames body image insecurities as a women's issue, but we know that is far from the truth. Men too face pressures and in the process, are actively discouraged to acknowledge or share about their own insecurities.
At its core, we need to begin a conversation on what masculinity means in Singapore society today. I recently chanced upon an article on NPR.org and I thought would like to leverage its content and run a little thought experiment with Members in this Chamber today. I hope many of you are listening to me.
I am going to read out three pairs of descriptors and Members can decide for yourself, which set of descriptors, either the former or the latter, more aptly describes what it means to be masculine. Here we go.
The first set: expressing anger over expressing sadness. The second set: swearing that we are fine even when we are actually not versus reaching out to loved ones and trusted friends when in need. The third set: laugh in the face of fear and danger versus being vulnerable about thoughts and feelings.
In your opinion, Members of the Chamber, which group better describes masculinity? You do not have to make known your position or your answers to me, much less take a vote on this – you do not have to reach for the buttons. I hope this simple exercise illustrates the effect of stereotypes at work.
Admittedly, this is a difficult conversation to have. To some, even talking about redefining masculinity is perhaps effeminate and even emasculating. We are increasingly seeing arrangements that go against the strand of what traditional masculinity looks like: stay-home dads who step into primary caretaking roles; dating down where the woman in heterosexual relationships has a higher earning power, all of which come with their challenges and stigma to tackle.
Rounding back, the concerns I have expressed on online harms and its impact on society, especially young men, is something we collectively need to tackle: from Government, community, families, parents and that is a work-in-progress. But at the heart of it all, we also need to have a mindful dialogue on what it means to be man enough in today's context.
Technology and Seniors
Sir, Queenstown is the first Housing and Development Board (HDB) satellite public housing estate in Singapore and is home to many residents who are seniors. With almost a third of Queenstown's residents age 60 and above, we have implemented several programmes and municipal enhancements to ensure that seniors can age well in place.
For instance, the hilly terrain and wide roads of Mei Ling Street and Stirling Road pose a safety concern for seniors when they cross the roads. To enhance safety and to allow seniors the respite of a brief pitstop, the central dividers between have been widened, amongst other enhancements.
There are various programmes in Queenstown that serve seniors well too. These include mental health programmes like SafePod, workshops on future care planning and a Seniors' Festival that is currently in the works. This Festival aims to empower our seniors, show them and their family members that one does not have to fear ageing and that there are many ways through which one can still enjoy their golden years.
Queenstown is also part of the Queenstown Health District pilot, which aims to leverage the diverse expertise of partners to create integrated solutions to enhance the health and wellbeing of Queenstown residents across their life stages. One such partner is the Lions Befrienders. At the Active Ageing Centre at Mei Ling, they will be launching the Gym Tonic, a strength training programme that tracks seniors' fitness and progress using senior-friendly gym machines. They have also harnessed technology to develop a system called i-Boleh, which allows seniors to self-account to Lions Befrienders' staff while offering games that help improve seniors' cognitive skills and reduce the risk of dementia.
Despite the many programmes that we have put in place for our seniors, one persistent pain point they face is catching up with technology. One constant feedback that I hear from seniors is the need for automated teller machines (ATMs), especially those with the passbook update function. Many shared with me that having to travel a distance away to the next nearest ATM is of great inconvenience to them. This is especially so when they are less mobile. I feel their pain when they narrate their challenges to me.
Despite the proliferation of digital banking, many seniors I spoke to still preferred transacting in cash. Some have expressed unfamiliarity with digital banking apps; others feared being scammed. Their concerns are not unfounded. Understanding their concerns, I have appealed multiple times to our banks although I have not always been successful. But I am not giving up.
While some seniors are hesitant, I take heart in the fact that many of them remain open to learn how to go digital and pick up tips on how to stay safe online. That is why I am appreciative that Leng Kee Community Club (CC) – located within Queenstown – has been designated by the SG Digital Office (SDO) as a SG Digital Community Hub. SG Digital Community Hubs were initiated by IMDA as part of Singapore's digitalisation push and are conveniently located in various parts of our heartlands. The hub at Leng Kee CC is open daily from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm. Seniors get one-on-one guidance in a customised fashion to equip them to go digital.
The Seniors Go Digital Activity Pack gamifies the learning experience and encourages seniors to continue learning on their own with online resources. Given Singapore's rapidly ageing population and Queenstown's super-aged resident profile, SG Digital Community Hubs would become more important in equipping seniors and seniors-to-be for digital life as technology continues to evolve.
To this end, I would like to ask the Ministry what percentage of seniors, islandwide, have been engaged by the SG Digital Community Hubs and what is the take-up for these Seniors Go Digital Activity Packs thus far?
In addition to the Community Hubs, the Mobile Access for Vulnerable Seniors is another scheme that has been implemented in recent years. It provides subsidised smartphone and mobile plans to lower-income seniors who want to go digital but cannot afford them. To qualify, individuals must be aged 60 years and above, and a current beneficiary of the Ministry of Social and Family Development's Long-Term or Short-to-Medium-Term ComCare assistance or under HDB's Public Rental Scheme.
In addition, our seniors are also encouraged to step up and pick up a basic digital skill at our Community Hubs. Eligible seniors enjoy a two-year mobile plan at $5.10 per month and can purchase a smartphone for a one-off cost of as low as $20. Given the importance of online communication today, such schemes encourage more seniors to digitalise and be plugged in to the community and stay connected with the family at the same time.
So, I would like to ask the Ministry, how has the response and take-up rate been like among seniors for this scheme?
As we continue to equip our seniors for the digital age, technology can be harnessed to preserve a sense of emotional connectedness. Members may have heard of VintageRadio.sg – a digital service designed for seniors to keep them informed, entertained and engaged. Through an app, VintageRadio.sg aims to build confidence in seniors to explore an unfamiliar digital world by evoking a sense of familiarity as they do so.
Playing popular multilingual tunes from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and having veteran presenters such as Patrick Kwek, Brian Richmond, Rahimah Rahim and PN Bala guide them through the app are examples of how familiarity is injected into the digital-learning journey. These tunes and presenters will be familiar to many of our seniors and having them as company makes the digitalisation journey hopefully a little less intimidating.
At this juncture, I would like to compliment the VintageRadio team for providing one more important channel through which our seniors can stay digitally as well as emotionally connected.
Sir, in conclusion, seniors and technology does not have to be like oil and water. Adopting technology does not have to mean that services automatically become less personal or high-tech and low-touch. Instead, the use of technology must be like enhancing plain water by infusing it with fruits or herbs, adding colour, taste, nutrition even.
So, for colleagues in the Ministry, my final question is this: what then is our uniquely Singaporean-infused water recipe?
The Chairman : Ms Jessica Tan, please take your four cuts together.
Potential of AI and Capability Building
Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast) : Thank you, Mr Chairman.
Mr Chairman, as part of Budget 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that $1 billion would be put into the National AI Strategy 2.0 over the next five years to help boost Singapore's AI capability, capacity and value with the twin goals of excellence and empowerment.
AI and GenAI have the potential to transform industries and improve our quality of life, reimagining the way we live and work. AI development and deployment are however, not without risks, such as bias training data or algorithmic design, privacy concerns with the analysis of large amounts of data, the complexity and sometimes, the lack of transparency of AI systems. There are also concerns with security risks with the sophisticate use of AI to exploit vulnerabilities in systems. Despite the risks, GenAI and machine learning with capability to learn from large amounts of data efficiently can predict potential cyber threats and secure systems.
5.00 pm
For Singapore, the strategic bets are to leverage AI to address big challenges, such as population health and climate change. How will we be able to develop capability and enable improved productivity and competitiveness of businesses and Government with AI and to prepare our workforce, especially our lower-skilled workers, that will be disrupted by the use of AI to reskill and to be prepared for the opportunities? How will we address and minimise the risks of AI?
Digital Talent and Capability
Mr Chairman, technology is important but without having people to imagine what is possible with technology and capable of utilising, developing and innovating with technology, we would not be able to realise the potential and value of technology.
By 2025, Singapore's economy would need another 1.2 million digitally-skilled workers. These were the findings of a report in 2021, commissioned by Amazon Web Services, amongst six Asia Pacific countries.
With the push for digitalisation not just in Singapore, but around the region as well, there will be increased competition for talent. How will we ensure that we build the capability, grow and retain the talent and skills required to support our digital ambitions and growth? With the pervasiveness of technology and digitalisation, including AI, we can expect every job role to be redesigned in some shape and form.
Most jobs will need some form of digital literacy. Training and reskilling will be required. How can businesses be supported, especially less digitally-ready SMEs, to develop digital capabilities to improve productivity and competitiveness?
Preserving Trust in the Digital Domain
Mr Chairman, in Singapore, with rapid technology development, the push to digitalise and the greater use and reliance on digital technologies is very much a part of how businesses operate and how people work across many sectors. For individuals, digital is very much a part of life – from our social interactions, buying and paying for goods and services to leisure and entertainment.
With the increasing reliance on digital for how we live, work and play, how will the Government foster a trusted digital environment, resilience and security of Government services and the responsible use of digital technology, including AI? How will we assure our people of service availability, protection of their personal data and the security of their digital transactions? How is the Government ensuring that Singapore's digital infrastructure remains secure and resilient so that businesses can have the confidence to do business digitally and offer their services seamlessly, reliably and securely?
Digitalisation – Better Lives of Singaporeans
Mr Chairman, the vision of our Smart Nation is, "a Singapore where people are more empowered to live meaningful and fulfilled lives, enabled seamlessly by technology, offering exciting opportunities for all." At its core, the Smart Nation is about people and making lives better. The Smart Nation objectives are to improve the everyday convenience and the quality of life of Singaporeans, drive greater business effectiveness and value and support new areas of innovation and ensure that no one is left behind.
With the Smart Nation now in its 10th year and digital being very much a part of life in Singapore, how has the Smart Nation translated to opportunities for businesses and jobs for Singaporeans? How has the Smart Nation and the push for digitalisation improved lives of Singaporeans?
The Chairman : Ms Hany Soh, you can take your two cuts together.
Human Touch amidst Digitalisation
Ms Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee) : ( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] According to last year's Singapore Digital Society's Report, more Singaporeans are using digital skills in their daily lives. Among them, the most significant progress is in the use of mobile applications for payments and internet browsing by the elderly. However, there is still a need for improvement, in understanding and using new technologies.
Many elderly residents in Woodgrove have also expressed to me that while they acknowledge the benefits of digital technology in their daily lives, they feel almost powerless to keep up with the rapid developments and transformation of these digital technologies.
( In English ): Chairman, getting the buy-in of the entire nation to embrace digital transformation is an incredible task. While the advantages of digitalisation are universally recognised, there are some who remain reluctant to adopt it. Having listened to my Woodgrove residents, I gathered that many seniors face difficulties keeping up in the nation's progress towards digitalisation. For most of them, learning with a patient and personal touch is much more preferred and effective.
As we continue to introduce new technologies, we must first understand the needs of the end-users and the overall user experience as well as ascertain the most effective modes of imparting the knowledge and skills for operation. But everyone learns in different ways. As a whole-of-society charges towards digitalisation, have we paused to ponder whether we have been sufficiently and adequately inclusive of our seniors and residents with special needs?
Therefore, I implore MCI to spearhead the effort to ensure that in-person alternatives will always be readily available for those who are lost and feel helpless in seeking to embark on their digital journey. Take our typical neighborhood library for instance: seniors would much prefer approaching the librarian or receptionist for assistance, rather than having to resort to a virtual helpdesk.
So, I ask, how will the Government ensure that our seniors are equipped with the essential skills to enable them to participate meaningfully in a rapidly transforming digital society?
Secondly, how can MCI balance the seemingly competing interests of preserving the human touch versus ensuring that our digitalisation progress is not impeded amidst our increasingly digitalised society, particularly for future Government programmes to be rolled out and engagements with the community?
Mobile Library
Mr Chairman, every third Saturday of the month, many of my Woodgrove residents enjoy bringing their little ones to our Woodlands Regional Library – where their children aged four to six years partake in a fun-filled afternoon, listening to engaging stories and participating in book-based activities, such as crafts and quizzes.
Events like these that are meticulously planned by the National Library Board (NLB) are greatly appreciated and many of my residents have shared their feedback with me that they hope to see more similar events happening in the community, even outside the library.
In this regard, I understand that MOLLY, NLB's mobile library services may be able to fulfil such wishes. Since its inception in 2008, MOLLY mobile library has been travelling around Singapore bringing books, services and programmes to under-served communities which do not have ready access to public libraries.
Can MCI update on the outcome achieved thus far and whether there are plans to expand the scope and outreach efforts to better promote reading and lifelong learning in the community at places, such as community clubs, senior activity centres and preschools?
The Chairman : Minister Josephine Teo.
The Minister for Communications and Information (Mrs Josephine Teo) : Mr Chairman, I thank all Members for their cuts.
A decade ago, we launched the Smart Nation initiative, with the vision for Singapore to be a nation where people live meaningful and fulfilled lives enabled by technology, offering exciting opportunities for all. There is no doubt that technology has become a big part of Singaporeans' daily lives. Overall, 84% say that digital technologies have made their lives easier and more than half are prepared to try new technologies.
In January, Parliament debated extensively on a Motion on digital inclusion and safety. For the Committee of Supply (COS) therefore, MCI will cover three other important aspects of Smart Nation development.
First, leveraging technology to uplift our collective potential. Second, upholding trust in the digital domain. Third, safeguarding our infrastructure of fact. During the Budget and Committee of Supply debates thus far, no fewer than 15 Members of Parliament have mentioned AI developments in their speeches. Overall, they supported the more than $1 billion committed over the next five years to catalyse AI activities in Singapore.
As Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong pointed out, AI is a general-purpose technology that will find many applications, some of which we cannot yet imagine. But it is not the only type of technology Singapore has invested in. For example, we have also built capabilities in quantum technology. Nonetheless, given the current strong interest in AI, I will expand on the Government's plans to strengthen the AI ecosystem in Singapore and guard against its risks.
Last December, we launched our refreshed National AI Strategy (NAIS 2.0), as one of the key planks of our Smart Nation effort. It builds on investments made under our first National AI Strategy that was launched in 2019. MCI agrees with Ms Mariam Jaafar that our AI ambitions should not be driven by hype.
While we have invested to build Sea-Lion as a means to grow our capabilities and test the hypothesis that that there is value in training large language models (LLMs) on Southeast Asian languages, we have avoided headlong competition with builders of big frontier models which cost much more. Like Ms Mariam Jaafar, we believe that Singapore's interests are better served through the deployment of use cases, based on the most suitable foundation models that can be developed anywhere in the world.
Among other goals, NAIS 2.0 aims to create new peaks of excellence in leading economic sectors and areas aligned with our Smart Nation priorities. Earlier today, Minister Gan Kim Yong announced plans to partner 100 companies to set up AI Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and spur AI development in key sectors, like manufacturing. Later, Senior Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary will also update Members on plans to boost the infrastructure that powers AI activities.
I will focus on talent development and governance.
In the world of AI, we can think broadly of three communities: AI creators, who generate cutting-edge AI research, design frontier systems and drive novel use cases; AI practitioners, who have the skillsets to implement and deploy AI systems, models and algorithms in organisations; and AI users, who are equipped to use AI-powered solutions and services, increase productivity to take up better jobs.
Every city with some AI ambition wants these creators, practitioners and users – as many as they can get. The competition is extremely intense, as alluded to by Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Sharael Taha.
Take Dr Koh Pang Wei for example – an award-winning AI researcher who is currently based at the University of Washington. Dr Koh is highly sought after because he focuses on building AI models that can work with imperfect data, which is a common problem in real-world applications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Koh developed novel methods to estimate the movements of people from raw data. This led to models that helped governments understand the spread of the COVID-19 virus and inform reopening policies around the world.
Dr Koh is a born and bred Singaporean. As much as we would like him to come home, we also recognise the value of the networks that he is plugged into because of his current appointment.
In fact, there are other researchers like him from diverse nationalities who would like to work more with us. We welcome them and will soon launch a new AI Visiting Professorship for world-class AI researchers to collaborate with Singapore. We will also partner AI Singapore and our universities to launch a new AI Accelerated Masters Programme to grow our pipeline of Singaporean AI researchers.
At the same time, we will triple the pool of AI practitioners here to 15,000 over the next five years. Practitioners include data scientists and machine learning engineers and who develop and translate the use of AI in organisations across the economy.
5.15 pm
Take the example of SG Digital Scholar Mr Joshua Wong. The SG Digital scholarship gave Mr Wong the opportunity to study computer science in Cambridge University, gain exposure to AI research and build networks with some of the best global talent in AI. This helped him to fulfil his dreams to be an entrepreneur.
In 2020, he co-founded Hypotenuse.AI, a startup which provides an AI-powered platform for businesses to create marketing content in seconds. Today, Mr Wong continues to enjoy networking opportunities with fellow scholars and mentors younger talent. We will support more young Singaporeans with similar aspirations as Mr Wong.
As an initial step, we will invest over $20 million in the next three years to enhance AI practitioner training for students. This will cover AI-related SG Digital scholarships and overseas internships in AI roles. Beyond students, we will also support recent graduates and mid-career workers who wish to become AI practitioners.
IMDA plans to scale up the TechSkills Accelerator, or TeSA. It will provide funding support to employers with relevant career openings to induct and equip locals through upskilling opportunities and industry-relevant training.
In parallel to efforts to grow the creator and practitioner communities in Singapore, we will equip the broader workforce to be confident AI users. This may be the best way to forestall AI-induced job displacement which many Members, including Mr Yip Hon Weng, have expressed concerns about.
As with previous waves of technology proliferation, workers worry about being replaced. With AI, it is not just rank and file workers, but professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who feel at risk, that AI tools and agents can take over the tasks that they currently perform. These include knowledge-based tasks, like research, coding and writing.
Many thoughtful observers have, however, pointed out that it is not so much AI displacing the workers, but AI-proficient workers displacing AI-deficient workers. As Members know, the People's Action Party (PAP) Government has a consistent record of investing in upskilling and reskilling workers, often ahead of demand and in partnership with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). We will continue to do so.
Let me provide an update on the Jobs Transformation Maps (JTMs) and how they support workers impacted by AI, which Mr Sharael Taha asked about. There are now 16 JTMs that identify job roles affected by various technologies, of which 13 specifically outline the impact of AI. These JTMs cover at least 1.4 million workers in hundreds of job roles.
While we cannot fully predict the scope and scale of AI disruptions, these JTMs provide useful signposts for employers, unions and workers, so they can plan for job redesign or training interventions. Consequently, many of the NTUC's company training committees refer to them. Agencies responsible for sector development can also identify suitable training interventions.
For example, the IMDA appointed five training partners under the Information and Communications JTM in September last year. They now offer over 180 AI-related courses. As of December, they have trained about 1,000 people to be confident AI users. There will be thousands more in the next three years.
This year's Budget has also provided a generous top-up to SkillsFuture Credits and the Level-Up Programme for mid-career Singaporeans looking to reskill through full-time diploma programmes. IMDA will work with SkillsFuture Singapore to ensure that there are suitable offerings to help more of our people gain AI-proficiency and stay relevant in the workforce.
And, as suggested by Mr Gerald Giam, we already go beyond training programmes to promote hands-on learning. A very good example is the NLB's MakeIT programme, which allows participants to try their hand at 3D modelling and printing, robotics and coding. I spoke about it at COS previously.
The public sector itself provides both formal and informal learning experiences to build AI capabilities. For example, we have introduced tools like Pair, our secure version of ChatGPT, to help public officers in tasks, such as writing, brainstorming, research and coding. Today, around 35,000 public officers use Pair in their work to improve their productivity.
Sir, I should add that the most important strategy for sustaining high employment and minimising unemployment is continued job creation. This means ensuring that businesses continue to grow, including through the use of technologies like AI. By doing so, we need not react passively to job displacement by AI, but proactively use AI to reinstate better jobs for our people. This is why we will also invest in promoting AI adoption among enterprises, a topic which Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How will deal with later.
Let me now turn to the topic of AI governance. While we welcome opportunities that come with AI advancements, we must also guard against the risks of misuse. For example, AI can intensify existing threats, such as cyber-attacks, scams, or misinformation and disinformation. Guardrails are, therefore, necessary.
Mr Christopher de Souza, Mr Xie Yao Quan and Mr Mark Lee asked what we are doing to promote safe and responsible uses of AI and how we will protect personal data that may be used to train AI models. MCI recognises their concerns. At COS last year, I outlined our plan to clarify how the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) applies to AI systems.
Following extensive consultations with stakeholders, PDPC has finalised its Advisory Guidelines on the use of Personal Data in AI Recommendation and Decision Systems and will publish this today. PDPC will next consider giving guidance on the use of personal data to train generative AI (GenAI) systems.
Mr de Souza asked how MCI will continue to place Singapore at the forefront of AI governance. Indeed, Singapore has been recognised as an active and credible contributor to AI Governance. Last year, we launched the AI Verify Foundation, to harness the expertise of the global open-source community to promote responsible use of AI. This builds on the roll out of AI Verify, a testing framework and software toolkit, in 2022. Today, the Foundation counts organisations, such as IBM, Google, Deloitte, DBS and SIA as members.
At the World Economic Forum in January this year, we announced a Proposed Model AI Governance Framework for Generative AI (MGF-GenAI), and sought views from our partners. This framework builds on the earlier Model AI Governance Framework and reflects emerging principles, concerns and technological developments in GenAI. More recently, Singapore led the development of the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics, which was endorsed at the fourth ASEAN Digital Ministers' Meeting held here last month.
I will now move on to the second theme of my speech: upholding trust in the digital domain. Both Ms Hany Soh and Mr Eric Chua asked how we maintain the human touch, amidst increasing digitalisation. Sir, coincidentally, I spoke about this yesterday at the Ministry of Home Affairs' COS debate.
The reality is that there is no silver bullet. Digitalisation is taking place across multiple settings and changes our interactions with each other in so many ways. We will, therefore, have to feel our way forward and be willing to adjust our approaches. Where the Government is concerned, we are mindful that the delivery of public services through digital means should be carefully designed to cater to different population segments, including seniors.
Two days ago, Minister Chan Chun Sing also reiterated the Government's commitment to ensure that our services remain accessible to all. For example, citizens who require support for Government services can head to any ServiceSG Centre, which can help with close to 600 services and schemes from over 25 agencies. IMDA's Digital Ambassadors also stand ready at multiple community touchpoints to provide guidance to seniors.
As the digital landscape evolves, our libraries will also continue efforts to promote reading and lifelong learning. This includes NLB's mobile library service, or MOLLY, which Ms Hany Soh touched on. I thank Ms Soh, for her support and appreciation of the outreach that MOLLY has helped the NLB to achieve. Since its launch in 2008, MOLLY has served over 500 institutions, received around 1.4 million visits and facilitated about 2.7 million loans. It is obviously very proud of these achievements and will certainly continue to reach out to as many as possible.
I should also add that it is not only MOLLY that brings the library to our citizens, there are other ways in which the library makes its presence felt. For example, there are pop-ups stations in busy shopping malls and other locations with high foot fall, and you will find some representation of the library in them.
I will now address two other dimensions of digital trust that Ms Tin, Ms Jessica Tan, Mr de Souza and Mr Xie asked about: security and resilience. These largely concern the digital infrastructure and services that power our digital economy and enable citizens to meet their day-to-day needs.
In 2023, Singapore faced disruptions in online Government services, banking and payment services, and when accessing the websites of public healthcare institutions. But we were not alone. Many countries are grappling with similar issues as they become more digitalised. For example, a data centre outage in France caused widespread disruption to government and other services. A cloud service outage in the US caused many websites to be inaccessible, including those of news outlets and airlines.
To manage the impact of such disruptions, the EU, Germany and Australia have already introduced regulations to enhance the security and resilience of digital infrastructure, such as cloud services and data centres. While we cannot fully eliminate disruptions, we will do more to minimise their occurrence. An inter-agency task force led by MCI has been reviewing the evolving landscape and developing mitigating measures.
We are looking at two key moves. First, we will enhance our regulatory levers. The upcoming amendments to the Cybersecurity Act will raise the cybersecurity of foundational digital infrastructure and other systems as well as entities, beyond the Critical Information Infrastructure it covers today. The expanded coverage will include data centres, cloud services and key entities that may hold sensitive data or perform important public functions.
I am pleased to update Members that public consultations on the amendments were completed in January. We plan to introduce the amendment Bill in Parliament next week and will share more details then. [ Please refer to " Clarification by Minister for Communications and Information ", Official Report, 1 March 2024, Vol 95, Issue 128, Correction By Written Statement section. ]
While enhancing our cybersecurity posture is important, it is not enough. Past outages in Singapore and elsewhere have shown that disruptions can occur due to non-cyber reasons. These include misconfigurations in cloud architecture or the outage of data centres due to fires, water leakages and cooling system failures.
The task force is, therefore, also studying the introduction of a new Digital Infrastructure Act (DIA), to address broader security and resilience concerns of key digital infrastructure and services, beyond cybersecurity. The DIA will focus on digital infrastructure that can cause significant impact on the economy and society if disrupted.
For example, large cloud service providers and data centres are crucial to the functioning of a wide array of digital services that enterprises and consumers use daily. These operators may, therefore, need to meet higher security and resilience standards, to reduce the likelihood of systemic disruptions.
The task force is conducting further studies to properly scope the DIA and develop its proposals. The challenges are complex and include the cross-border nature of digital infrastructure operators, like cloud service providers. We will also need to balance trade-offs between mitigating risks and increasing compliance costs. We will continue to consult industry players and relevant stakeholders, and ensure coherence in requirements between the DIA and the Cybersecurity Act.
Second, the task force is exploring non-regulatory measures that will complement our laws and regulations. These could include providing guidance to digital infrastructure and service providers on best practices for security and resilience. While the Government does our best to ensure that digital infrastructure and services are secure and resilient, enterprises and consumers also need to play their part.
For example, enterprises must have robust business continuity and incident recovery plans. Smaller enterprises can refer to resources like the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's (CSA's) Cyber Essentials programme; larger enterprises should adopt CSA's Cyber Trust mark. Consumers should also be prepared to use alternatives if a digital service disruption occurs. This creates a strong incentive to service providers to buck up.
5.30 pm
Mr Xie asked about the risks associated with quantum computing – especially in our data and communications networks.
Last June, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the launch of the National Quantum Safe Network Plus (NQSN+). Singtel and SPTel, together with another local company, SpeQtral, have since been appointed to build Singapore's first quantum safe network – the first of its kind in Southeast Asia as well. The network is expected to be ready by end 2024.
We are also building capabilities to develop solutions that enable safe and trusted data sharing – something that Ms Mariam Jaafar talked about. In July 2022, we launched the Privacy Enhancing Technology Sandbox Initiative to support businesses in piloting technological solutions that allow them to safely extract value from data whilst protecting personal data and commercially sensitive data.
Mastercard was one of the participating businesses which piloted a solution to share information on financial crime across international borders while complying with prevailing regulations. Mastercard is now studying the implementation of this in a commercial setting.
I now turn to the third and final theme in my speech: safeguarding our infrastructure of fact to uphold social cohesion. This infrastructure has several pillars.
Internationally, we have witnessed how deepfake technology has been misused to spread falsehood and manipulate public opinion on gun violence in the US; the Israel-Hamas conflict and even undermine election integrity. Their realism makes them a particularly dangerous weapon, as pointed out by Mr Christopher de Souza, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Eric Chua. We take a strong stance against malicious AI-generated content. Targeted legislation to deal with them swiftly is thus one pillar in this infrastructure.
This includes the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, which enables us to issue corrections and label AI-generated misinformation with the correct facts. We can also consider disabling directions if the content poses serious harm to public interest.
Another pillar is public education initiatives to equip Singaporeans to be discerning consumers and producers of information. Our libraries play a key role in this effort. Last year, NLB introduced resources and workshops on GenAI as part of its S.U.R.E programme to educate Singaporeans about the benefits and perils of AI, as well as impart skills to verify and fact-check online content that may be AI-generated. These efforts have reached over 66,000 people.
Later this year, NLB will roll out new programmes and learning packages to educate Singaporeans about the risks that AI-generated misinformation can pose to society. We also recognise the need to grow new capabilities.
We previously announced that MCI and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research will launch the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety (CATOS). Among other things, CATOS will develop tools and measures to detect harmful content, including deepfakes.
In a fragmented media landscape awash with AI-generated content, audiences are finding it very difficult to separate truths from falsehoods. We therefore also need trusted news media to inform and engage our people, to keep us all on the same page. This is a critical pillar.
Mr Pritam Singh asked about Government funding to SPH Media. As a public service media entity, SPH Media plays a crucial role in: informing Singaporeans of issues of national importance; reflecting Singapore's values and way of life; reporting international events with a Singapore eye; and projecting Singapore's perspectives to the rest of the world.
SPH Media is also an institution and repository of our shared memories. Last year, Lianhe Zaobao celebrated its 100th Anniversary whilst The Straits Times is approaching 180 years of publication. Both Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu are also well-established, catering to the needs of our Malay and Tamil language communities.
However, SPH Media is facing its biggest challenge yet. The entire media industry has been severely disrupted by digitalisation and social media. Readership is declining as audiences have a multitude of choices. Traditional sources of revenue are also falling dramatically, with advertising shifting to social media and other online platforms. These problems are not unique to SPH Media.
Even an established media company like The Washington Post lost US$100 million last year and had to cut 10% of its headcount, despite extensive efforts to transform. Digital-only platforms are not spared either. The Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News shut down last April, despite hiring top journalists and opening bureaus around the world.
According to The New York Times, one out of four newspapers that existed in 2005 no longer does.
Prior to restructuring into a company limited by guarantee, SPH posted its first ever loss. Left to market forces and commercial stresses, it would likely have gone the way of The Washington Post and BuzzFeed. This is particularly so with its vernacular titles, which have naturally smaller audiences and which members like Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Tin are rightly concerned about.
The Government decided to step in to give SPH Media a fighting chance in this new media landscape. Thus far, around $320 million has been disbursed to SPH Media across financial years (FYs) 2022 and 2023. Anticipating a more challenging environment, as outlined earlier, we have budgeted to provide SPH Media with around $260 million in funding for FY2024.
This is reflected in MCI's Budget Book, as part of MCI's overall grant disbursement provided to other organisations.
As I shared previously in the House, funding for SPH Media is targeted at three main areas: talent, technology and vernacular capabilities. They reflect the importance the Government has placed on quality journalism, digital transformation and upholding multiculturalism.
To ensure public accountability and fiscal prudence, SPH Media Trust is structured to comprise members representing different segments of society – from commercial entities like DBS, UOB and OCBC; to local institutes of higher learning like the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Technology and Design. But ultimately, SPH Media is accountable to Singaporeans. The news industry is a people-centric business and SPH Media has a crucial public service media role.
Therefore, KPIs are set to track reach and engagement across all communities, including specific targets for the vernacular outlets, youth and digital reach. MCI also requires SPH Media to report regularly on their performance in these areas and comply with relevant audits to ensure oversight of how funds are spent, as well as ownership and accountability of public service media outcomes.
So far, the funding disbursed has been put to good use. SPH Media has been strengthening its digital systems to improve its outreach, in line with what other global publications have done. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, for example, have pivoted from print to digital-first models, adopting multimedia formats to increase their readership.
Likewise, SPH Media recently adopted a new digital content management system to support its online coverage and launch mobile apps across its English and vernacular news titles. It has also made extensive efforts to improve retention and quality of its newsrooms through training, scholarships and fellowships with overseas institutions, such as the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. However, there is still considerable catch-up for SPH Media.
While it has maintained its overall reach and achieved a modest increase in its digital subscriptions, it did not meet all its KPIs on digital reach, youth reach, vernacular reach and average time spent on its websites and apps. Accordingly, it did not receive the full funding that was committed.
More importantly, these results show that the efforts made thus far are just the beginning. SPH Media will need to do more to maintain its relevance in this challenging media environment and will need continued support as it strives to get onto firmer footing.
Mr Chairman, I hope Members agree that in an information landscape where truths have to compete with falsehoods, public service media is a critical pillar in our society's infrastructure of fact. On matters deserving public attention, such as critical global events, community news in the vernacular; or indeed, Parliamentary proceedings, profit-driven platforms may have no interest except to sensationalise or add their own spin.
We also need public service media to tell Singapore's stories and project Singapore's voice. We cannot expect media organisations elsewhere to do so for us. At stake is our ability as a people to have a shared understanding of issues of the day, to know where our national interests lie and what we must do to ensure our continued success.
Sustained investment in our public service media entities is therefore, not a nice to-do; rather, it is a have-to-do if we are to uphold quality journalism that supports the public good. I therefore seek Members' support to sustain public investment in public service media entities to preserve our infrastructure of fact and maintain the high trust that our public has in public service media today.
Mr Chairman, with your permission, please allow me to conclude my remarks in Mandarin, returning to the topic of AI which I started with.
( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] AI will continue to permeate various regions and sectors worldwide including Singapore's society and economy. We must seize the opportunities to help our people and businesses prepare. To this end, I have announced several initiatives today.
First of all, we will launch a new programme to attract the world's top AI creators to come to the Lion City and collaborate with local experts and scholars to establish cutting-edge technologies in our country. In order to strengthen our country's AI workforce, we aim to increase the number of professionals in this field to 15,000 over the next five years. The Government will also invest $200 million to cultivate local talents, providing them with scholarships and opportunities for overseas internships.
However, while digital technology brings opportunities, it also brings risks. Therefore, we will introduce new guidelines governing use of personal data in AI systems. The Government is also exploring a new law to enhance the security of our country's digital infrastructure and services, ensuring that people can use digital technology with greater peace of mind.
I have always been advocating for "digital first, but not digital only". The Government will continue to provide non-digital options for citizens who are not yet ready to go online. However, the momentum of AI development will not slow down. The Singapore Government will uphold our forward-looking governance philosophy, and adopt a people-centric approach in implementation of the said programmes.
The Chairman : Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How.
The Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information (Mr Tan Kiat How) : Mr Chairman, we have made good progress in digitalising our economy. Singapore's digital economy generated value added of $106 billion in 2022, or about 17% of our nominal GDP; up from $58 billion or 13% of our GDP in 2017.
More enterprises are going digital. For example, more than nine in 10 enterprises are using e-payment today, compared to just six in 10 in 2018. Enterprises are also deploying more advanced digital solutions, such as cloud computing and data analytics. Importantly, I am heartened that our SMEs are doing so too.
In 2023, 95% of SMEs adopted digital solutions, compared to 74% in 2018. Even hawkers are coming onboard. As of November last year, 60% of our hawkers accept SGQR digital payments. The platform has facilitated an average of 5.1 million transactions or $42 million per month.
5.45 pm
IMDA's programmes like SMEs Go Digital and Hawkers Go Digital have moved the needle. At the same time, the pace of technological advancements, especially in AI, is picking up pace. We want to equip our enterprises and workers with the capabilities to ride this new wave.
We are developing a Digital Enterprise Blueprint to chart the next bound of our effort, which Mr Xie Yao Quan has asked about. We have been consulting extensively with sector partners and industry. We are refining the Blueprint, based on their feedback, and will put out a consultation paper in the coming months to seek views from the wider industry and from the public.
But let me take the opportunity to outline the broad contours of the Blueprint.
The Digital Enterprise Blueprint aims to "Uplift our enterprises and workers in the Age of AI". We will do this through three thrusts: first, we will empower enterprises to be smarter through using AI-powered digital solutions; second, we will support our enterprises to scale faster through adoption of integrated digital solutions; third, we will equip enterprises to be safer by improving their cyber resilience. So, smarter, scale faster, safer.
The Digital Enterprise Blueprint is a live document, which will be continually updated. Hence, we have started to implement some "no regrets" moves that received broad support. Let me elaborate.
Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Mr Sharael Taha and Mr Mark Lee and others asked how we are supporting SMEs to benefit from AI.
We will help enterprises and workers access benefits from AI capabilities through IMDA's SMEs Go Digital programme. First, for the vast majority of SMEs, IMDA curates a list of pre-approved digital solutions suitable for broad-based adoption. We have started working with the technology industry to incorporate AI capabilities in their digital solutions. I am glad to share that as of today, around 20% of these pre-approved solutions are already AI-enabled.
For example, AI capabilities are integrated seamlessly into customer relationship management solutions which help enterprises analyse customer interactions and data to suggest personalised marketing campaigns for customers. In 2023, over 3,000 SMEs have adopted and benefited from these AI-enabled pre-approved solutions. So, that is for the broad base of SMEs.
Second, at the sector level, IMDA has worked with sector leads to co-develop industry digital plans (IDPs) which serve as roadmaps for enterprises, highlighting solutions which meet specific needs of the sector. We started with five IDPs in 2018. Today, we have 22 IDPs for various sectors, including sectors like wholesale, construction, retail and food services, and these IDPs cover a broad swathe of our economy.
IMDA will refresh the IDPs to incorporate AI-enabled solutions that would be relevant to meet the needs of the enterprises in that sector. We have started doing so in the four IDPs that we either launched or refreshed last year, namely legal, tourism, retail and security sectors.
One good example, I met a company, Ghows LLC. It is a law firm that has been using an AI-enabled proofreading tool to help check their draft contracts for conflicts and inconsistencies. I understand from lawyers that this process used to be done manually and was tedious, time-consuming and error-prone. After adopting this AI-enabled tool, Ghows saw a 50% productivity improvement and less errors. We will progressively refresh all IDPs to include sector-specific AI solutions so that enterprises can benefit from these useful solutions.
Ms Tin asked about the CTO-as-a-Service, over 92,000 users have accessed resources from the CTO-as-a-Service platform and over 1,600 SMEs have benefited from the digital consultancy services. One example is food services company, Xi Men Jie (西门街). The company was overwhelmed by the numerous technology solutions in the market. The team turned to a digital consultant under the CTO-as-a-Service scheme for help to integrate their digital systems. The company achieved 15% in both manpower savings and sales growth. So, I encourage all SMEs to tap on these schemes.
For enterprises who want to do more, we are supporting them through our Advanced Digital Solutions (ADS) scheme, which brings together the technology ecosystem to curate solutions for key problems identified by the sector leads. We launched two new schemes under the ADS for enterprises to gain experience using GenAI. [ Please refer to " Clarification by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information ", Official Report, 1 March 2024, Vol 95, Issue 128, Correction By Written Statement section. ]
The first scheme is a programme by IMDA and EnterpriseSG to provide a pilot group of SMEs with access to 13 specially curated GenAI solutions for common business functions like marketing and sales. If these GenAI solutions prove useful, we will include them in the SMEs Go Digital pre-approved list of digital solutions to benefit others.
And for the second scheme, it is for larger and more digitally-mature enterprises who are looking to develop and deploy their own GenAI digital solutions in their businesses. IMDA is launching a new initiative called Generative AI for Digital Leaders, where tech partners, including tech giants, will work with participating enterprises to help them develop and implement innovative GenAI solutions. We are heartened to see early interest from enterprises and we welcome more to sign-up for these initiatives.
Sir, let me move on to the second thrust of supporting our enterprises to scale faster.
In our consultations, SMEs shared that as they started to grow, they realised that they were constrained by lack of interoperability and scalability of their digital solutions.
For example, Bread Createur, a food services SME, had adopted various sales channels and delivery platforms over time. However, they found themselves unable to collate orders automatically and track sales figures across their third-party delivery platforms and sales channels. What was an inconvenience for a small operation, quickly turned into a showstopper when they grew. Such stove-piped solutions also prevent enterprises from harnessing the full potential of digital, including deriving business insights from data analytics.
So, we will step up our effort to: (a) include more integrated digital solutions under the SMEs Go Digital programme; (b) stipulate interoperability requirements where possible for these solutions; and (c) encourage more of these solutions to be cloud-native for greater scalability.
Where integrated solutions are not available in the market, we will curate such solutions through the ADS scheme. One example is the Connected Business Suite solution available to Food Services SMEs. It enabled these SMEs to operate their frontend and backend functions in an integrated manner. With this integrated solution, Bread Createur, which I mentioned earlier, can easily track all their sales and transactions across different sales channels, including from third-party orders that are routed directly to the kitchen.
Going forward, we will work closely with sector leads and associations to introduce more pre-approved integrated digital solutions and cloud-based solutions to support our enterprises to scale quickly as they grow. Sir, at this juncture, I must stress that technology is not the silver bullet, as mentioned by others earlier. And integrated and scalable digital solutions would also require the sectors and enterprises to redesign their processes and operations.
Let me now move on to the third thrust of keeping our enterprises safer. I am heartened to see that in CSA's latest cybersecurity survey findings, 75% of organisations were aware of the importance of cybersecurity. However, while enterprises are taking steps to improve their cyber hygiene, there is still much room for improvement.
The same survey found that over eight in 10 enterprises in Singapore encountered at least one cybersecurity incident in a year and almost all of them suffered negative business impact. CSA also found that only one in three organisations implemented more than half of the five categories of cybersecurity measures under CSA's Cyber Essentials Certification Scheme. Lack of knowledge on how to implement cybersecurity solutions, was commonly cited as a challenge.
Ms Tin and Mr Xie asked how are we helping SMEs to then improve their cyber resilience. While we will flesh this out in the Digital Enterprise Blueprint, let me give Members a broad sense of our three-tier approach.
First, we will support SMEs in taking steps to improve their cyber hygiene. We will launch a cybersecurity health check tool for enterprises so that they can assess their cyber hygiene, benchmark themselves against their industry peers and access resources for them to plug the gaps.
Those who require more support can tap on the CISO-as-a-Service scheme to engage cybersecurity consultants to develop tailored cybersecurity health plans. Enterprises that are eligible can receive co-funding support to defray the cost for this service. Thus far, 55 SMEs have benefited from this scheme.
Second, we will go upstream and raise the cybersecurity standards of the digital systems used by our enterprises. This will especially benefit SMEs with no inhouse cybersecurity resources. We will start with the pre-approved digital solutions under IMDA's SMEs Go Digital programme.
Third, we will also work with sector leads to develop industry-specific guidelines for cybersecurity. In healthcare for example, CSA worked with the Ministry of Health to develop cybersecurity guidelines to improve the cybersecurity posture amongst healthcare providers.
So, Mr Chairman, I spoke briefly about the three thrusts of the Digital Enterprise Blueprint to uplift enterprises and workers in the Age of AI by being smarter, scale faster and becoming safer.
Let me now turn to how we are developing tech capabilities within our workforce.
At the broader workforce level, more of us will need to be equipped with the right skills to effectively use digital tools in our work. With more rapid technological changes, we need to see reskilling and upskilling as part of our workplace culture and see this as a continual investment in ourselves.
Employers must also view the reskilling and upskilling of their employees as investments, so as to fully benefit from the digital systems that have been put in place. An analogy would be like having a very powerful car but not being able to go beyond the first gear. We need to upskill our employees, so that we can make full use of that more powerful engine.
That is why each IDP does not only include a suite of curated digital solutions for enterprises, but also comes with a comprehensive list of relevant training courses for these digital tools. For example, the retail IDP includes courses for employees to learn how to make good use of social commerce solutions to generate more sales – including how to sell items on livestreams.
IMDA has also worked with SkillsFuture Singapore to provide funding support for many of these courses. So, I encourage employers and workers to make full use of these schemes.
Sufficient quality and quantity of tech talent is also crucial to realising our ambitions. Understandably, there have been concerns about prospects in the technology sector, given the layoffs by technology companies, as mentioned by Ms Tin.
Technology companies across the world have been right-siting and right-sizing their operations to prioritise new areas of growth, amidst a more challenging economic climate. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in layoffs which can be very painful and distressing for those involved. Singapore is no exception and has similarly seen some layoffs by technology companies which have largely impacted those in non-technology roles.
Fortunately, Singapore remains a key node in many of these technology companies' global strategies. As they deepen and expand their involvement in the region, demand for technology talent in Singapore will continue to grow. Currently, the demand for technology talent remains strong with technology jobs across the economy account for a rising share of total employment: from 4.5% in 2018 to 5.2% in 2023.
This was driven by demand from both the information and communication sector and non-information and communication sectors, with the latter accounting for around 57% of technology jobs in 2023.
As more companies adopt digital, including using more advanced digital solutions like AI, we expect that this will also fuel demand for tech talent. And these are good jobs for Singaporeans. A case in point, university graduates of information and digital technology courses continue to take home the highest median monthly starting pay at $5,500 a month.
6.00 pm
Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Mr Alex Yam and Mr Sharael Taha have asked about how we will ensure a steady pipeline of tech talent. Minister Josephine spoke earlier about our efforts to develop a pipeline of AI talent and AI-equipped workforce, including efforts to enhance the existing TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative which, to date, has placed more than 17,000 locals into tech jobs and upskilled and reskilled more than 231,000 professionals.
We are also working hard to strengthen Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnic graduates' employment outcomes in tech and provide more development pathways for them throughout their careers. We set up TeSA for ITE and Polytechnics Alliance (TIP Alliance) in 2022 to bring together like-minded partners – school leadership, tech industry associations and leading employers of tech manpower like NCS, Accenture and ST Engineering – to come together to drive change.
I am heartened that employers are changing their mindset and human resource (HR) practices. Instead of just looking at academic qualifications, employers are giving sufficient weight to the applicants' skills and capabilities to assess their suitability.
To push for change across the industry, IMDA and the TIP Alliance launched the Skills-Based Hiring Movement, together with a handbook providing practical guidance for firms to attract, assess and develop tech talent based on competencies. Within three months, I am glad to share that the number of companies pledging their support for skills-based hiring has doubled from 100 to 200.
Oracle is an example of a company that has pledged its support for skills-based hiring and has been recruiting based on skills for their openings. As part of their commitment, their recruitment team has chosen not to highlight the education requirements in their job postings for all technical roles in Singapore.
Accenture is another company that has adopted skills-based hiring. They adopted a rigorous multi-stage assessment, focusing on skills, competencies and growth potential which proved to reduce time to hire by 75% and increased quality talent pipelines by 40%. The skills-based hiring approach aligns with the shifts that we are making as part of Forward SG to embrace learning beyond grades and create diverse pathways.
Schools are playing their part. For instance, in respond to industry feedback, the Information and Digital Technologies (IDT) schools in our ITE and polytechnics have lengthened internship durations from six to 12 months. Last year, more than 400 of such polytechnic and ITE students undertook year-long internships to gain greater industry experience. I have met many of them. We will support companies which provide these year-long internships, by providing co-funding to cover the cost of training.
Ms Queenie Ng is a beneficiary of this programme. While at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, she embarked on a year-long internship with OCBC as a full stack developer, working on dashboards and architecture projects to improve operational efficiency. Queenie found the scale of the projects to be an eye-opener. In contrast to the smaller-scale school projects, the internship exposed her to more complex systems and their interconnections. This experience expanded her understanding of the dynamic tech industry and the many exciting career options it has to offer. Sir, let me speak a few words in Mandarin.
( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Sir, AI is taking us further down the digitalisation path. Besides bringing competitive advantages to our businesses, it also enhances the productivity of our workforce. Therefore, the Government will assist businesses, especially the SMEs and their employees, to harness AI for their benefit.
So far, IMDA has collaborated across various sectors to launch 22 Industry Digital Plans (IDPs). In the upcoming updates of these IDPs, the authority will also incorporate sections on AI. Furthermore, under the SME Go Digital Programme, the IMDA will collaborate with the tech industry to incorporate AI technologies into the pre-approved digital solutions. Presently, 20% of digital solutions are driven by AI, benefitting over 3,000 SMEs. More importantly, we will collaborate with various industries to plan relevant training courses and assist workers in mastering skills, staying updated and seizing the new opportunities brought by AI.
( In English ): Sir, Singapore does not have the natural advantages of many other economies. We do not have a sizeable domestic market, large local workforce to tap on, natural resources. But we can well punch above our weight by being agile and making full use of technological enablers like digital and now AI, to continue enlarging market opportunities for enterprises and creating good and exciting jobs for Singaporeans and we are building on a very strong foundation.
The Government will be a steadfast partner for enterprises and workers in the next phase of our digitalisation journey to uplift enterprises and workers in the age of AI. It will be an exciting journey. So, I welcome more like-minded partners to work together with us and invite all our enterprises and workers to join us on this exciting journey ahead.
The Chairman : Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary.
The Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and Health (Dr Janil Puthucheary) : Mr Chairman, I thank Members for their cuts and their questions.
Today, I would like to take the opportunity to explain MCI's approach towards Digital Government: how we need to create and are creating effective digital products, being citizen-centric by looking at Singaporeans' needs by experimenting and embracing experimentation and how we are investing in digital infrastructure and research and development. All these, so that Singapore is well-equipped to realise our Smart Nation ambitions.
Sir, good Digital Government begins with understanding what citizens need and solving the problems that matter to them. Our most successful products are the result of asking the same question: what challenges do Singaporeans face?
One example is RedeemSG. This lets residents claim and spend Government-issued digital vouchers, including the CDC vouchers. It has been a key enabler in our shift away from paper vouchers. The drawbacks of paper vouchers for the consumer are obvious. Merchants have faced challenges, too. The paper vouchers received had to be bundled together daily, then collected, manually processed. Reimbursement took days or weeks. RedeemSG provided a better way. Households have claimed over $1 billion in digital vouchers since 2020. Simple effective digital products can have a tangible impact on people's lives.
Ms Tin Pei Ling asked how the Government can facilitate greater citizen participation in identifying problems and co-creating successful digital solutions. Mr Sharael Taha also asked how the Government can continue to better Singaporeans' lives through new digital products.
Build For Good is a good example of how we do both. This brings together volunteers to build digital solutions for fellow citizens. We adopt a problem-first approach. Ahead of Build For Good 2023, the organisers collected over 700 problem statements from the public. One of the teams tackled the problem of student counsellors having to spend time writing case notes. Their solution is a product called the NoteFlow. It is a tool for transcribing and summarising case interviews and counsellors can then focus on caring for their students. NoteFlow and other promising ideas coming out of Build For Good are prototypes and we are hopeful that some of them will mature in time and make their own contribution to the public good.
Having identified the problem, we explore different solutions to tackle it: build prototypes quickly; test them out with real users; and scale the ideas which show promise. The problems the Government has to tackle are challenging, and trying different things to figure out what works best is our best bet to solve these problems for Singapore.
The ideas that we experiment with, as I have described, multiple approaches to a single problem means that some of the ideas that we experiment with will not work out. Let me provide one example. This was a product called MoneySound. The team had observed that it is sometimes difficult for hawkers, especially elderly hawkers, to visually check for proof of an e-payment on a customer's device. So, having identified this problem, within a couple of months, a small team from GovTech had built a "proof-of-concept" prototype for MoneySound. It is a device which reads out incoming digital payments so that the hawkers' hands are not occupied and they do not have to look to then check this digital payment.
We tested it with the hawkers but we found out that they were not keen. Their feedback was negative. They had some concerns about the installation, the maintenance of the device and also about how it worked. So, after considering these insights, the team has paused the development on MoneySound three months after it began. Come up with an idea, move quickly, establish through "proof-of-concept" whether it is likely to be well-received and, if it does not, we have to press pause.
It is disappointing when these ideas do not work out as expected. But this is the process of experimentation that our Digital Government engineers are working through. But the insights from such an approach are useful and they will help us to tackle the next problem or the next iteration of the product.
This experimentation approach also allows us to try multiple strategies at the same time to tackle big problems. For instance, GovTech teams have been exploring how to help citizens access relevant information from Government websites. Providing the right information for citizens in the right way is a big problem. Instead of searching for a single silver bullet, we have launched several products. Each targets a different segment of users to address different needs.
Singaporeans in need of assistance can use SupportGoWhere. It is a one-stop portal to find Government schemes or funded services. One of its key features is the Care Services Recommender for caregivers to find care services, financial support schemes and future planning tools suited to their circumstances. This enables them to find support conveniently, instead of having to navigate various Government websites in search of relevant information. They do not need to know where to go to find the relevant information. They just have one portal.
But sometimes, if there is a need for more general information, so we produced another product, SearchSG, which is a search engine that uses AI to provide citizens with relevant up-to-date search results scrapped from a variety of Government sources.
So, multiple strategies and try to solve the same problem. In doing so, we are able to learn about the needs and experiences of our users as they engage with our digital products. And the faster we learn, the faster we improve.
Ms Jessica Tan asked how the push for digitalisation has improved Singaporeans' lives as the Smart Nation initiative enters its 10th year. Between 2014 and 2023, citizen satisfaction with Government services has improved from 73% to 83%. Over the same period, business satisfaction with Government services has also risen, from 69% to 83%. Allow me to share some of the key strategies that we are applying, that we think have resulted in this improvement. There are three strategies.
One is that we have to work to improve the day-to-day lives of Singaporeans. Secondly, in doing so, we have to offer better and more integrated Government services. Third, in doing so, we have to be more inclusive. If I could, perhaps, share some examples in each of those categories.
There are many digital services available through websites, app stores or other channels. There are also needs that the market does not address or finds it difficult to address.
One example of this and it keeps Singaporeans safe from scams is ScamShield. It is difficult for there to be a market solution that can adequately protect Singaporeans in quite the same way. It is a difficult problem that affects us on a day-to-day basis. And now, we have a product, ScamShield, and it appears to be well-received – 850,000 downloads. It is one of our most wide-reaching tools in the fight against scams and I would encourage Singaporeans to use it.
Second, is offering better and more integrated Government services and a couple of examples here. One is the Health Appointment System (HAS). Users can easily make appointments for vaccinations, for screenings, such as mammograms. This product is available in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Again, that is an aspect of the service that is difficult for the market to solve in the way that we need it to, in multiple languages. This product also allows users to see what subsidies are applied to their health appointments from schemes, such as the Community Health Assist Scheme and MediSave.
6.15 pm
And so, we are bringing together two or three different aspects of the service the market is unlikely to do – an appointment scheme provided in multiple languages and so that you can see the subsidies that you would get for these appointments at the time to help you make your decision.
Another example is MyLegacy@LifeSG. This goes a step further. It brings together reliable information and digital services related to end-of-life planning as well as post-death matters in a convenient portal. Because navigating such matters can be difficult. It is difficult, even for those of us who have thought ahead. These times of our lives do not happen very often; a lot of stress, a lot of uncertainty and a lot of things to get done, a lot of services and transactions that we need to get done. So, every bit of support helps at a time like this.
One example of this sort of experience is Mr Christopher Hamzah. He is married, he has got a four-month-old daughter. And back in 2021, Mr Hamzah saw first-hand the challenges his close friend faced in settling his late father’s affairs in the midst of grieving. Learning from this experience, Mr Hamzah and his wife decided to start planning early and turned to MyLegacy for help. With the MyLegacy product, Mr Hamzah could easily record important details – his various accounts, his insurance policies – and share that information with trusted persons. He describes the portal’s dashboard as intuitive, very easy to use and navigate, and he takes heart from the assurance that this information would not be used for third-party marketing, and he has become an enthusiastic advocate for MyLegacy among his friends and family. Again, I would encourage Members to look at the MyLegacy product and encourage their residents and constituents to consider signing up for it.
The third part of our strategy is to be more inclusive. Mr Eric Chua had some questions about this and brought up some points. He asked about the mobile phone access of our seniors.
Chairman, 89% of seniors aged 60 years and above own a smartphone in 2022 and this has increased from 74% in 2017. And our Mobile Access for Seniors' scheme has approved more than 16,000 assistance packages for low-income seniors since the launch of the scheme in 2020. Mr Chua also spoke about the need to better support seniors in general to navigate the digital space. And to do this, we launched the Seniors Go Digital programme, and over 280,000 seniors have been trained so far.
At the same time, we also have to take efforts to be inclusive in our design and development; take the process to our seniors. We test our digital services with a wide range of users, including seniors, to ensure that their needs are met. We have also built tools specifically to support those with differing needs.
One example, and Members can try this out for themselves at Level 1, is a product called “ReadLiao”. This is one of the prototypes that emerged from our recent Hack For Public Good hackathon. Today, seniors sometimes struggle with long and complicated letters and often have to rely on caregivers, including children, to summarise the information for them. Those with older relatives might be familiar with the experience of looking at these letters, explaining such letters to them. It is often not just the language but also how the material is presented.
So, ReadLiao uses Optical Character Recognition together with an AI platform, repackages and displays documents in a clear and comprehensible format to better communicate the content to seniors. We intend to pilot ReadLiao within the community in the coming months and hopefully build it into a full-fledged product. It is literally only a few weeks’ old, at the prototyping stage.
We have another tool which is more mature. This is called “Purple A11y”, GovTech’s open-source, automated testing tool. It scans webpages and it identifies potential accessibility issues. Developers can use it to identify improperly labelled buttons or images. For most of us, these are things we do not notice. These are not necessarily errors that we pick up and we do not see the difficulty that such a design might present. But if you are visually impaired, if you use a screen reader to navigate digital services, getting this type of design correct makes a huge difference. Since 2023, we have used Purple A11y to make Government digital services more accessible, and it has been directly integrated into the development for websites like MyCareersFuture, to ensure that they are accessible.
Sir, I have so far focused on digital products. But there is another aspect to the work that we have to pay some attention to – the infrastructure, the interconnected systems that must work together to make such products even possible. I would like to now explain how we are strengthening Singapore’s digital infrastructure and investing in research and development so we can continue to have a conducive environment for digital innovation.
Mr Sharael Taha asked how MCI is equipping Singapore to make the most of latest technological developments, especially in AI. Ensuring Singapore has the foundational infrastructure to power AI activities is vital. To that end, we will be investing up to $500 million to ensure that Singapore can have sufficient high-performance compute to support our ambitions in AI innovation and capacity building.
We envisage that these resources will support use cases across sectors, such as financial services, healthcare, transport and logistics. And over time, we hope for this seed funding to catalyse greater development and the use of AI in Singapore and spur additional industry investment in compute infrastructure.
Ms Tin Pei Ling asked about plans to implement the Digital Connectivity Blueprint. Launched last June by MCI and IMDA, the Digital Connectivity Blueprint (DCB) outlines Singapore’s strategy for building the next generation of our digital infrastructure. It covers various infrastructure components – the hard infrastructure like submarine cables which connect us to the world; the middleware that links diverse systems, applications and devices for them to work together; and many other factors. The DCB is about integrated master planning to ensure we have what we need, when we need it.
And over the next few years, we can look forward to seeing the DCB’s bold ideas come to life. This has already begun.
For example, one of the DCB’s strategic priorities is to enable seamless 10 giga bits per second (10G) domestic connectivity within the next five years. We are setting aside funds to enhance the capacity of our Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN) to make such 10G broadband a reality. IMDA will be investing up to $100 million to support operators in upgrading their infrastructure and offering innovative services at competitive prices.
Like with the NBN back in the 2000s, we are investing ahead of demand. This is to cater for upcoming opportunities in areas, such as AI, immersive digital experiences and autonomous solutions, which will require higher bandwidth connectivity. We target to complete the upgrade to the 10G NBN by 2026 and expect more than half a million households to sign up for and benefit from higher-speed broadband in the next five years.
Mr Xie Yao Quan asked how we can power our digital future more sustainably. As mentioned in the Budget Speech, the Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) will be extended to the data centre industry. With the rollout of the EEG to the data centre industry by the end of 2024, we hope more data centre operators and end-users will adopt energy-efficient equipment. EEG is just one of several efforts to grow our data centres sustainably under the Green Data Centre Roadmap, which IMDA will be launching later this year.
Beyond the products, beyond the infrastructure, we also need to make sure we have access to the right technologies. This is vital. Singapore needs strong research and development capabilities to develop and tailor technologies for our local context.
For cybersecurity, we have established a CyberSG research and development (R&D) Programme Office at the Nanyang Technological University, with allocated funding of $62 million to support cybersecurity research. Launched last September, the Programme Office serves as a coordinating body to spearhead Singapore's efforts in translating research into commercial solutions for Government agencies and the industry. It is a key enabler to both strengthen our digital security and grow our digital economy.
Mr Sharael Taha also asked how MCI is building Singapore’s research capabilities in AI. Over the last five years, we have invested more than $500 million on AI research, and our investments have borne fruit. We rank among the top 10 countries based on publications at top AI conferences. Our researchers have won international accolades, such as the Google AI PhD Fellowship, which recognises about 50 graduate students worldwide each year for their exceptional and innovative research work. In addition, we have supported close to 150 research collaborations with Government and industry partners. Some big projects, some small, some in areas that you do not expect, such as AI Singapore working with a dental chain, Q&M, to help dentists detect diseases from X-rays, perform automated dental charting and recommend dental treatment plans. I recommend all Members to have their teeth regularly checked, with AI, if necessary.
With access to the newest technology becoming increasingly necessary to attract investments, we must continue to invest in R&D to maintain our competitive edge in the global market.
Sir, allow me to conclude. Digital technology is one of our most powerful tools to meet the needs of citizens and businesses. We embrace bold development and agile experimentation so that we can wield this digital technology to create the greatest possible impact for Singaporeans and for Singapore. At the same time, we have to look ahead to the horizon and invest in digital infrastructure, research and development so that we can facilitate ahead of time our goals for digitalisation. So far, this approach has been successful, and there is much more that this approach can deliver for Singapore as we enter the second decade of our Smart Nation journey. [ Applause .]
The Chairman : We have reached the clarification time. Ms Jessica Tan.
Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo : Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to ask Senior Minister of State Janil on the upgrade of the NBN. When we saw the upgrade happening in 2006, we did see quite a few residents not signing up. So, as you talked about the half a million expected to sign up, I hope that there will be good communication to residents and businesses to ensure that they do sign up for it and not miss the cycle. And we just saw so much logistic challenges there. So, I hope that there will be a lot of communication to ensure that people understand what to do and when to sign up, so that we do not see a repeat of that.
Dr Janil Puthucheary : Sir, I thank Ms Jessica Tan for making that point. Indeed, a new product and a transition to a new – it may or may not be a new business model, depending on what the operators do – and we have to make sure that we adequately communicate this to the consumer base. So, her point is well taken and we will certainly follow up on that.
The Chairman : Mr Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh : Thank you, Chairman. I thank Minister Josephine Teo for responding to my cut. Just two quick questions for the Minister.
On the first point with regard to the question I asked on the specific line item in the Budget Book, which would essentially flesh out the funding to SPH Media Trust, and I thank the Minister for pointing out that it is under "Grant Subventions and Capital Injections to other Organisations". In view of the large grant, can I invite the Minister to consider, perhaps in the future, a separate line item for SPH Media Trust? I say this because, in view of the funding framework and how the Government has stepped in into the public service media space, if I can call it that, I think it will be helpful for people to track, on an ongoing basis, how much taxpayer funding goes into the funding of SPH Media. That is just a suggestion for the Ministry.
The second point pertains to some of the KPIs that the Minister shared, certain KPIs that were mapped were not met. At the end of every Ministry in the Budget Book, there is a section on KPIs with key indicators of how the Ministry looks upon what services are rendered to the public and so forth. It would be helpful also perhaps, in view of the longer-term funding of SPH Media, I would suggest, to include some of those KPIs in that KPI section in the Budget Book, so that the public also can be informed of where it is doing well and where it is not. For example, I think the Minister spoke about reach, engagement, vernacular targets. So, that is just something for the Minister to consider and I would be grateful if she could comment on that, please.
6.30 pm
Mrs Josephine Teo : Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Singh for his suggestion.
I think it is not entirely up to MCI to decide how these things are reported in the Budget Book because there is a certain convention that the Government follows. I do not recall exactly, but my impression is that say, you take public transport subsidies, for example. I do not believe it is reflected in the Budget Book as line items that it goes to SMRT; it goes to SBS Transit; it goes to another bus operator. It does not quite work like that.
Certainly, I think if you consider the funding for preschool services, I do not recall that it also goes down to entity level. It is just we provide for a cluster of activities. We do not necessarily reflect in the Budget Book exactly what sums go to which entities. I could be wrong, but it is certainly something that we will look at. But it is not entirely up to MCI how to show these things in the Budget Book.
The same goes for KPIs. In the Budget Book, we report on the KPIs that the Ministry is required to meet. The Ministry interacts with many other stakeholders.
For example, for MCI, we are responsible for IMDA. IMDA has got interactions with telecoms companies (telcos). We may not provide funding to them, but we license them. They are also very critical service providers in Singapore. They also have KPIs to be met in order to continue to hold their licence. It does not mean that we lock, stock and barrel, transport the KPIs into the Budget Book. It is quite a different way of representing the scope of our responsibilities.
I thank the Member for raising these as possibilities. I think his broader point is that the public would benefit from more information about how these entities, the public service media entities are doing.
I think these are very reasonable questions. We will have to find more ways of putting information out that is reasonable. I would, however, add, Mr Chairman, that we can continue to look at things like reach, readership, engagement. But if we come back to the fundamentals of why we are supporting public service media, it goes back to the question of whether Singaporeans have media sources that they can trust. It is trust that is the most important.
I think in that regard, at least the Reuters Institute, which Mr Singh himself mentioned, does have an annual report that is quite useful. It looks at, amongst media organisations, the most trusted brands in Singapore. Mr Singh cited the findings of 2021, where he said that The Straits Times, which is one of the titles belonging to SPH Media Trust, came in at 77%, I believe.
I think, if I could just say how useful that report is in helping us to shape our own thinking. The latest report that has already been made available is of 2023. If you look at the 2023 report, you will find that within Singapore, amongst the top five most trusted brands, all are public service media entities from Singapore, homegrown. If you look at the top 10, then eight of them are our own public service media entities.
If we were to remove our own public service media entities, what we are really left with will be CNN, which is a US company. We are left with the BBC, which is a UK company. Then we are left with Yahoo News. If you then use that as a lens of thinking about why and how we should continue to resource our own public service media, I think in some sense that beats all the indicators that we can put in place.
I am not saying that those KPIs are not important. I think they have to be continuously evaluated together with other kinds of validation which Mr Singh himself highlighted.
The Chairman : Ms Hany Soh.
Ms Hany Soh : I thank the Minister on her earlier clarifications to Mr Singh. On the same note in relation to KPIs, I also strongly urge MCI, in terms of the KPI considerations, we should look at several factors, notwithstanding that certain KPIs are unfortunately not met due to the existing circumstances. We should also focus in terms of other priorities, emphasising perhaps on other KPIs' importance in terms of, for example, what the Minister has said on public trust.
To me, another very important critical factor to also take into account is branding. For example, brands like The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao – how it relates back to our Singapore's brand and identity, reflecting to the outside world of what is exactly happening in Singapore, inviting for more foreign investors to come to Singapore. These are the good avenues and ways where we want to reach out to the outside world. And that should never be forgotten.
Mrs Josephine Teo : Mr Chairman, I fully agree with Ms Soh. It is true. In management speak, we like to say what gets measured gets done. So, there is a certain interest in ensuring that there are KPIs.
But within MCI, we ourselves are fully cognisant that it does not fully reflect what we need our public service media entities to achieve. The standing that they enjoy in the world is not entirely measurable. The identity that they help to foster among Singaporeans, the unity, you also cannot quite put a number to it. It is not so easy to apply a metric.
We are very cognisant of the fact that the set of indicators that we use today is probably going to be very inadequate. So, we are constantly in discussion with our public service media entities on whether there are better ways to reflect their progress. So, Ms Soh's points are very well taken.
The Chairman : It looks like there are no more clarifications for the Minister and the two Senior Ministers of State. Could I invite Ms Tin Peh Ling, if you would like to withdraw your amendment?
Ms Tin Pei Ling : With so much to do, Chairman, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $2,378,410,000 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $327,254,700 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]