MDDI 演講稿 · 2026-01-24
楊莉明部長在新加坡 AI 研究周晚宴上的開幕致辭
要點
- • 新加坡承諾 5 年（2025–2030）投入 10 億+新元支援公共 AI 研究，分三塊：基礎 AI、應用 AI、人才培養。
- • 「資源高效 AI」是基礎 AI 的一項重點——新加坡資料中心容量已為 50% 增長留出空間，但要在 2050 年淨零的承諾下推進，所以從晶片架構到模型/應用設計全棧尋找效率。類比：水資源轉化為「NEWater」的成功經驗。
- • 在重點方向設立「AI 研究卓越中心」（AI Research Centres of Excellence），與本地及國際生態深度協作，研究成果開放共享。
- • 應用 AI 的標杆例子在「身邊」——樟宜機場用 AI 最佳化中轉、安檢、行李、清潔機器人；與 SUTD、SMART、A*STAR 協作。
- • 本地資源已鋪好：SEA-LION（AI Singapore）與 MERaLiON（A*STAR）開源語言模型代表東南亞 1000+ 語言；100 Experiments 計劃支援上百家組織。
- • 人才方面：要培養「雙語研究人才」（AI + 領域專長）；繼續支援 IOAI 訓練隊（2024、2025 已奪金）；擴大獎學金與研究機會；繼續 AI Visiting Professorship——目前已頒出 8 位。
完整譯文（繁體中文）
MDDI 英文原文譯文 · 翻譯日期: 2026-05-02
尊敬的同事與朋友們：
晚上好，感謝大家的蒞臨。
我想感謝出席的內閣同事——尤其是負責交通事務的代理部長蕭振祥（Jeffrey Siow）。
在這一重責之外，他還被總理委以「經濟戰略檢討委員會」聯合主席之責。
在這一身份上，Jeff 也大力支援加速企業與勞動力 AI 採用的方案。
他稍後還有發言機會，今晚我先說一句——「Jeff，謝謝你」。
我也要感謝國家研究基金會（NRF）主席王瑞傑先生。
今晚我大量篇幅會談到《國家 AI 研發計劃》。
這份計劃是 NRF 與我所在部門的真切合作；
建立在我們共同的信念之上——卓越的研發本身就具有內在價值，並惠及社會。
我們感謝瑞傑一直鼓勵我們在夢想上更大膽。
在他的支援下，這份計劃將以可觸及的方式，把我們「AI 服務公共利益——為新加坡，也為世界」的願景落地。
在更多介紹這份計劃之前，請允許我先分享我在達沃斯參加世界經濟論壇的一週。
並不令人意外，地緣政治成了主角。
幸運的是，對技術發展以及新加坡做法的興趣依然強烈。
不到 48 小時前，尚達曼總統與我共同會見了 Yoshua Bengio。
我們討論了「負責任的 AI」意味著什麼，以及如何實現它。
也許有些人知道——Yoshua 與其他全球專家共同主持了 2025 年「新加坡 AI 大會」（SCAI）：「AI 安全國際科學交流」。
它與首屆「新加坡 AI 研究周」同期舉辦；
並促成了《新加坡 AI 安全研究優先事項全球共識》。
我們在評估第二屆交流的必要性，以及怎樣才能讓它有用。
再前一天，我和 Demis Hassabis 見了面。
一年多前，Demis 訪問新加坡時見過黃循財總理。
去年，Google DeepMind 決定在新加坡擴充套件業務。
他們已經開始招人，團隊正在迅速搭起來。
我的團隊正與他們一起尋找有影響力的合作。
我也與 Yann LeCun 見了面——他離開 Meta 後已經創辦了一家新公司。
Yann 解釋了他的路線圖——以及新加坡在其中的位置。
等他準備好了，他會自己講——這件事讓我非常興奮。
對我來說最超現實的一刻——是與 2025 年諾貝爾物理學獎得主 John Martinis 同臺。
作為臺上唯一的政府代表，我盡力向滿場觀眾解釋——量子技術為什麼對新加坡這樣的國家重要，以及本地不斷壯大的生態。
想象我意外地聽到 John 宣告——他的初創公司將與新加坡合作。
那家公司是 Qolab——使命是開發大型超導量子計算機。
John 說他希望藉助新加坡的半導體制造專長，來製造 Qolab 量子計算機的特定元件。
我把這件事講出來，是為了讓大家瞭解——新加坡深科技生態正在變得越來越有活力。
當然，我還能再分享許多鏡頭來呈現更完整的畫面。
為節省時間，我邀請各位去那個房間後方的展區，瞭解我們部分正在推進的舉措。
正是在這樣的背景下，我們整合出了《國家 AI 研發計劃》。
為了實施這份計劃，新加坡將在 5 年（2025–2030）期間投入超過 10 億新元，資助公共 AI 研究。
我們將分三大塊：基礎 AI、應用 AI、人才培養。
我用一點篇幅說明每一塊的思考。
儘管 AI 取得了非凡突破，但其發展仍有根本性的侷限。
比如，AI 訓練與推理仍然極其耗資源——它對能與水的佔用不能被忽視。
新加坡已是本地區資料中心容量密度最高的之一。
我們為最高 50% 的增長留出了空間。
考慮到 2050 年淨零的承諾，這種擴張必須被審慎管理。
這就是「資源高效 AI」研究能與《綠色資料中心路線圖》互補、併產生戰略價值的地方。
我們要在整個技術棧上找到提升效率的新途徑——從晶片架構，到模型與應用設計。
若能取得成功，不只惠及我們自己，也惠及面臨類似約束的其他地方。
這種願景從我們如何應對水資源約束（這是新加坡的存亡級風險）中獲得啟發。
幾十年的研究幫助我們建立水的韌性——包括把廢水回收為我們所謂的「NEWater」。
今天，新加坡被國際公認為「整合水資源管理」的樣板城市，並是新興的全球「水科技樞紐」。
本地一些公司的方案，已經走出新加坡——
比如，新加坡公司 Wateroam 開發的行動式濾水器，正在柬埔寨、印尼、尼泊爾被用於應急響應與人道救援。
除了資源效率，還有其他根本性挑戰是我們希望應對的——比如「負責任的 AI」。
在我們劃定的優先方向上，我們將在公共研究機構裡設立「AI 研究卓越中心」。
這些中心將由研究團隊組成——既包括成熟學者，也包括有潛力的新人——聚焦長期、困難的問題。
我們期望它們與本地以及國際同行積極合作。
我們也希望研究發現能開放共享，貢獻於全球知識公共物。
事實上，這件事已在發生。
我們的大學在 AI 方面位列全球前茅。
在 NeurIPS、ICLR、AAAI（AAAI 本週正在新加坡舉辦）等主要 AI 會議上的論文份額可圈可點。
他們也與新加坡多家科技公司合作——包括 Google、IBM、輝達、微軟亞洲研究院。
我相信這些 AI 研究卓越中心，會讓我們的生態在廣度與深度上更上層樓。
與此同時，我們將以應用 AI 研究來與基礎 AI 研究互補。
今晚我們所在的樟宜機場「Jewel」（星耀樟宜）就是一個相關的例子。
這座造型醒目的玻璃穹頂——內部容納了熱鬧的生活方式樞紐與世界最高的室內瀑布——其實是「不得不」催生出來的。
T1（樟宜故事的起點）已經太繁忙了。
但與其在巨型停車場上方簡單加層，Jewel 被想象為一個本身就是世界級的目的地，並融入了許多節能特性。
樟宜機場的創新還不止於此。它現在用 AI 來最佳化運營——
從飛機週轉、到安檢；
到自動化行李處理；
再到機器人巡查與清潔。
這意味著擴大內部產品與工程團隊，並藉助合作伙伴共同打造新方案——比如：
新加坡科技設計大學（SUTD）；
新加坡—麻省理工學院聯盟（SMART）；以及
新加坡科技研究局（A*STAR）。
類似的努力，也存在於新加坡領先企業建立的 60 多個「卓越中心」裡——把 AI 方案應用到日常問題。
與此同時，製造、醫療、可持續等其他領域的科學家也在增強自身能力，去開發並部署產業應用。
GovTech、內政科技局（HTX）這樣的政府機構也在自我挑戰——做 AI 使用上的領先者，而非落後者。
為進一步加強應用 AI 研究能力——
更新版的《國家 AI 研發計劃》將培育「雙語研究人才」（在 AI 與領域專長兩者上都精熟）。
我們也希望構建核心 AI 工程能力——把理論轉化為系統與應用。
我們有不錯的基礎。
過去十年裡，國家級專案「AI Singapore」已通過其「100 Experiments」計劃，幫助數百家機構使用 AI。
A*STAR 的「製造業行業級 AI 卓越中心」與跨國公司及本地企業合作，做了多個行業級用例——
如質量保證、預測性維護、產品設計、工業自動化。
AI Singapore 與 A*STAR 還分別開發了 SEA-LION 與 MERaLiON 兩個開源語言模型家族。
這些模型代表了東南亞的語言與文化——東南亞有 1000 多種語言。
因此它們吸引了許多使用者，也就毫不意外。
現在我談談我們的人才培養計劃。
新加坡的 AI 科學家與研究者一直讓我們引以為傲。
比如 Yi Tay 博士——他在南洋理工大學（NTU）取得本科與博士學位。今天他是 Google DeepMind 新加坡的研究科學家，共同領導 Gemini 模型的訓練。
我們有一批前途看好的青年學者——比如助理教授 Pang Wei Koh、Zhi-Xuan Tan、Chun Kai Ling——他們在國內外都為新加坡 AI 生態注入活力。
我們的青少年也在 2024、2025 年「國際 AI 奧林匹克」（IOAI）上奪得金牌。
我們很高興他們今晚都能到場。
我們將通過在各層級培育 AI 研究專長來強化人才基礎。
我們將繼續支援 IOAI 訓練隊。
我們將提升學生的獎學金與研究機會，讓他們有更好的位置去爭取頂尖機構的博士、博後與教職。
我們將繼續推進「AI 訪問教授」計劃。
自該計劃啟動以來，已頒出 8 個教授席位給傑出的國際研究者，支援他們與本地研究者的合作。
這種緊密合作在攻克重要研究問題上正在結出果實。
其中 5 位今晚也在現場。
我前面提到的「AI 研究卓越中心」，也將是人才培養的重要平臺。
並行地，我們將繼續吸引頂尖 AI 初創與科技公司——
把研究與創新團隊設在新加坡。
除了制度安排，導師在培養未來研究者方面扮演關鍵角色。
包括我們 IOAI 訓練隊的導師——南洋理工大學的 Alvin Chan、Liu Ziwei、Luu Anh Tuan、Wang Wenya 教授，以及 AI Singapore 的 Koo Seng Meng 先生。
我們大學的教員也提供重要指導——比如 Bryan Low、Ng See Kiong、Luke Ong 教授。他們花大量時間引導學生、為他們創造與一流 AI 學者學習的機會。
感謝各位不知疲倦地培育下一代 AI 領導者。
更新計劃之後，自然的問題是——「成功是什麼樣子？」
我們相信好的成果，會在一個充滿活力、豐富多樣、彼此緊密的研究生態中湧現。
它體現在像「新加坡 AI 研究周」這樣的活動裡。
這才只是第二屆——
但日程已經排滿了 40 場活動，許多場幾乎一開放就報滿。
同樣的能量，也能在 Lorong AI 這一協作 AI 樞紐的持續熱度中感受到——去年它一共承載了 150 場活動、總到場人數超過 4000。
今晚——在所有齊聚於此的人中，我們也能感受到這種緊密的兄弟情誼。
學界、產業、政府的領導者；
我們的國際夥伴；
以及新加坡人——本地與海外的都有——他們正在 AI 領域留下印記。
似乎以一種安靜且看不見的方式，我們都在共同塑造一種未來——AI 能夠服務公共利益，為新加坡，也為世界。
讓我們繼續走下去。
英文原文
MDDI 官網原始記錄 · 抓取日期: 2026-05-02
Distinguished colleagues and friends,
Good evening and thank you all for being here.
I want to acknowledge the presence of my Cabinet colleagues, in particular, Acting Minister Jeffrey Siow who looks after Transport.
On top of this heavy responsibility, Jeff was tasked by our Prime Minister to co-chair one of the Economic Strategy Review Committees.
In this capacity, Jeff has strongly supported plans to accelerate AI adoption in enterprises and the workforce.
He will say more in due course, but I’d like to say tonight “thank you, Jeff.”
I’d also like to thank the Chairman of our National Research Foundation (NRF), Mr Heng Swee Keat.
Much of my speech tonight will be about the National AI R&D Plan.
This plan is truly a collaboration between the NRF and my Ministry;
Based on our shared belief that excellence in R&D has intrinsic value and benefits society.
We appreciate Swee Keat for always encouraging us to be bolder in our dreams.
With his support, the Plan will be a tangible way to realise our vision of “AI for the public good, for Singapore and the world.”
Before I say more about the Plan, allow me to share a bit about my week in Davos, attending the World Economic Forum.
Unsurprisingly, geopolitics took centre stage.
Fortunately, there was sustained interest in technology developments and Singapore’s approach.
Less than 48 hours ago, President Tharman and I met Yoshua Bengio.
We discussed what it would mean to have responsible AI, and how this could be achieved.
Some of you may know that Yoshua, alongside other global experts, led the 2025 Singapore Conference on AI (SCAI): International Scientific Exchange on AI Safety.
This was held in conjunction with the inaugural Singapore AI Research Week;
And resulted in the Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities.
We are assessing the need for a second edition of the Exchange, and what would make it useful.
The day before that, I caught up with Demis Hassabis.
A little over a year ago, Demis met Prime Minister Lawrence Wong while visiting Singapore.
Last year, Google DeepMind decided to grow a presence here.
They have started hiring and the team is filling out well.
My team is working with them to identify impactful collaborations.
I also caught up with Yann LeCun, who as you know, has set up a new venture since leaving Meta.
Yann explained his roadmap and how Singapore features in it.
I will leave it to him to say more when he is ready, but it is very exciting to me.
The most surreal event for me was, however, sitting onstage next to John Martinis, a 2025 Nobel Prize Winner for Physics.
As the only government person on the panel, I tried my best to explain to the capacity crowd why quantum technology matters to a country like Singapore, and the growing ecosystem here.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when John exclaimed that his startup would be collaborating with Singapore.
That startup is Qolab, whose mission is to develop large superconducting quantum computers.
John said he hopes to leverage Singapore’s expertise in semiconductor manufacturing to build specific components of Qolab’s quantum computers.
I share this with you as context for the increasingly vibrant ecosystem for deep tech in Singapore.
There are of course many more snapshots I could give to provide a fuller picture.
In the interest of time, I invite you to visit the exhibits at the back of that room to find out more about some of our ongoing initiatives.
It is against such a backdrop that we have put together our National AI R&D Plan.
To implement this Plan, Singapore will commit more than S$1 billion to fund public research in AI over five years, from 2025 to 2030.
We will do so in three main areas: Fundamental AI, Applied AI, and Talent Development.
Let me outline our thinking in each area.
Despite extraordinary breakthroughs, there are fundamental limitations in AI development.
For example, AI training and inference remain extremely resource intensive. Their draw on energy and water cannot be ignored.
Singapore already has one of the most densest concentrations of data centre capacity in the region.
We are providing headroom for up to 50% growth.
Given our commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, this expansion must be carefully managed.
This is where research into resource-efficient AI can complement our Green Data Centre Roadmap, and yield strategic value.
We aim to find new ways to gain efficiency across the tech stack – from chip architectures to model and application design.
Achieving success will not only benefit ourselves, but others with similar constraints.
This vision is inspired by how we dealt with our water constraint – an existential risk for Singapore.
Research over many decades helped build our water resilience, including to reclaim wastewater – into what we call NEWater.
Today, Singapore is internationally recognised as a model city for integrated water management and an emerging global “hydrohub.”
Solutions by some of our local companies can now be found elsewhere.
For example, in Cambodia, Indonesia and Nepal, portable water filters developed by a Singapore company, Wateroam, are being used for emergency response and humanitarian relief.
Besides resource efficiency, there are other fundamental challenges that we hope to address, such as responsible AI.
In areas we have prioritised, we will establish AI Research Centres of Excellence, hosted in our public research institutions.
These Centres will comprise teams of researchers – established as well as upcoming individuals – focused on long-term, difficult questions.
We expect them to partner actively with others in our local ecosystem and internationally.
We also want their research discoveries to be shared openly, to contribute to the global knowledge commons.
In fact, this is already happening.
Our universities are ranked amongst the top in AI, globally.
They account for a commendable share of papers at major AI conferences, such as NeurIPS, ICLR, and AAAI, the last of which is happening this week in Singapore.
They also partner many tech companies in Singapore, including Google, IBM, Nvidia, and Microsoft Research Asia.
I am confident these AI Research Centres of Excellence will add greater breadth and depth to our ecosystem.
At the same time, we will complement research in fundamental AI challenges with applied AI research.
Jewel at Changi Airport, where we are tonight, is a relevant example.
This striking glass dome that houses a vibrant lifestyle hub and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall was in fact borne out of necessity.
Terminal One, where the Changi story first began, had gotten just too busy.
But rather than a simple extension on top of a giant car park, Jewel was imagined as a world-class destination in its own right, with many energy saving features.
Changi Airport’s innovations do not stop there. It now uses AI to optimise operations:
From aircraft turnarounds and security screening;
To automated baggage handling;
And the use of robots for inspections and cleaning.
That has meant growing in-house product and engineering teams, and creating new solutions with the help of partners, like:
The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD);
The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART); and
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Similar efforts can be found in the more than 60 Centres of Excellence set up by leading corporations in Singapore, to apply AI-enabled solutions to everyday problems.
At the same time, scientists in other research domains – such as Manufacturing, Health, and Sustainability – are enhancing their capabilities to develop and deploy industry applications.
Government agencies, such as GovTech and the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), are equally challenging themselves to be leaders and not laggards in AI use.
To further strengthen our applied AI research capabilities:
The updated National AI R&D Plan aims to nurture “bilingual research talents” who are proficient in AI and have domain expertise.
We aim also to build core AI engineering capabilities for the translation of theory to systems and applications.
We have good foundations to work off.
Over the past decade, AI Singapore, a national programme, has helped hundreds of organisations use AI through its “100 Experiments” programme.
A*STAR’s sectoral AI Centre of Excellence for Manufacturing has worked with multinationals and local companies on industry-wide use-cases;
Such as in quality assurance, predictive maintenance, product design and industrial automation.
AI Singapore and A*STAR have also developed the SEA-LION and MERaLiON families of open-source language models, respectively.
These models are representatives of Southeast Asia’s languages and cultures – there are more than a thousand languages in Southeast Asia.
It is therefore no surprise that they have attracted many users.
Let me turn now to our plans for talent development.
Singaporean AI scientists and researchers have been doing us proud.
Take Dr Yi Tay, who obtained his Bachelor’s and PhD from NTU. Today, he is a Research Scientist at Google DeepMind Singapore, where he co-leads training of the Gemini models.
We have promising young academics like Assistant Professors Koh Pang Wei, Tan Zhi-Xuan, and Ling Chun Kai, who are adding vibrancy to our AI ecosystem, from home and abroad.
Our youths have also won gold medals at the 2024 and 2025 International Olympiad for AI.
We are delighted that they can all be here tonight.
We will strengthen our talent base through nurturing AI research expertise at all levels.
We will continue to support our International Olympiad training teams.
We will enhance scholarships and research opportunities for our students, so they will be well-placed for competitive PhD, post-docs, and faculty openings in top institutions.
We are continuing with the AI Visiting Professorship scheme.
Since the scheme was launched , eight Professorships have been awarded to distinguished international researchers, to support their collaborations with local researchers.
The close partnership is proving fruitful in tackling important research questions.
Five of these eight Professors are here tonight.
The AI Research Centres of Excellence, which I mentioned earlier, will also be significant platforms for talent development.
In parallel, we will continue to attract top-tier AI startups and tech companies;
To base their research and innovation teams in Singapore.
Beyond schemes, mentors play a critical role in nurturing future researchers.
They include the trainers of our Olympiad Teams - Professors Alvin Chan, Liu Ziwei, Luu Anh Tuan, and Wang Wenya from NTU, as well as Mr Koo Seng Meng from AI Singapore.
Our universities’ faculty too provide important mentorship, such as through Professors Bryan Low, Ng See Kiong, and Luke Ong. They spend much of their time guiding and creating opportunities for students to learn from leading AI minds.
Thank you all for tirelessly grooming our next generation of AI leaders.
Having updated our plans, naturally, the question becomes “what does success look like?”
We believe good outcomes will emerge out of a vibrant, diverse yet close-knit research ecosystem.
It is reflected in events like the ongoing Singapore AI Research Week.
This is only the second edition;
Yet the calendar is packed with 40 events, many of them fully subscribed almost instantly.
The same energy is felt through the constant buzz at Lorong AI, our collaborative AI hub, which recorded an attendance of over 4,000 participants across 150 events last year.
This evening too, we see the close fraternity in everyone gathered here.
Leaders from academia, industry, and government;
Our international partners;
And Singaporeans, based here and abroad, making their marks in the AI field.
It seems that in quiet and unseen ways, we are all working together to shape a future where AI can be for the public good, for Singapore and the world.
Let’s keep going.