Singapore Smart Nation 2.0: New agency to tackle online harm, plus SGD 120 million to boost ‘AI for Science’

Singapore Smart Nation 2.0 is here, launched by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on October 1, 2024. As part of this initiative, revamped 10 years after its first launch, the country will get a new government agency to tackle online harm, backed by legislation as required, and will see an investment of SGD 120 million in Artificial Intelligence.

Posting images from the event, PM Wong wrote on X: “10 years ago we set an ambition to become a Smart Nation – to make Singapore an outstanding place where people can live meaningful lives, and where the human spirit flourishes. We’ve made significant progress these last 10 years. But the operating environment is ever changing.”

Outlining the new goals, he wrote: “Tech is rapidly advancing. Perhaps the biggest change is the recent breakthroughs in AI. So we’re refreshing our strategies for Smart Nation. We have three key goals in Smart Nation 2.0 – Growth, Community, and Trust. They’re key building blocks for a thriving digital future.”

Giving some details of the new agency and how it will function, the news outlet CNA reported today: “The new agency will share similarities with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, which investigates cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse, image-based abuse such as non-consensual sharing of intimate images, and the propagation of illegal and restricted content.

“Victims of online harms in Australia can submit a report to the Commissioner, who will then act if it meets the threshold for action, similar to how the new Singapore agency will operate.”

The publication said that the ‘Smart Nation’ initiative was first launched in 2014 under then Prime Minister (and current Senior Minister) Lee Hsien Loong, and it “has served to improve the lives of Singapore residents through technology”, according to the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI).

CNA quoted PM Wong as saying at the Singapore Smart Nation 2.0 launch event that victims of online harm “want the damaging content online to be removed quickly and permanently”, but the currently available “legal and criminal proceedings can take time”.

Also, no help for the victims might be forthcoming from the online service providers. PM Wong said that the government had received feedback that online service providers often took no action even after getting a complaint from victims of online harm.

In this scenario, the new government agency could become a “trusted source of support”, acting on behalf of victims and directing “perpetrators and service providers to put a stop to the harms”.

This new Singapore agency to tackle online harm will be formed and introduced jointly by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and the Ministry of Law.

CNA cited an MDDI survey in 2024 that showed “a rise in harmful social media content” and revealed that 80 per cent of the victims “experienced issues with the reporting process”. The new agency is meant to iron out these difficulties and speed up the process of removing the harmful content from digital platforms.

SDG 120 million investment for AI methods and tools in scientific discoveries

Following the October 1 event, a government media release said: “A key part of Singapore’s refreshed National AI Strategy (NAIS 2.0) is to build up a vibrant and innovative AI research ecosystem.”

“In support of this, the Government will be making a new S$120 million investment in ‘AI for Science’. Led by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the ‘AI for Science’ initiative will focus on the development and adoption of AI methods and tools that are transferable across multiple domains of science to enhance research productivity and advance scientific discovery,” said the release.

The money “will fund deep collaborations between AI researchers and scientific domain experts in thematic areas that are of interest to Singapore, such as advanced materials research and biomedical and health sciences”.

“The initiative will also solicit bottom-up proposals, which can be in other thematic areas proposed by the research community,” said the release.

Just as Singapore encourages being bilingual in human languages, the ‘AI for Science’ initiative, said the media release, “will cultivate a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers who are ‘bilingual’, or proficient in both AI technologies and one or more scientific domains”.