Singapore and the US to Deepen Cooperation In AI

Singapore and the United States (US) have made their AI Governance frameworks interoperable – the first such successful country-to-country mapping by both countries. This was announced at the inaugural United States-Singapore Dialogue on Critical and Emerging Technologies (“CET Dialogue”) held in Washington DC.

The CET Dialogue was co-chaired by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on the Singapore side, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Deputy Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology Seth Center, on behalf of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on the US side. Minister Josephine Teo also co-chaired a Singapore-US Business Roundtable on AI Safety and Innovation, held in conjunction with the CET Dialogue, together with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves.

• United States and Singapore to Deepen Cooperation in AI

The interoperability of both countries’ AI Governance frameworks was achieved through the successful completion of a joint mapping exercise (“crosswalk”) between the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) AI Verify and US National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework (RMF). This is the first joint mapping exercise that both governments have completed with another government counterpart. Both countries welcomed the crosswalk as an important step in aligning international frameworks for the promotion of trustworthy and responsible AI innovation, and in advancing shared principles internationally. The completion will provide companies with greater clarity to meet the requirements within both frameworks, reduce compliance costs, and foster a more conducive environment for AI deployment and innovation (see Annex A for NIST-IMDA’s joint statement).

The successful crosswalk was one of the AI initiatives announced at the CET Dialogue, a platform where Singapore and the US reaffirmed our aligned approaches in the field of AI and discussed ways to deepen information-sharing and consultations on international AI security, safety, trust, and standards development, while continuing to race ahead at the leading edge of responsible innovation. Both parties also reaffirmed the importance of facilitating the responsible development and deployment of AI by the private sector, and to enhance opportunities for further public-private exchanges and partnerships.

The Singapore and US governments also announced two other AI initiatives at the CET Dialogue (click here for the joint statement):

• a. Establishment of a bilateral AI Governance Group. Singapore and the US intend to launch an AI Governance Group to advance shared principles and deepen information exchanges for safe, trustworthy, and responsible AI innovation.

• b. Deepening research and technical collaborations in AI. Singapore and the US will increase exchanges and programmes to deepen research and technical collaborations with a focus on AI safety and security including testing, validation, and certification, as well as to develop our respective workforces, which will help inform this effort.

• Singapore-US Business Roundtable on AI Safety and Innovation

Acknowledging the key role the private sector plays in shaping the trusted and responsible use of AI, the Singapore-US Business Roundtable on AI Safety and Innovation was convened in conjunction with the CET Dialogue. 13 leading Singapore and US developers and deployers of AI products participated in the roundtable co-chaired by Minister Josephine Teo and US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, where they discussed the real-world opportunities and challenges of AI in use. The selected Singapore companies spanned across sectors such as technology, engineering, finance, and transport. Through their experiences in AI innovation and deployment, they shared Singapore’s approach to public-private partnerships, particularly for AI governance.

The Singapore business community was represented by seven companies – the AI Verify Foundation, AvePoint, CorgiAI, Grab, Nium, Resaro.ai and ST Engineering. The US business community was represented by Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, OpenAI, and Splunk (see Annex C for write-ups and representatives of the Singapore companies).

The roundtable participants agreed on the importance of international cooperation to reduce fragmentation of AI governance frameworks and standards and enhance interoperability across countries and companies. They called for cooperation to be inclusive and representative, and welcomed the prospect of joint initiatives to support the development and deployment of new AI technologies, including regulatory sandboxes, international standards, and efforts to ensure trusted and secure data flows.

Participants were also unanimous on the crucial role of AI Trust and Safety in enabling businesses and citizens to confidently use AI technologies. They affirmed the importance of public-private partnerships in developing frameworks and tools for trusted deployment of AI, and in the use of AI to protect systems and infrastructure against malicious attacks. They welcomed Singapore’s and the US’ plans for closer collaboration on these fronts.

Participants from both sides agreed to explore further opportunities for further public-private exchanges and partnerships.