Speech by SMS Janil Puthucheary at the Launch of Meta’s Llama Incubator Programme in Singapore

Opening remarks by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, at the launch of Meta’s Llama Incubator Programme in Singapore (13 March 2025)

1. Welcome to the launch of Meta’s Llama Incubator programme here in Singapore.

2. I am heartened by the enthusiasm of this programme, having received over 100 applications with many very interesting proposals.

3. To the teams here, you will embark on a meaningful journey with mentors and partners over the next six months and work with leading AI tools to develop solutions that address real world challenges. It will be an exciting and meaningful journey!

4. Just like you, the government in Singapore has been embarking on a journey with AI. We started this years ago as an extension of what was then our Smart Nation journey. The latest iteration considers the technologically driven transformation of our society, economy, and government. We recognise that the use of AI can potentially transform what we do here in Singapore and allow us to overcome the very real, physical constraints that we have had to deal with for the last 60 years.

5. As that pace of technologically driven development increases, we have had to work to make sure that we're at the forefront. And that has required work to build partnerships and build an ecosystem and have the talent and capabilities that you represent.

6. I think we have not been doing too badly as a government. What are some of the markers of this? Well, towards the end of last year, I had the pleasure of attending a government-wide prompt engineering competition specifically for non-technical officers. The last task in the competition was to build a functioning website for a fictional Singapore 2100 Olympic Games. Participants were given eight minutes to solve issues regarding transactions, bookings and publicity. The person who won the competition was a serving fireman who turned up in his SCDF uniform after a 24-hour shift.

7. So just the fact that I can tell this story – that there's an ecosystem out there supporting public sector officers in capability development and delivering real world products - I think that sets us apart.

8. Another way we think we are set apart is our National AI Strategy. We launched the second version in 2023, building on what we had learned from the first version, and of course, considering the developments in Large Language Models that have transformed some of the opportunities we are working on today.

9. Throughout all this, we have worked with the private sector. We do not have this idea that we are going to do everything within the government. The bulk of what we do is in partnership with the private sector, crowding in use cases and opportunities, and ultimately making sure that there are partnerships with the skilled talent that the private sector represents.

10. Accelerator initiatives are an important part of this. We have done this with various tech players, but we have also tried to be an accelerator ourselves. We have Lorong AI, a space where we connect the government with the private sector. People can share not just the way in which they solve problems with AI but have policy makers and the people in government to understand directly from the participants how they're addressing some of the issues associated with the development and deployment of AI-based products.

11. We've also supported platforms to gather and showcase the best ideas from across the region. The players are approaching some problems in very different ways, and that's very useful for us to then learn from. And one of these examples is, of course, Meta’s AI Accelerator that Simon talked about. The new Llama Incubator is a new chapter in this journey. It's a very welcome addition to what we're doing in the AI landscape, and it brings a few important features to the table.

12. Firstly, is the idea of dedicated tracks for participating SMEs, startups, and government agencies. There’s a recognition that each of these three tracks has a different set of challenges and perhaps a different need around how they develop skill sets and products.

13. The startup track helps startups integrate AI into business operations, providing guidance on things like refining MVP concepts, validating prototypes, and strategies for entering markets. For SMEs, it's how to create and integrate custom AI solutions to boost operational efficiency and competitiveness. So, it's a recognition that there's no one size fits all.

14. The second important feature is the ‘Responsible AI by Design’ that's built into the programme. It’s the understanding that AI safety is not just a fundamental concept at the policy level, but it's fundamental in promoting trust in these products for the customer base.

15. I understand the Incubator is looking to leverage on IMDA’s AI Governance tools, including deep dives on a few of these safety critical use cases.

16. The fact that IMDA has these tools and frameworks, again, is a testament to the work that public sector officers have been doing for some time - thinking about AI safety in a way that has not constrained innovation and the development of a rich ecosystem here in Singapore. And they have been doing this for years, working with international partners and the private sector to develop a deep interest and understanding of what it takes to build trust in the user base.

17. And so, they've developed governance testing frameworks and open-source tools such as AI Verify and Project Moonshot. We will be hearing about those later today, and we hope that you will use them and use the experience that they represent to then take some of your products and ideas forward.

18. And of course, the third important feature Simon spoke about is the open-source technology that Llama is built around. And the key outcome with any open-source approach is that a person who is not a natural user or developer can have immediate access with a very low barrier to the development process. This open-source approach allows new groups of people to experiment with and benefit from your AI platform.

19. And it is that enabling of innovation in Industry, Research, and Government that is an important outcome from the open-source approach developed by sophisticated AI tools. It is the democratisation of Generative AI to a wider group of stakeholders.

20. Llama is one of the models used in our government, through our Government Commercial Cloud platform. Our public sector officers are leveraging the platform not just to experiment and tinker but develop products that then ship out to the rest of public sector and get deployed.

21. A Llama-focused incubator aligns very well with Singapore's support for open-source approaches. So, our agencies have indeed been supporting the development of this incubator. And it's encouraging that Meta has pulled together a broad set of partners from across our ecosystem - AI Singapore, SG Innovate, e27 and Deloitte. This highlights the growing partnership between Singapore and Meta on AI.

22. Ultimately, all of this is anchored on a particular vision that we have in Singapore around what we want AI to do, and that is to drive the public good. We must think through carefully, out of all the many ways in which we can approach this, what is our focus going to be? Of course we look for partnerships, business opportunities, talent development, and use cases, but ultimately, it must focus and come together around a strategic vision. And what we want to demonstrate here in Singapore and to the world is that the use of best-in-class technology can and should be for the public good. And we have that as a vision. All our collaborations and partnerships are to move to that vision, and we are very glad that we have partners and collaborators who have a similar vision of what AI can do.

23. So, we look forward to seeing all your many solutions and celebrating all your successes at Demo Day. And we look forward to a wide proliferation of your AI use cases amongst new audiences, and for your existing audiences to realise there are many things they never thought they could do, but which they now can because you have developed the best in class cutting edge tool.

24. We look forward to your approach, and to inspire many others to experiment with AI, develop tools, and become a catalyst through using AI to transform our society and our world.

25. Thank you all very much.