Committee of Supply – Head Q (Ministry of Digital Development and Information)

The Chairman: Head Q, Ministry of Digital Development and Information. Ms Tin Pei Ling.

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Sustainable and Safe Digital Growth

Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson): Chairman, I move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates be reduced by $100."

Digitalisation is our present reality and an inevitable future. This transformation is not just about technological upgrades, but fundamentally reshaping our society, economy and way of life. It presents vast economic opportunities, promising a better quality of life for future generations.

Singapore has always been unafraid of transformations, having pivoted through multiple strategic ones since our Independence. This is especially meaningful given that this is the year of SG60. Our latest push in digitalisation has seen positive results, as our digital economy grew from contributing 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 to 17.3% in 2022.

Yet, as we pick up the pace in our march towards a digital future, we must also ensure that our digitally-driven growth must be sustainable, inclusive and safe for all.

There are several factors that I believe are imperative to a digitally-successful future, namely: world class digital infrastructure, vibrant talent community and ecosystem, widespread adoption by businesses, sustainable and green development, safe and inclusive digital society, and stronger global cooperation.

In this opening cut, I will focus on world class digital infrastructure, sustainable and green development as well as safe and inclusive digital society.

Singapore has always invested heavily in building up our infrastructure ahead of time so that when the wave arrives, we are ready to ride it. Underpinning our digital growth must, therefore, be enabled by high-performing, resilient and secure digital infrastructure, which includes broadband networks, cloud services, data centres and high-performance computing power.

Singapore ranks first in Asia for digital infrastructure in the recent IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking. This is no easy feat and only possible because of years of careful planning and hard work. So, we must not let up. More importantly, in the digital world, everything runs 24/7. A small failure in our digital infrastructure can cause major disruptions to our economic activities and daily lives.

Hence, can the Minister share what measures are being put in place to build up our digital infrastructure further and ensure its resilience and security?

I note that the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) released the Advisory Guidelines for cloud service providers and data centres last month to enhance their resilience and security. Can the Minister elaborate on the key measures in these guidelines and how they help operators uplift their resilience and security measures?

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated horizontally and vertically across industries and sectors, as the overall adoption of digital technologies increases, the demand for data centres and higher computing power will increase. Consequently, the demand for energy will also rise exponentially.

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Data centres, the backbone of a digital economy, currently consume around 1% to 1.5% of global electricity, a figure that Goldman Sachs Research projects will increase by 50% by 2027 and potentially by up to 165% by 2030 compared to 2023 levels. Training advanced AI models, for instance, can emit a carbon footprint comparable to driving a gasoline-powered vehicle for five to 20 miles per unit of processed text. Therefore, as we embrace digitalisation, we must also accelerate our decarbonisation efforts, enhance energy security and reduce reliance on brown energy.

Hence, can the Minister elaborate on the Government's strategy to balance the growth of our digital infrastructure with our commitment to environmental sustainability? Can we consider having structured programmes to drive the use of energy-efficient algorithms across industries?

Can we consider setting more instructive guidelines to advise industries on the preferred type of hardware to be used and standards to adopt when designing software? There is currently one developed by IMDA and Microsoft on software development. Is there scope for such guidelines to be further expanded?

Despite the geopolitical sensitivities, what can we learn from DeepSeek's experience as it is considered to be cheaper and greener than other AI models? How will the Government secure more green energy to support a sustainable digital development for Singapore?

Lastly, trust is fundamental in a society and underpinning trust in a digital society is to ensure that it is inclusive and safe for all.

For a digital future to truly succeed, Singaporeans must be able to enjoy easy access to digital services and participate meaningfully in the digital economy. They should also feel safe when they interact and transact online. To this end, our Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Digital Development and Information moved a Motion in January last year to "reaffirm our commitment to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to sustain trust by building an inclusive and safe digital society". Members discussed the imperatives of ensuring an inclusive and safe digital society and put forth 13 calls to action to achieve this.

Could the Minister give an update on what has transpired or implemented since the Motion with these 13 calls to action in January 2024?

And in ensuring safety, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned that there will be a new law to protect victims from online harms, when he launched Smart Nation 2.0. In the very recent media report, we have been told that, and that is just last month, that online harms have been increasing because the number of people who have been approaching support centres to received help for online harms have pretty much doubled. And so, there is new imperative and new urgency for us to do more to protect those who are victimised online. And, therefore, can the Minister provide more details on how the new law will help address online harms?

As I still have time, please allow me to speak in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Chairman, going towards a digital economy is a must in Singapore. There are two important factors for success. First, we must continue to make our digital economy green and sustainable; and second, ensure deeper participation from our citizens so they can share the fruits of progress.

Based on the second point, we need to ensure that we can build a safe and inclusive digital society where citizens can participate meaningfully in the development of the digital economy with peace of mind.

Last year, the GPC tabled a Motion in Parliament, in which we put forward 13 calls for action. I hope the Government can focus on these 13 calls and continue to enhance the overall safety of our digital society. I hope the Minister can update us on these calls.

In addition, can we also consider legislation to strengthen the crackdown on harmful behaviours, such as cybercrimes, scams and bullying? I hope the Minister can provide us with more information on this.

(In English): Sir, our pursuit for digital growth and realising a digital future will mean nothing if it cannot be sustained and if our people do not feel safe or get to enjoy the benefits of digitalisation. Hence, I seek to move.

Question proposed.

The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling, again. You can take all of the rest of your cuts together.

National AI Strategy 2.0 Progress Update

AI for Business

Digital Talents and Community

Global Cooperation for Digital Future

Harnessing AI Power for Business

Ms Tin Pei Ling: Sir, in my opening cut and in my past speeches in this House, I set out why I think digitalisation is important to our nation's growth and well-being. I talked about both the opportunities and challenges that come along with that. I also shared that there are several factors that I believe are imperative to a digitally successful future, namely: world-class digital infrastructure, vibrant talent community and ecosystem, widespread adoption by businesses, sustainable and green development, safe and inclusive digital society, and stronger global cooperation.

Here, I will talk about talents and ecosystem, support for businesses and global cooperation.

Narrowing the focus on AI, Singapore has a clear strategy as set out in the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 report. In the report, Singapore sees AI as no longer an opportunity but a necessity, that it has to go from projects to system and that it has to go from local to global.

Now that NAIS 2.0 has been launched for more than a year since December 2023, can the Minister share what are some of the efforts and outcomes in driving adoption, experimentation and innovation for the Government and industry?

Within NAIS 2.0, people and communities form an important system. I fully agree. No digital future can be realised without the right human capital. We must nurture our young, build our native talent pipeline and attract the brightest minds from across the globe.

Not only do we want to build up our Singaporeans to have what it takes to capitalise on the opportunities in and out of Singapore, we want them to learn and spar with top talents. And by fostering a vibrant community of talents, research institutes and enterprises, ideas can cross-fertilise, collaborations can happen and we can create a virtuous cycle of innovation that benefits both our economy and our people. Public and private partnerships, along with robust peer-to-peer collaboration, are essential to provide the meaningful opportunities that will keep talent anchored in Singapore.

Hence, can the Minister provide an update about what is being done to strengthen our talent pool and enhance the "staying power" of these talents and community of partners in Singapore?

Next, our local enterprises are a key part of the engine driving our economy. We must help our local enterprises to adopt new and impactful technologies, so that the power of these innovations can be fully unleashed to benefit our economy and Singaporeans.

Over the years, the Government has taken significant steps to support these enterprises in adopting new technologies. However, with the breakthrough of Gen AI models, such as those that have emerged recently, we must redouble our efforts. It is imperative that enterprises across sectors integrate AI into their core strategies and operations. And a more targeted approach for specific sectors and for businesses with different digital maturity is needed to help them move along.

With the recent refresh of the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs) for several sectors and the launch of new IDPs for the legal and tourism sectors, can the Minister elaborate on how these plans are tailored to address sector-specific AI tools and challenges? How does IMDA plan to support businesses at different stages of digital maturity in adopting and leveraging Gen AI technologies, and what specific benefits would the Minister anticipate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from these new initiatives?

At the same time, geopolitical tensions, particularly the United States (US)-China rivalry, pose challenges. Companies will need clarity and assurances when choosing which Gen AI platforms to adopt. For example, some may have concerns about the use of DeepSeek's AI models due to potential implications from US sanctions. As we navigate these complex dynamics, there may be scope for us to provide clearer guidelines and support for our enterprises to adopt technology without fear of reprise or sanctions from either of the major powers.

Building on hon Member Henry Kwek's point made during the Budget debate, I agree that it is important to ensure that we are able to build up a model that can take into consideration our local social values, ethical standards and other more local factors. If we take a look at DeepSeek, we also know that DeepSeek itself, hailed as a breakthrough, was also distilled from many other AI models as well. Therefore, I would like to ask whether it is possible for Singapore to also develop or distill our own AI model, so that our companies can leverage on this and to continue to grow and develop with greater sense of assurance.

Finally, global cooperation is essential. In a world where digital economies are increasingly interconnected, Singapore's role as a financial and trade hub is more important than ever. We have signed Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) with countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand, and we are actively advancing the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Digital Economy Framework Agreement. These initiatives will facilitate data sharing, harmonise understanding and standards, promote technological collaboration and perhaps also help combat online harms, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of the global digital economy.

Therefore, can the Minister provide an update on how the Government is collaborating with governments and organisations globally to build capabilities, facilitate data sharing and transactions, and combat online harms?

SPH Media Trust – KPIs

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Sir, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) shared at last year's Budget that $260 million was earmarked for SPH Media Trust for the FY2024/2025. We were also told that the Ministry had established key performance indicators (KPIs) for SPH Media Trust. The Minister said that while SPH Media Trust had 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.

For FY2024/2025, what objective criteria did the Ministry set for these KPIs that were not reached? More specifically, were these KPIs lowered or were they increased? Has SPH Media Trust fared any better since last year? Can the Minister share data on print and digital subscriptions to its English and vernacular titles, respectively, over the last two years?

I had also asked the Minister about the way the Ministry presented its subsidies to SPH Media Trust in the Budget book, and whether there was a simpler way for the public to track and understand the KPIs the Ministry had set for SPH Media Trust. This point is important given the size of the subsidy granted to the mainstream media. After all, as the Minister would agree, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I would like to share anecdotal feedback from those who follow local English news closely, for example, that CNA's reporting and commentary on local issues, in terms of depth, has overtaken that of The Straits Times. Does the Ministry conduct local surveys to gauge the public response to our local media outlets? And if so, how does it make the decision to deploy taxpayer dollars to those media outlets that rank less satisfactorily in the public eye? How often are such surveys undertaken? What other objective KPIs does the Ministry keep track of to ensure that the taxpayer dollars for SPH Media is purposefully spent?

The Chairman: Ms Hany Soh, you can take your two cuts together.

Public Service Media Entities

Ms Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee): While advancements in technology and AI bring about new opportunities, they also present new challenges and competition. Take the news, media and entertainment spheres, for example. Consumers worldwide have been increasingly moving towards online streaming services and non-traditional sources, such as social media.

In July 2024, BBC announced plans to cut 500 jobs by March next year in a bid to save £200 million and become a "leaner, more agile organisation", as it copes with funding and inflationary pressures. This came after a reduction of its headcount by 10%, or nearly 2,000 roles. Its long-time flagship current affairs interview programme, HARDtalk, was also axed as a result.

CNN also announced its plan to lay off 6% of its workforce in January earlier this year, as it revamps its schedule and digital strategy. This followed having already cut 100 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce, last summer as it reorganised its news gathering operations.

Back home, SPH Media announced in November last year that it has laid off 34 employees, amounting to 10% of its technology division amidst its restructuring and digital transformation.

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During my interactions with union members who are in the broadcasting industry in my capacity as the advisor of the Singapore Union of Broadcasting Employees, I picked up on one of their concerns that job restructuring is inevitable as Singaporeans, like the rest of the world, are consuming media from across a range of digital sources and platforms, and there is thus a rapid decline in consumption of its content from traditional analogue media platforms.

Against this evolving backdrop, how does MDDI intend to support our Public Service Media entities, ensuring that they remain relevant and maintain or improve audience outreach, given ongoing technological disruptions and the proliferation of information sources?

Digital Inclusion for All

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Over the years, the Government has been helping vulnerable groups integrate into the digital society through various initiatives, such as DigitalAccess@Home, Seniors Go Digital and Mobile Access for Seniors. These programmes provide subsidised broadband equipment, raise public awareness about digital technology and offer training to support these groups.

In light of this, could MDDI share the current outcomes of these initiatives? For example, how many households have benefited from DigitalAccess@Home to date? What progress has Seniors Go Digital made in training seniors to use digital tools? Additionally, what challenges have been encountered during the implementation of these programmes and what measures have been taken to address them? Are there plans to further expand this support in the future?

I would like to suggest the following measures for the Ministry to consider, in order to further strengthen support for vulnerable groups: increase collaboration with business enterprises to introduce a more comprehensive package to reduce the cost of digital access for low-income families. Expand community workshops to provide more personalised digital training for seniors, such as one-on-one tutoring, to meet their learning needs while continuing to enhance their awareness and ability to prevent online scams.

Strengthen support for assistive technologies and training for people with disabilities, possibly by collaborating with business enterprise and professional organisations to provide customised solutions. Digital inclusion is essential for social equity and progress. I look forward to the Ministry's response and believe that these efforts will continue to benefit more Singaporeans.

Support for Citizens in Digital Space

Mr Keith Chua (Nominated Member): Chairman, digitisation is transforming the way we live, work and interact. From e-payments to telemedicine and digital Government services, technology has become a cornerstone of our daily life. As Singapore advances, we must ensure that every Singaporean, regardless of age, ability or background, can confidently navigate the online space without fear of exclusion or exploitation. Our digital future must be built on inclusivity, empowerment and safety. While many have adapted, others remain digitally vulnerable and lack digital confidence. These include seniors struggling with e-services and persons with physical and mental disabilities.

IMDA announced a strategic collaboration involving over 300 partners under the National Digital for Life Movement to help advance Singaporeans' essential digital skills. These efforts are commendable and instrumental in closing the digital divide. But more needs to be done to reach underserved communities. A report by the Ministry of Social and Family Development has highlighted the need for design and technological solutions to promote independent living among persons with disabilities.

I would like to ask the Ministry how would ongoing digital initiatives ensure mass access so that no one is left behind? How can we scale efforts to further bridge the digital divide? What strategies are in place to empower citizens with the skills and confidence to use technology safely and effectively? How are we ensuring accessibility across all digital platforms, particularly for persons with disabilities? How are we strengthening public awareness of online threats, ensuring that Singaporeans can identify and protect themselves against digital risks?

An inclusive, safe and digitally empowered society is not just a goal. It is a necessity. We must ensure that every Singaporean can access, use and benefit from technology securely and confidently.

The Chairman: Mr Gerald Giam, take your two cuts together.

Digital Inclusion

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Sir, digitalising services improves efficiency and convenience for both individuals and organisations. However, some Singaporeans struggle to keep up, whether due to physical limitations, lack of digital literacy or difficulties adapting. These individuals risk being left behind as more Government and business services move online.

Providing parallel paper applications is not always a solution to digital marginalisation. Instead, all agencies should have walk-in computer stations staffed by officers who are trained in that agency's processes. These officers should guide users through digital applications, helping them to use the systems independently over time.

ServiceSG centres play an important role in guiding citizens through Government e-services, but their officers cannot be expected to know every agency's processes in detail. While they assist with common digital functions, they are not equipped to handle complex applications like for a Long-Term Visit Pass or public defender. Government agencies must take responsibility for guiding users through their own systems. The ServiceSG network should also be expanded, including to Serangoon.

The Seniors Go Digital programme was introduced to help older Singaporeans navigate digital services. How effective has it been so far? How many seniors have been trained and to what extent has their digital literacy improved? Are there plans to expand the programme to reach more citizens?

Beyond basic training, digital inclusion efforts should also ensure that seniors and other digitally marginalised groups can more confidently use essential platforms, including communication apps that connect them with the family, businesses and Government agencies.

Sir, digitalisation must bring greater inclusion, not create new barriers, so that all Singaporeans, regardless of age, ability or financial means, can fully benefit from digitalisation.

Public Opinion Surveys

Sir, last year, I took a survey conducted at the doorstep of my flat which covered various political and social topics. I was asked about my satisfaction with life, the economy and my neighbourhood. I was also asked to rate whether I believe the Government makes decisions in the best interest of Singapore, whether it takes my opinion seriously and if there are enough channels to voice my views. I was also asked to rate the quality of the Armed Forces, Civil Service, mainstream media and online media, as well as my confidence in the Police and the Courts. There were questions on affordability, whether I find housing, healthcare, public transport and education affordable. I was asked about competition from foreigners at work, the pace of immigration and the quality of migrants. Lastly, I was asked how strongly I identify as a Singaporean and whether I would migrate to another country for a better quality of life.

When I asked who commissioned the survey, the pollster could not tell me. More recently, I saw another pollster conducting a similar survey in my neighbourhood. I also received similar surveys via phone in the past. Are these surveys being commissioned by the Government? And if so, which Ministry is responsible? Are they used only to shape public policy or are they also used to gauge public sentiment for electoral purposes?

If public funds are being used, the results should be made public. Otherwise, there is a risk that such surveys will be seen as serving partisan interests rather than benefiting Singapore and Singaporeans as a whole.

Protection from Online Harms

Mr Eric Chua (Tanjong Pagar): Sir, in 2022, I spoke about the risks of exposure to sexually explicit materials, gaming addiction and other harms online. I emphasised the need for awareness, appropriate interventions and collective efforts from the Government, families and society to create a safer and more constructive online environment.

Last year, I highlighted the pervasiveness of digital technology in exposing youths to harmful online content and how unrealistic body standards being purveyed through mainstream and social media platforms have become a source of mental health strain for our society.

The online world has become an indispensable part of our lives, offering opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing and content creation. However, it must also be made safer, especially for the young and impressionable. Some have suggested access bans as a solution to online harms, but banning access alone is clearly not the way forward.

For instance, social media bans might generate unintended dangers. The premise is: young people are adept at using the Internet. Bans might push them to access social media without their parents' knowledge or prompt them to look for unregulated and hidden areas of the Internet.

I, therefore, reiterate my call to the MDDI to dive deeper into how we can shape an online environment that balances safety as well as opportunities for growth. After all, our digital space should remain a constructive platform for young people to network, share knowledge and create content, one that is safer and more conducive for everyone.

Online Safety

Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chairman, online safety is a work in progress and perhaps, will always remain so. The inaugural Online Safety Assessment Report bears this out. IMDA's mystery shopper test showed that Instagram acted on just 2% of legitimate user reports on content that violated its own community guidelines in the first instance. Facebook took an average of nine days to act on legitimate user reports, and X took an average of 10 days, much, much longer than the median time of 15.06 hours – very precise, I must add – that X itself has declared in its annual report.

Taken together, most of these designated social media services took action on only around half of legitimate user reports and took an average of five days to act. Do not get me wrong. I think MDDI has done a lot to advance online safety for Singaporean users and our online safety laws are landmark. Yet, much more needs to be done.

I have a few questions for the Ministry. First, how would the Ministry work with the designated social media services to ensure that they do much better in acting on user reports and take down harmful content much more quickly? Two, would the Ministry consider stepping up punitive measures on the social media services? How many fines has IMDA imposed so far on the platforms for failing to fulfil their obligations under our laws? And three, are there plans to finally designate Telegram as a social media service, too, because, in practice, it is a social media service, not just a messaging app?

The Chairman: Mr Alex Yam. Your three cuts, please.

Future-ready Public Libraries

Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Mr Chairman, I love the libraries when I was growing up. A visit to the National Library at Fort Canning or the regional libraries was always a real treat. I, therefore, rise to invite the Ministry to update the House on how our public libraries will be evolving to support a future-ready Singapore. In particular, libraries have long been a cornerstone of community enrichment. Yet, the digital age calls for more innovative approaches to learning.

What new initiatives can we expect to see in our libraries that will encourage greater tech adoption and skills acquisition for all Singaporeans? Furthermore, how will these initiatives be scaled up for different age groups, especially our seniors, so that everyone, regardless of digital fluency, can benefit?

Libraries should not just be repositories of books, but living, breathing testbeds of new knowledge and digital hands-on experiences. I look forward to hearing how the Ministry plans to bring these transformative opportunities to the heart of our communities.

Civil Discourse in Online Space

In our interconnected world, social media and digital platforms are powerful tools for community building. Yet, they can also be fertile breeding grounds for harmful discourse, misinformation and polarising narratives that threaten our social fabric.

We have long prided ourselves on our cohesive society and we must not let online vitriol undermine our unity. Youths, in particular, are vulnerable to the negative influences in these digital spaces. Could the Minister please share the Ministry’s strategic efforts to foster civic-mindedness on the Internet, be it through digital literacy programmes, collaborative initiatives with community groups or targeted policies encouraging responsible online behaviour?

Accessible Digital Services

Mr Chairman, how will the Ministry ensure our digital services truly leave no one behind, especially our seniors and people with disabilities? As we forge ahead with smart initiatives and digital transformation, how will these advances remain equitable and accessible to vulnerable groups in our society? We know that technology can be intimidating at times, even exclusionary, if not implemented thoughtfully. Will the Ministry, therefore, be introducing new standards or guidelines to ensure our websites, apps and other digital resources are user-friendly for individuals with varying needs?

Finally, how will the Ministry measure success, track progress and provide transparent updates so that we can be assured that every segment of our community benefits from our digital future?

I would like to also take the opportunity to affirm the staff of MDDI and associated agencies for the work that they do in advancing an inclusive and informed nation through digital transformation. I have worked with many of them on various projects, and I can attest to their passion and dedication in making lives more closely connected and digitally-efficient, yet also so tremendously people-centred. Thank you to everyone for their work.

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NRIC – Leading Inter-agency Coordination

Mr Ong Hua Han (Nominated Member): Sir, MDDI should take the lead in coordinating efforts across Government agencies to protect personal information. During the January Ministerial Statement, Minister Josephine Teo clarified that scammers are not known to directly use NRIC numbers to steal or unlock valuables.

Still, NRIC numbers continue to serve as a gateway to accessing personal, but not secret, information in Singapore. Take, for example, the Eligibility Checker for the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board website. Anyone can check whether a senior has less than the Basic Retirement Sum in their Retirement Account, earns less than $4,000 a month, and if the annual value of their residence is below $21,000.

All this information can be unlocked with a senior's NRIC number and date of birth. It may not be obvious how this information could be misused. But in the hands of scammers, it could be used to build credibility and manipulate vulnerable individuals through social engineering tactics.

I appreciate the CPF Board's intent to make the eligibility checks convenient. However, with scams becoming more sophisticated, should we not re-consider the right balance between security and convenience more carefully?

We must act with foresight to stay ahead of emerging threats. With its deep expertise in data protection, MDDI is best placed to help our Government agencies develop the instinct for proactive data security.

The Chairman: Ms Jessica Tan. Please take your three cuts together.

Singapore's Digital Resilience

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Thank you, Chairman. With the increasing adoption of digital technologies and services and Singapore's Smart Nation ambition, ensuring digital resilience is essential in building and maintaining trust, amongst citizens as well as businesses. Our cybersecurity ecosystem, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NextGen NBN) and infrastructure development, our education and workforce development, digital governance and innovation play pivotal roles in Singapore's digital resilience strategy.

As digital technologies become more pervasive, the risks of cyberattacks and sophistication of cyber threats are increasing. The demand for skills in cybersecurity, AI and emerging technologies continue to grow, both public sector and businesses are facing talent shortage. To ensure robust digital infrastructure, Singapore will need to invest in infrastructure upgrades and readiness. The rapid pace of technological advancements will require the regulatory and policy frameworks to be agile and adaptable, to ensure that regulations are supportive of innovation while still providing the necessary safeguards.

So, how is Singapore preparing to stay ahead of emerging digital threats and having an adaptive digital strategy? And can MDDI share what the strategic priorities for enhancing our digital resilience in Singapore is?

Growth Opportunities with AI

Mr Chairman, the adoption of AI and innovation offer substantial growth opportunities for businesses across sectors. By adopting AI solutions, businesses can unlock new revenue streams, enhance customer experiences, optimise operations and mitigate risks.

As shared in the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI's) COS yesterday, AI adoption is increasing across different industries. The landscape for businesses in the drive to adopt AI solutions is both promising and challenging.

So, how is the Government creating an enabling environment to support businesses to actively, and I emphasise the word "actively", embrace and implement AI solutions to enhance competitiveness and to drive growth? How are Singapore businesses progressing in the digital adoption and embracing of AI solutions for their businesses?

A significant challenge for businesses in their adoption of AI solutions is the shortage and competition for skilled AI professionals. Businesses will also need infrastructure and resources. These include computing power, data storage and cloud services. Having access to high quality data is also essential for successful AI adoption as data is an essential building block for training AI models.

As AI adoption grows, businesses must ensure that they use AI responsibly and ethically, including how they handle data privacy, bias and transparency. This is crucial in building and maintaining trust.

The new Enterprise Compute Initiative of $150 million announced in Budget 2025 aims to address these challenges that businesses face in adopting AI solution. How can businesses tap the Enterprise Compute Initiative and what are the eligibility criteria to qualify?

Digital and AI Expertise and Capabilities

Singapore's vision for a Smart Nation and our commitment to digital transformation for sustainable growth require us to have a strong talent pool of digital expertise and capabilities. A key pillar of Singapore's digital strategy is accelerating AI development and deployment. The latest iteration of the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 was launched in 2023. An important enabler of that is talent. A critical factor in advancing AI capabilities is the development of a strong talent pool.

The landscape of AI expertise and capabilities is dynamic and rapidly evolving, with countries around the world making significant investments in AI research, development and talent acquisition. So, how is the Government ensuring a strong pipeline and retention of technical expertise and AI capabilities, within the public sector and the wider Singapore ecosystem?

Considering Singapore's limited resources, how are we building these capabilities and what are the key consideration in helping us leapfrog in AI innovations? In a global competitive landscape for AI talent, how is Singapore progressing in the development and attraction of top AI expertise and capabilities?

The Chairman: The next Member is not here. Miss Rachel Ong.

Enhance Workforce Readiness for AI

Miss Rachel Ong (West Coast): Chairman, AI is rapidly transforming industries, reshaping jobs and redefining essential skills. DBS Group's recent announcement to cut 4,000 jobs over the next three years highlights AI's growing impact. This shift is not limited to large enterprises. SMEs must also adapt to stay competitive. AI proficiency should be a universal workforce asset, not a specialised skill limited to a few.

Education institutions are stepping up, with initiatives like Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Gen AI courses, equipping professionals with practical AI skills.

Yet, SME adoption of such training remains uncertain. As AI reshapes the job landscape, how is the Government ensuring that businesses and the workers, especially in SMEs and vulnerable roles are prepared? What initiatives are in place to help the Workforce develop AI skills for productivity gains and how will workers in these sectors be supported through this transition?

The Chairman: Ms Mariam Jaafar, you can take your two cuts together.

Government AI Use Cases

Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang): Sir, AI and Gen AI are transforming how government agencies around the world operate across all core government sectors and functions – to streamline government services, improve governance and improve citizen experience.

For example, in healthcare to predict and manage disease outbreaks and growing medical conditions, in infrastructure to do smart traffic planning, in social services to speed up document processing or detect fraudulent activities, in customer service and citizen engagement. The Government as a lead user can also provide a base load for emerging AI infrastructure, and develop and stress test emerging responsible AI frameworks are tailored to our values.

In Singapore, the Government is already using AI in use cases, like traffic management. What is the value that has been created? What steps is the Government taking to accelerate the adoption of AI and Gen AI, and value creation through AI in Government?

Enterprise Adoption of AI

Sir, AI is no longer a distance technology of tomorrow, it is here, transforming industries and reshaping jobs. Many enterprises are already using AI to drive productivity, especially individual productivity, deploying tools like Microsoft Co-Pilot – but these productivity-driven AI use cases typically deliver only 10% to 20% productivity improvement.

For true enterprise value creation, enterprises must go beyond to use AI to reshape their critical core business processes, such as AI-driven fault detection, or to invent new products and services, such as by charging their customers AI credits on a pay-as-you-go basis for new AI features. Only then can we drive true value creation through higher revenue growths, dramatically transform operational efficiencies and enhance customer experience.

On this front, enterprise adoption of AI in Singapore remains very uneven, especially amongst SMEs. Having done some research on this topic, I can share that the main challenges are setting the right ambition and alignment on AI, scaling from AI proof-of-concept to generating value at-scale, and finding the right talent. Smaller companies also find access to Cloud and AI infrastructure expensive.

Sir, we need to democratise access to infrastructures, ecosystems and talent, and raise the AI ambitions of our enterprises. How is the Ministry supporting our local enterprises to accelerate the adoption of AI for larger scale value creation, so that Singapore can continue to harness AI for economic gains and social benefit?

The Chairman: Next Member is not here. Mr Sharael Taha, you can take your five cuts together.

Building AI and Tech Talent Pipeline

Mr Sharael Taha (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Chairman, my first cut. While Singapore is building deep capabilities in AI, cybersecurity and other emerging technologies, these skills are not just critical for tech professionals, but also basic end user knowledge is increasingly essential for the general workforce. While we strive to develop a workforce with deep expertise, it is equally important to uplift the broader workforce with foundational digital and AI skills.

AI should not remain a niche skillset for a select few. Rather, it should become as commonplace as the use of Microsoft Word or Excel in today's workplace. On developing expert capabilities, how effective has a TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) been in equipping our local workforce with the deep tech skills needed for AI and cybersecurity roles? Are we on track to meet our target for AI practitioners?

Beyond the tech sector, AI has the potential to enhance productivity and enable faster and better decision-making, particularly for SMEs too. However, adoption remains uneven for SMEs. How can we accelerate the development of AI literacy and digital skills across the broader workforce, ensuring that workers, whether in retail, logistics, professional services or any other industry, can harness AI to drive productivity, scale their businesses and stay competitive in the global market?

Empower SMEs to AI-enabled Solutions

Many SMEs lack the budget to build in-house digital teams to hire AI talent to identify and implement AI opportunities in their businesses. How is the Government supporting SMEs in leveraging AI to boost productivity, enhance decision-making and scale effectively through the adoption of AI enabled solutions?

Leaders in Developing AI

Singapore aspires to be a global leader in AI adoption, innovation and digital technology solutions. In Budget 2024, it was announced that there would be collaborations with industry to drive AI adoption and innovation. Can the Ministry provide an update on these collaborations? How can we further encourage companies to develop or establish their AI capabilities in Singapore?

Beyond schemes and grants, building the right ecosystem is crucial to attracting and sustaining AI-driven developments. This requires not only skilled talent and cutting-edge infrastructure, such as an ultra-fast broadband network, but also effective matching of technology to business needs, alongside the necessary safeguards to prevent misuse. How are we progressing in our NAIS 2.0 strategy to realise Singapore's vision of AI as a force for good, one that empowers businesses and uplifts our people?

At the same time, the very infrastructure and expertise that enables AI innovation can also be exploited for criminal activities. What safeguards are in place to prevent misuse by malicious actors and ensure the integrity of our AI ecosystem?

Raising Our Cybersecurity Posture

Cybersecurity threats continue to be on the rise, while we have amended our Cybersecurity Act to strengthen the protection of critical information infrastructures and expand the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's (CSA's) oversight to cover new classes, how do we continue to raise our national cybersecurity posture?

Many SMEs lack the budget to build in-house cybersecurity teams or hire talent with deep expertise in cybersecurity. How can we assist SMEs to upgrade their cybersecurity posture?

Support for Vernacular Media

The support for our vernacular media has enabled the platforms to transform and provide many innovative digital products to engage the community.

Berita Harian, in particular, has been able to provide many media offerings for the Malay language speaker, not only in Singapore, but in the region. This is important as it provides the Singapore Malays' perspective on current affairs issues in the region. How has this increased the viewership of Berita Harian and how can we further assist our vernacular papers to reach out to the much larger Malay speakers in the region?

The Chairman: Minister Josephine Teo.

1.15 pm

The Minister for Digital Development and Information (Mrs Josephine Teo): Mr Chairman, I thank Members for their cuts.

Last year, the Prime Minister launched Smart Nation 2.0 – a refresh of our vision for Singapore to use technology to uplift the lives of our people. Today, I will elaborate on our efforts in four areas: (a) how we support our workforce to succeed in the age of AI; (b) how we keep Singaporeans safe by fighting harmful online activities; (c) how we protect our cyberspace against malicious attacks; and (d) how we preserve trust in our information space (infospace) by strengthening public service media.

Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute the package of handouts?

The Chairman: Yes, go ahead. [Handouts were distributed to hon Members.]

Mrs Josephine Teo: Thank you. Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL app.

Sir, in this year's Budget and COS debates, Members spoke often about AI. Ms Jessica Tan, Miss Rachel Ong and Mr Sharael Taha also raised concerns about its impact on workers.

I understand these concerns. They are real and will be with us for some time, because we are only at the very early stages of AI adoption globally. People all over the world would like to know who will be impacted and how. While there is no perfect clarity, there are ways in which we can help.

The first is to recognise that many jobs will still be around. The risk is not that these jobs will be lost to AI, but that they are lost to another country or city that is more competitive than us. Our most important task, therefore, is to help as many people and businesses as we can become more productive, with the use of AI. We want to become a nation of competent and confident AI users. In doing so, we can maintain Singapore's economic competitiveness and retain more good jobs here.

Sir, I have compiled a list of comparisons by various organisations in the handout . Members will see that Singapore is well-regarded and well-placed to benefit from widespread AI adoption. We should capitalise on this opportunity. We have established strong partnerships with tech companies, like Amazon Web Services, Databricks, Google and Oracle. For example, Microsoft has partnered with NTUC Learning Hub to train up to 100,000 workers with AI skills.

At the same time, IMDA is working with SkillsFuture Singapore to expand the curriculum in SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace 2.0 to include AI and Gen AI content. Under this expansion, workers in all sectors, be it manufacturing or retail, can learn how to use tools, such as ChatGPT and CoPilot. This will help them to enhance their productivity at work, even if they have no background in technology.

The second thing we must recognise is that AI will create new jobs even as it replaces some existing ones. As Members have highlighted, our next most important task is to deepen our AI capabilities and anchor more new jobs in Singapore. This means growing our pool of AI practitioners, which includes data scientists, machine learning engineers and more.

Take, for example, the need for AI safety. As AI adoption grows, there will be greater demand for AI testing and assurance service providers, just as the widespread information technology (IT) adoption led to greater demand for IT auditors. Estimates of the market for such testing, inspection and certification services vary, but they would be in the billions in time to come.

Singapore believes in the importance of good AI governance. We were one of the first in the world to introduce a testing framework and software toolkit, AI Verify. Just last month, I launched the Global AI Assurance Pilot of the AI Verify Foundation to promote best practices in the testing of models using Gen AI. These efforts can help to grow the AI testing industry here and create new jobs.

In response to Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Tin Pei Ling, let me provide an update on efforts to expand our pool of AI practitioners.

I previously shared our ambition to expand the pool from under 5,000 to 15,000 in about five years. In the last year or so, we estimate that the pool has grown by nearly 25%.

The AI Centres of Excellence that MDDI and MTI worked closely together to set up will catalyse more demand for AI practitioners, by the hundreds if not thousands. The public sector itself has growing needs. For example, Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) is on track to hire and train a 300-person AI workforce by end-2025.

To meet demand, we need to grow a strong pipeline of AI practitioners. To this end, we will expand our efforts under IMDA's TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA). We will provide more company-led training opportunities. We will also explore ways to expand the AI Apprenticeship Programme together with AI Singapore.

Let me share an example of how these programmes benefit Singaporeans.

Seow Yuxin studied business and started her career in Regional Operations for an e-commerce platform. She did not work on AI systems directly, but the role sparked her interest in the field. After seeing her husband and brother-in-law go through the AI Apprenticeship Programme, she took a leap of faith and enrolled in the programme.

I spoke to Yuxin recently and was pleased to learn that she has pivoted to a new role in a new company delivering AI and data-driven solutions to other organisations.

We are determined to keep AI opportunities open and inclusive. Yuxin shows that one can access AI opportunities even without a STEM background. We will aim to support more Singaporeans like her to fulfil their AI aspirations.

As a Government, we will always put our people at the heart of all we do and that includes our AI plans. I hope these efforts reassure Members of our support for Singaporeans to make the most of AI.

Besides succeeding with AI, we want Singaporeans to feel safe when they go online. But this is not something the Government alone can achieve. Social media platforms must do their part, no different from how all service providers bear some responsibilities towards their users. This is why we passed the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act in 2022 to set out their basic obligations.

Like Mr Eric Chua, we believe in adopting a holistic and balanced approach to online safety, particularly for young users. Where it is useful to do so, we will strengthen regulatory levers. For example, in January, we issued a new Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services. For the first time, we are introducing measures to ensure that young users under 18 do not access age-inappropriate apps.

Last month, we also published our first ever Online Safety Assessment Report. To questions raised by Mr Xie Yao Quan, the report showed that the designated social media services made good efforts to put in place baseline user safety measures. However, as he has also pointed out, there are areas for improvement. They should respond more quickly to user reports. Their measures to protect children from harmful content are also far from satisfactory.

This is why MDDI is studying whether the age assurance obligations for app stores should also apply to social media services.

We also want to do more to support the victims of online harms. IMDA's report found that, more often than not, platforms fail to take action to remove genuinely harmful content reported to them by victims.

One such victim was Jane, and that is not her real name. At 18, she was horrified to find an image of her face superimposed onto another person's nude body, circulating on an image sharing platform. Strangers reposted the image and left comments, some of which sexualised or insulted her. When she reported this to the platform, they took down only the original post but not the reposts. During this ordeal, she felt scared and embarrassed, even blaming herself for posting photos online in the first place. A full decade later, at 29 years old today, Jane continues to question who created that photo of her and if it is still found online. Victims like Jane need more support to find closure.

During the Smart Nation 2.0 launch, the Prime Minister announced that the Government will introduce new legislation to support victims seeking relief from specified online harms. Ms Tin will be glad to know that the proposed law, the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, will be introduced later this year. It will establish a new agency called the Online Safety Commission (OSC) so that victims can get timely help if they encounter online harms.

The OSC will be set up by the first half of 2026. Victims will be able to request OSC to issue a direction to the platform to take down the offensive content. The platform must also remove existing identical copies on the platform – something they refused to do for Jane.

The new law will also help victims hold their perpetrators accountable. If they want to sue the perpetrators, they can request OSC to direct the platform to provide information about the perpetrators.

In drafting the new law, the Minister of Law and MDDI have engaged a wide range of stakeholders from industry, academia, community groups and international partners. We also invited the public to provide their feedback. The public consultation findings have been published on the website of Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home (REACH).

We are heartened by the strong support and useful feedback which will help refine our proposals. Given the complexity and vastness of the digital space, rules and regulations alone are insufficient. Everyone has a part to play. Minister of State Rahayu will share what citizens can do to protect themselves online.

Sir, in his Budget Statement, the Prime Minister talked about the global context being more uncertain and having more downside risks. This is reflected in the digital domain, where cyber threats have become more severe. Criminal groups are increasingly going online to look for illicit gains. Advanced Persistent Threat actors, linked to certain states, are actively seeking to advance their national agenda.

We have seen both kinds of activities in our cyberspace. Last year, a global botnet, which included infected servers and devices around the world, was discovered. More details can be found in the handout. Until the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) participated in an international operation to disrupt this botnet, about 2,700 devices in Singapore had been infected, unbeknownst to their owners. The malicious actors exploited poor cyber hygiene practices to infect devices, including baby monitors and Internet routers.

Members may ask, so what if the botnet had remained? Well, it would have meant the devices were vulnerable and personal data belonging to device owners could have been stolen. More worryingly, the devices could be used as a standby army, much like our full-time National Servicemen, ready to be deployed into active duty. Except in this case, it would be foreign state-linked actors using the bots for malicious purposes, which can include targets directed within Singapore.

1.30 pm

As Ms Tin Pei Ling highlighted, international partnerships are critical in combatting such complex threats. CSA could act only because it has recognised capabilities and was trusted by its partners to be involved in this international operation.

Botnets are just one of the many cyber threats we need to defend against. This is why we emphasise the need to safeguard our cybersecurity at multiple levels.

For individuals, we will continue working with industry partners to offer better protection. One example is the Enhanced Fraud Protection feature under Google Play Protect. A common scam tactic is to entice victims to download apps from unofficial sources that can inject malware into our devices. With this feature, such download attempts on Android devices will be blocked.

For organisations, the Government is improving the SG Cyber Safe Programme. Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How will share more details later.

We also agree with Mr Sharael Taha on the need to raise our national cybersecurity posture. Last year, CSA amended the Cybersecurity Act to require that CII owners report on a larger set of cyber incidents. We also expanded CSA's oversight beyond CIIs to other important systems and entities, such as cloud services and data centres. The amendments are expected to come into force later this year. More information can be found in the handout.

Beyond cybersecurity, we aim to introduce a new Digital Infrastructure Act to enhance security and resilience of digital infrastructure. Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary will share more later.

What I worry about are the organisations that are not covered by such legislation, that are not paying enough attention to cybersecurity. Thankfully, over 500 organisations believe in the importance of cybersecurity and have acted on it by getting their Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust Marks. But we should raise baseline cybersecurity standards nationally and protect more organisations, especially those of higher risk.

CSA is, therefore, assessing if more measures are needed, particularly for vendors that may be given access to sensitive data or systems within the Government. Such vendors include cybersecurity penetration testing firms and cybersecurity auditors. Possible measures include requiring these vendors and their subcontractors to obtain their Cyber Essentials or Cyber Trust Marks before they can be licensed or bid for contracts offered by the Government.

Government may also take the lead to incorporate cybersecurity considerations in our procurement decisions. As the impact of these measures may be non-trivial, CSA plans to engage the industry before deciding.

Sir, let me turn now to my final theme. We share the same concern as Members that AI-enabled tools, like deepfakes, may be abused to cause harm. This is why we passed the Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Act to protect Singaporeans from the threat of AI-generated misinformation during elections.

We are also developing a new Code of Practice to require social media companies to prevent and counter abuse of fake content. These measures, while important, are not enough. Against the tide of false information online, we must have trusted sources to turn to.

Thankfully, our Public Service Media (PSM) entities remain many Singaporeans' first port of call for credible news. The Straits Times and CNA are amongst our most frequented online news platforms, with more than 40% of Singaporeans reading them weekly. More importantly, public trust in our mainstream media remains high, with CNA and The Straits Times being the most trusted by Singaporeans at 74% and 73% respectively. Meanwhile, public trust in mainstream news has fallen in other countries, hovering at 60% or below.

Many Singaporeans, including Ms Hany Soh and Mr Sharael Taha, appreciate the efforts of Mediacorp and SPH Media to adapt to changing audience preferences. Against a climate of stiff competition, news fatigue and opaque algorithms on social media platforms, both companies are committed to increase audience reach.

However, falling revenues have forced their newsrooms to rationalise. SPH Media ceased publication of its Chinese entertainment magazine, U-Weekly. Last October, Mediacorp merged TODAY Online with CNA's Digital newsroom.

Mr Pritam Singh expressed concerns about SPH Media's performance. Like news outlets worldwide, SPH Media's print subscriptions have declined as readers shift to consuming news online. However, less than 20% of consumers in advanced countries, including Singapore, now pay for digital news subscriptions. Essentially, they can get it for free and they will continue to enjoy such services for free.

Without revealing commercially sensitive information, I can share that SPH Media's digital subscriptions have held steady and it is now 35% higher than print subscriptions. It was only 20% higher two years ago. So, you see the shift. SPH Media will have to continue its pivot to digital news and the Government must support this effort so that our PSM entities can meet audiences where they are.

Despite not meeting all their KPIs last year, SPH Media did not ask to lower their targets. They are determined to maintain their reach and relevance with Singaporeans. In 2024, they maintained their strong overall reach at 70% of Singapore's resident population although youths and vernacular reach dipped. In line with the funding agreement, MDDI will pro-rate and award the Performance-Linked Incentives accordingly.

I would like to address slightly, to some extent, the comment that was made by Mr Pritam Singh when he compared CNA and The Straits Times, I believe. I would suggest respectfully to Members that comparisons must avoid oversimplification. Because we have to remember that CNA is mainly our national broadcaster as well as digital news channel, whereas most of the titles in SPH Media Trust (SMT), most of the assets of SMT, are print still – even though they have digital versions – and they are meant to be national papers of record. So, they are different and complementary. And it is perhaps, again, my humble suggestion to Members to look at the performance of public service media holistically. Because, in truth, we need all of them to reach as many Singaporeans as we can. So, that is something to keep in mind.

And as mentioned, both CNA and The Straits Times remained the top-frequented new channels. And Members who expressed concern about the sustainability of Public Services Media will agree with me that the KPIs, such as reach, are important but they are not the only ways for us to assess the performance and the effectiveness of PSM entities. Equally, we must look at the trust levels that they are able to harness from the population and we must also look at satisfaction levels. And so, those would be the additional KPIs that we are looking to introduce.

Meanwhile, let me also point to the threat to broadcast television, with consumers shifting to platforms like YouTube or Netflix.

Even when PSM entities go onto these platforms, the experiences abroad suggest that placements and algorithms in the digital environment disadvantaged them. Countries like the UK and Australia have, therefore, made new rules. They now require Connected TVs to be pre-loaded with public service media apps like BBC iPlayer, or ABC iview, and to display these apps prominently on their user interfaces.

Given the important role of our PSM entities to inform, educate and connect Singaporeans, we must be very concerned about their visibility being obscured by the decisions of third-party platforms. Our PSM content must remain visible and easily accessible to our audiences. Therefore, MDDI is studying the regulatory moves in other countries to safeguard the prominence and discoverability of PSM. We will consult industry stakeholders, including device manufacturers, before deciding the next steps.

Sir, please allow me to conclude in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Chairman, Singapore is a highly open and digitalised country. Singaporeans can access information from various platforms – whether it is Xiaohongshu (小红书), Facebook, Netflix, or iQiYi (爱奇艺), these are platforms that many Singaporeans are familiar with.

However, with more information received, is our ability to discern information sharpened or weakened? Is the society becoming more united or increasingly divided? These are questions worth pondering. In fact, in an era of intensifying geopolitical competition, being limited in our ability to share our narratives is not beneficial for maintaining our national stance and sense of identity.

In this aspect, Public Service Media, such as Mediacorp and Lianhe Zaobao, play crucial roles. Only they will report news and analyse international events and their impact on us from Singapore's perspective. Therefore, the Government is exploring ways to make Public Service Media content more accessible to Singaporeans in the new media environment.

Of course, threats to social cohesion are not the only concern in the digital age. Therefore, some have asked me, given the dangers in the digital world, should Singapore slow down or pause its digitalisation efforts? Indeed, while Singapore is very safe in the physical world, the digital world has no clear borders and is full of risks.

However, Singapore is a small country with limited resources. In an era of intense global competition, digitalisation is key to overcoming our limitations and enabling us to continue thriving. In the digital journey, not progressing is akin to falling behind. The Government must therefore adopt the wise strategy of helping citizens and businesses enhance their digital skills and strengthening their cybersecurity awareness.

Only then can Singapore grasp new opportunities in the digital age and our workers can move forward and secure better employment opportunities.

The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Chairman, I thank the Members for their cuts and questions, and I hope in my response today to be addressing the cuts filed by Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Mr Ong Hua Han, Mr Sharael Taha, Mr Dennis Tan and Ms Mariam Jaafar.

Sir, trust is at the heart of our Smart Nation efforts. Our citizens and businesses must be confident that the digital systems and services that they rely on and the interactions and transactions that they engage in, can be trusted.

I will explain MDDI's approach to building this trust: by ensuring the resilience, security and future-readiness of key digital infrastructure, and by driving Government AI adoption and innovation for the public good.

1.45 pm

The Government has existing regulations to reduce risks to digital infrastructure and services, including cyberattacks and service disruptions. For example, under the Telecommunications Act, IMDA requires broadband and mobile network operators to take proactive measures to minimise disruptions. There are also sectoral regulations for digital services, such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS') IT resilience and security requirements for financial institutions.

But the digital landscape is much bigger and constantly evolving. Digital infrastructure, like data centres and cloud services, have become important in enabling many functions including e-banking and payments, ride-hailing, e-commerce and digital identity. These functions allow citizens to meet their day-to-day needs and to do so conveniently and effectively. They help businesses to grow. However, the growing scale and complexity of our digital infrastructure also means an increased surface area for cyberattacks and a higher risk of disruptions arising from hardware failures, misconfigurations and other problems. Should these disruptions occur, the impact is higher, given the increasing utilisation of these services.

Last year, we amended the Cybersecurity Act to address new challenges in our operating environment. These amendments, which are expected to come into force later this year, will empower the CSA to better ensure the cybersecurity of important entities and systems beyond the critical information infrastructure (CII). These include data centres and cloud services. This, in turn, improves trust and confidence in Singapore and our digital economy. Owners of CII also have the opportunity, we hope, to review their business models. We hope that they will be encouraged to review their business models and do so with a view to using new technologies, such as commercial cloud solutions.

Beyond cyber threats, we must guard against risks that disrupt access to digital infrastructure and services, including physical hazards like fires; and less visible risks, like hardware failure and system misconfiguration. These are risks as a result of our dependence on digital infrastructure and services. We cannot eliminate risk completely, so we must enhance our preparedness by reducing the occurrence and the impact of disruptions.

We are working towards introducing a new law this year, called the Digital Infrastructure Act. This will improve Singapore's digital resilience and security. The Act targets foundational digital infrastructure, starting with major cloud service providers and data centres. The Act will require major operators to implement measures to uphold their resilience and security and to minimise disruptions.

We are studying requirements for major operators to report disruptions to the Government, so that we can better learn and improve from these incidents, and support response and recovery efforts where needed. We have been seeking feedback from digital infrastructure providers and some of their customers, since mid-2024.

IMDA recently released Advisory Guidelines for cloud service providers and data centres. These guidelines contain key measures that we have been consulting stakeholders on. The guidelines encourage data centre operators to have a robust business continuity system and ensure high availability for their enterprise customers. Cloud service providers are also encouraged to manage data security risks and ensure business continuity planning. All operators are encouraged to implement the measures and many providers, including Microsoft, Equinix and Keppel, and their enterprise customers, have expressed support for the new Advisory Guidelines, which they find to be fit for purpose and aligned with international standards.

We are also strengthening the resilience of our Government systems to ensure that Singaporeans have trust and confidence when interacting with the Government online. We have improved the resilience of central systems used by agencies. Service availability for these systems rose from 95% to 99.5% in the last year. We will continue to increase the adoption of tools to improve the resilience of Government applications, including those that monitor system uptime.

As resilience measures incur costs, our approach must be calibrated. We will support agencies providing important services to implement more sophisticated measures where appropriate.

There is a need for Government to manage access to information about individuals, as such information could be exploited in scam tactics. We are committed to ensure that data, including personal data, is managed carefully and responsibly.

In the Government's provision of digital services involving data, agencies must assess the right balance between the benefits and risks in each use case, to achieve the dual objectives of service accessibility and data protection, in line with the guidelines and safeguards that MDDI has provided.

Sir, our digital infrastructure must not only be secure and resilient but also position Singapore for the future. Last year, we announced that IMDA is investing up to $100 million to upgrade our Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN). This will enable broadband speeds up to 10 times faster than what most households have today. Operators are starting to offer higher speed broadband services at lower prices. A 10GB plan now costs between $30 and $70, compared to more than $100 a year ago.

Developing our future-ready digital infrastructure also entails addressing resource constraints as we pursue growth. We must explore ways to support Singapore's AI ambitions while keeping to our climate commitments, as well as balance digital infrastructure growth with environmental sustainability.

IMDA launched the Green Data Centre Roadmap last year to guide data centres to improve energy efficiency and use green energy to grow AI compute capacity sustainably. We have made good progress. For example, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)-IMDA Green Mark for data centres was refreshed last October to raise the bar for data centre sustainability. IMDA also launched the Energy Efficiency Grant for the data centre sector last December to support businesses' upgrades to more energy-efficient IT equipment.

MDDI is further exploring ways to uplift data centre sustainability through regulations. We are studying other jurisdictions and are in early engagement with the industry to develop a framework for Singapore’s context.

Sir, we have to lead by example, as a Digital Government. We must continue to build the capabilities for the public sector to create and experiment with AI and unlock citizen-centric solutions.

We have made available, within the Public Service, access to best-in-class AI and large language model (LLM) tools. Pair Chat is a fast and secure Gen AI assistant used by more than half the Public Service today. Last year, we organised a whole-of-Government prompt engineering competition. This attracted over 1,040 officers. The fact that I can say this already makes us quite unusual in terms of how we do Digital Government – that we have a prompt engineering competition within Government and there were 1,040 public service officers who participated.

The finalists were tasked to build an event publicity website within 10 minutes using large language model (LLM) tools. The winner of this competition was Muhammad Naim Bin Zahari, a firefighter with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). At the time of the competition, he had just completed a 24-hour shift. In second place was Rachel Tiang, a finance officer at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Neither were in technical roles dealing with AI. Both of them and all the competitors were more than capable of building this functioning publicity website within 10 minutes using these AI and LLM-augmented tools.

We actively involve non-technical public officers in creating digital products. Last year, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) held its inaugural series of hackathons for public officers, called the LAUNCH! Programme. It gathered more than 600 ideas and birthed 26 innovative prototypes. For example, a team of two primary school teachers and a GovTech officer prototyped an AI tool to provide students with immediate customised feedback on their oral skills performance.

We are also exploring how officers can innovate better and faster with AI. One of the prototypes from our recent Hack for Public Good hackathon was Spaceship, a tool to make prototyping less daunting for public officers. This tool, Spaceship, enables officers to use AI agents to build and deploy fully functional prototype applications, including LLM-based tools. They do this using just plain English. So, this is a tool for public officers, non-technical public officers to get from an idea to a workable app in minutes using just plain English.

Sir, I tried out this prototype and I tried to have it code a portal that restricted the length of Members of Parliament's speeches. It put the appropriate filter into the spreadsheet, but I think that is the limit of the technology today.

As we increase the use of AI in Government, it is critical to understand and mitigate the risks in AI applications. GovTech is building the capabilities to ensure that the Government's Gen AI applications go to market safely.

We have Litmus, a tool for AI safety and security testing. We have curated a set of tests to ensure our AI applications are resistant to risks that mislead users or cause reputational harm. Litmus is built in partnership with IMDA's Moonshot and will be launched this year. Based on tests with agencies, we have seen how Litmus can spot potential safety issues ahead of time, allowing us to act proactively. Essentially, this is AI testing as a service.

Litmus provides a diagnosis of the AI risks, but we also need a solution, once those risks are detected. In the AI world, guardrails ensure that AI systems operate within ethical, legal and functional boundaries. We are building Sentinel, a platform that provides guardrails as a service for the Government's AI applications. Product teams can choose from a curated list of guardrails, including those from top AI developers and localised ones like LionGuard, and easily integrate these into their applications. Sentinel has been able to accurately identify attempts to infiltrate systems or trick AI models into producing inappropriate output.

Litmus and Sentinel demonstrate how we want to develop Government Gen AI applications that are safe for use, including by members of the public.

Sir, our digital infrastructure underpins key functions that citizens and businesses rely on. We have, therefore, actively invested in enhancing the security, resilience and future-readiness of our key digital infrastructure. We also continue to build capabilities in the public sector and embrace experimentation and innovation with AI to better serve Singaporeans. I am hopeful that this will build trust in our digital future as we continue on our Smart Nation journey.

The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How.

The Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information (Mr Tan Kiat How): Chairman, we want Singaporeans to benefit from good jobs, good wages and better work environments. To achieve these goals, our enterprises must be competitive amidst rapid digitalisation. We are building on a good foundation. The digital economy has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% from 2018 to 2023. We are doing more to help our workers and enterprises ride the next wave of digitalisation, particularly in AI, through the NAIS 2.0 and the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) launched last year.

Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Sharael Taha asked about the progress of NAIS 2.0. We are seeing encouraging progress. Last year, more than 26 AI Centres of Excellence were set up to push the frontiers of AI innovation and use.

For example, Lilly's Digital Health Innovation Hub will accelerate research and development of AI-powered digital health technologies, helping doctors better understand patient needs and provide personalised care. Another example, in the financial services, Prudential's global AI Lab incubates tools to enhance customer experience and improve staff efficiency. The Lab will also partner Institutes of Higher Learning to provide students with opportunities for hands-on-learning.

The Enterprise Compute Initiative announced by the Prime Minister in his Budget Speech will help anchor more Centres of Excellence in Singapore and support more innovative AI applications.

We are also seeing more organisations use AI for the public good. For example, the National Parks Board is exploring an AI application named KOEL built by participants of the Build For Good Hackathon to help with biodiversity surveys using bioacoustics. With KOEL, researchers can identify animal species from audio recordings, which can save thousands of man-hours, increase efficiency and accuracy.

Another example is iFerret. It is an AI-enabled detection system deployed at Changi Airport to help keep our runways safe. In the past, daily manual inspections were needed. Now, staff can also rely on the round-the-clock automated scanning of foreign objects on our runways, which enable them to remove these objects quickly.

Ms Tin Pei Ling, Ms Jessica Tan, Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Mariam Jaafar asked how we are assisting our enterprises, especially our SMEs, to benefit from AI. Through initiatives, such as the SMEs Go Digital Programme, we have helped about 100,000 SMEs since 2017, with 40,000 SMEs benefiting over the last four years.

2.00 pm

The share of SMEs adopting at least one digital solution for general business functions increased from 53% in 2020 to 84% in 2024. Very encouraging. On average, SMEs that adopted digital solutions under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) between 2018 and 2023, reported cost savings of 48% per solution.

Mr Derrick Goh and Mr Christopher de Souza sent the gist of their cuts to us separately. They will be pleased to know that we are committed to accelerating AI adoption among SMEs.

We are updating the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs) to include sector-specific AI tools and training. We have done so for the retail, security, built environment, legal and tourism sectors. We will update more IDPs this year, such as for the food services and hotel sectors. In 2024, over 330,000 users accessed resources on the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)-as-a-Service platform, which helped almost 3,000 SMEs adopt AI-enabled solutions. Of the approximately 300 pre-approved solutions supported by PSG, about 30% or a third of them are AI-enabled.

And last year, we launched the Gen AI Sandbox, allowing SMEs to experiment with 13 Gen AI solutions to improve their marketing and sales, and streamline customer engagement efforts.

One of the over 150 participants is AHA Inspiration, a health and wellness service platform provider. By integrating a Gen AI chatbot into its website and mobile application, AHA's employees can now handle customer inquiries almost twice as fast as before while providing more personalised customer service. AHA Inspiration is just one of 120 SMEs that continued using the Gen AI solutions after the three-month Sandbox period. Our experience with the Sandbox reinforced the importance of providing opportunities for SMEs to discover the value of Gen AI through experimentation.

Building on this success, IMDA launched Gen AI Sandbox 2.0 with 14 solutions in December last year to support a wider range of Gen AI solutions in areas, such as Generative Web Design, enabling SMEs to create websites using prompts. SMEs can also try Gen AI tools for HR operations to create job descriptions and schedule interviews more efficiently. If these Gen AI solutions prove useful, we intend to add them to the list of pre-approved solutions so that all SMEs can benefit.

We also received feedback that it could be useful for the Sandbox to offer sector-specific solutions. IMDA is happy to work with interested sector leads and industry associations on curating these solutions.

Besides broad-based support for all SMEs, we are tapping on the capabilities of technology giants through the Gen AI x Digital Leaders (Gen AI x DL) programme to accelerate Gen AI adoption among the more digitally-mature enterprises. These enterprises may require customised solutions that off-the-shelf products do not fully address.

To date, over 120 enterprises have used resources provided by tech giants and their partners. A quarter of them are working to build and deploy these solutions.

Take, for example, iHub Solutions, a third-party logistics service provider. iHub's employees grappled with high volumes of ad hoc requests for reports. The time taken to manually create these reports hindered efficiency and reports were often error-prone. During the programme, iHub leveraged the expertise of tech partners to develop a report generation tool using AI. With this tool, iHub's employees can create reports automatically using simple prompts, reducing the time spent on these reports by half. iHub's customers can also use it to derive real-time supply chain insights to inform their decisions.

To seize opportunities to deploy Gen AI solutions at scale, IMDA will expand the Gen AI x DL partnerships to leverage tech partners' new development tools and pre-packaged software modules to deploy solutions for common use cases more quickly. This is being piloted and we will share more details when ready.

Ms Tin Pei Ling also asked how the Government can encourage more enterprises to adopt Gen AI. We recognise that enterprises face different challenges in doing so.

Building on the experience and best practices of early adopters, IMDA will launch a Gen AI Playbook for Enterprises catering to different stages of their digital maturity. For enterprises just starting to explore Gen AI, the Playbook illustrates the benefits of Gen AI through examples and offers resources on Gen AI solutions for specific needs.

For those deciding between buying off-the-shelf solutions and building proprietary ones, it provides an evaluation framework and information on associated risks to help them make informed choices. And for digitally-matured enterprises seeking more customised solutions, the Playbook provides insights on tech capabilities and partners needed to ensure successful implementation, alongside potential risks and governance considerations. So, the Playbook has something for all enterprises.

And complementing the Playbook, IMDA will launch an online tool, the Gen AI Navigator, that recommends the right Gen AI solution for specific business needs. The Navigator will also point to solutions with grant support and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)-funded training that can help SMEs understand how to leverage Gen AI for growth. These tools will be available on the CTO-as-a-Service platform from today.

Chairman, please allow me to speak in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] With the Government's support and promotion, over 80% of SMEs are now successfully riding the digital wave. These businesses, spanning various sectors, have adopted at least one digital solution in their operations and achieved positive results. Many businesses have also discovered that AI can help them reduce costs and enhance efficiency, thereby alleviating their cost pressures.

Between 2018 and 2023, digital solutions under the Productivity Solutions Grant brought nearly 50% cost savings to SMEs on average. To benefit more businesses, the Government will refresh the Industry Digital Plans for different sectors, providing more AI solutions. At the same time, we will launch the new GenAI Playbook for Enterprises and Navigator, to recommend Generative AI tools and training suited to their needs. Interested businesses can visit the CTO-as-a-Service platform for details.

The growing adoption of AI has significantly impacted our work and lives. Local businesses and workers must keep pace to remain competitive and avoid falling behind. Therefore, I urge everyone to catch up and make full use of the Government's support and resources to level up digital capabilities. Only then can we seize the opportunities brought forth by technological development and distinguish ourselves from the competition.

(In English): Chairman, as enterprises digitalise, they will be more exposed to cyber threats. Mr Sharael Taha asked how we are helping our enterprises stay safe.

CSA's SG Cyber Safe programme provides differentiated support for enterprises. As a baseline, CSA provides resources for various enterprise stakeholders, such as SME owners, employees and cybersecurity personnel. Enterprises looking to implement cybersecurity measures can refer to the Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust certification marks, which were developed as national cybersecurity standards in 2022.

To assist enterprises that need help with cybersecurity certification, CSA launched the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)-as-a-Service scheme in 2023. CISO-as-a-Service complements IMDA's CTO-as-a-service scheme. It onboards cybersecurity consultants to help enterprises develop cybersecurity health plans to implement the preventive measures in Cyber Essentials. This has benefited over 270 enterprises and we will continue to do more to improve enterprise cyber hygiene standards.

We aligned SMEs Go Digital with the Cyber Essentials mark last year. Under the pre-approved solutions, SMEs can now subscribe to an integrated package covering anti-malware, firewall and backup. We also required pre-approved solutions under SMEs Go Digital to meet minimum data protection and security controls standards.

Going forward, CSA will expand Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust in the first half of 2025 to cover the security of digital technologies, like cloud and AI, keeping them relevant for the evolving digital landscape.

Besides uplifting standards, CSA will introduce a post-incident reporting and response function on CISO-as-a-Service. Cybersecurity incidents cannot be fully prevented. It is more important for enterprises to be resilient and recover from incidents. Under this new function, enterprises can approach their CISO-as-a-Service consultants to help contain and recover from cybersecurity incidents. Members can refer to the handout for a summary of our enterprise digitalisation and cybersecurity efforts.

Sir, I will give the updates till here and I will answer questions later on.

The Chairman: Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam.

The Minister of State for Digital Development and Information (Ms Rahayu Mahzam): Mr Chairman, many of us would find it hard to imagine our lives without the Internet or digital devices. In a survey conducted by MDDI in 2023, 80% of respondents agreed it was important for them to stay connected to the Internet.

There are healthy ways of using digital technologies to enhance our lives, just as there are unhealthy ways that open us up to risks. My speech will focus on MDDI's efforts to galvanise our community, to build a society where citizens enjoy access to digital services that are essential to daily living; proficiency in using digital technologies; and safe, healthy and positive digital experiences through a whole-of-society effort. I thank Mr Keith Chua for his interest in these efforts.

Let me start with access to digital technologies. Singapore is a highly connected nation; 98% of our resident households are connected to the Internet. But we must pay attention to those who are at risk of being left out. IMDA helps those who cannot afford it. Ms Hany Soh asked for an update on IMDA's schemes.

DigitalAccess@Home has supported over 20,000 low-income households with subsidised broadband access, a laptop or tablet, or both broadband and a computing device since 2023. The Mobile Access for Seniors scheme has also supported low-income seniors with over 15,000 packages of subsidised smartphones and mobile plans, or mobile plans only, since 2020.

Beyond connectivity and devices, day-to-day digital services need to be user-friendly. For some Singaporeans, like seniors and persons with disabilities, navigating services which are not designed to meet their needs can be challenging. A well-designed website or app can make a world of difference. That is why Singpass was enhanced in 2022 to support features, such as Dark Mode and Screen Reader, that enable those with visual impairments to navigate Singpass with greater ease.

Mr Alex Yam asked about more efforts in this area. The Government takes inclusive design seriously and Government agencies are expected to be user-centric when designing their digital services. GovTech will do more to support agencies in this.

This year, we are updating the Digital Service Standards (DSS) which guide agencies in designing user-friendly digital services. The updated DSS will better explain international standards, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), to agencies and provide recommendations on how to meet these standards. In addition, there will be greater emphasis on user testing before launch for high-traffic Government websites to make sure they are user-friendly.

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We have also rolled out tools that agencies can use to support inclusive design. For example, GovTech developed the Oobee tool, previously known as Purple A11y, which uses a bot to help agencies test how easy their websites are to use and suggest improvements. GovTech will continue to enhance tools to help agencies identify and resolve such issues. These efforts provide agencies with stronger guidance and support to develop digital services that are easy for all to use, regardless of age or digital ability.

GovTech will provide dedicated support to agencies with high traffic digital services. But the Government cannot drive this effort alone. Today, Singaporeans use a variety of commercial digital services daily. The private sector plays an important part in designing user-friendly digital services. We want to encourage and partner them in this.

The Oobee tool, which I mentioned earlier, is open-sourced and freely available for private sector companies to use. We encourage more to make use of this.

Last year, GovTech held the inaugural Co-Creation Lab, which brought together representatives from Government agencies, private sector companies as well as community users. We were heartened to see so many partners step forward to understand the challenges that seniors and persons with disabilities face when using digital services, such as making e-payments, using ride-hailing apps and making healthcare appointments. These conversations helped service providers identify improvements to their services to make them user-friendly. The Co-Creation Lab demonstrated the need to strengthen partnerships across the public, private and people sectors.

MDDI will launch a workgroup with partners from the public, private and people sectors to co-create and co-deliver initiatives to develop digital services that are more user-friendly. Details on this workgroup will be announced later.

Even as we enhance the user-friendliness of digital services, we acknowledge that some Singaporeans will need physical support to access Government services. Dr Tan Wu Meng and Ms Denise Phua highlighted this in the Budget debate and Mr Gerald Giam raised this in his cut.

Residents who need assistance with Government digital transactions can continue to get in-person assistance at Government agencies' physical service touchpoints. Trained service ambassadors will assist less digitally confident individuals with their transactions. Residents can also visit ServiceSG centres for assistance with 600 frequently used Government services and schemes. The Government will continue to be citizen-centric in our approach and make non-digital options available so that no one is left out.

Let me move on to digital skills. Two in three Singaporeans have basic digital skills and are able to carry out day-to-day tasks online, such as buying products and services, searching for information and making contactless payments using a smartphone.

To set ourselves up well for the digital future, Singaporeans also have to learn new technologies, such as Gen AI, which can help us with daily tasks. This upskilling is critical, as Ms Denise Phua emphasised in the Budget debate. Without this, the increasing use of Gen AI around us, like how many businesses now use chatbots to deliver customer services, can feel alien and scary. To demystify Gen AI, we must understand its risks and limitations and learn how to use it responsibly. The Government will continue to support less digitally-savvy citizens.

Mr Gerald Giam and Ms Hany Soh asked about Seniors Go Digital. The SG Digital Office (SDO) will continue to help citizens acquire the digital skills needed for day-to-day living based on the Digital Skills for Life (DSL) framework. This prevents digital isolation, as Miss Rachel Ong raised in the Budget debate.

Since 2020, SDO has trained more than 370,000 seniors. Ninety-six percent of seniors communicate online as of 2023, up from 87% in 2017.

IMDA will be enhancing the DSL framework with content on Gen AI, explaining the basics of it, its risks and how to manage them, and applications for daily activities, like generating recommendations for places to eat at or leisure activities to try. Interested learners can register for SDO workshops or learn at their own pace through resources on the Digital for Life Portal. There are also many Singaporeans who are keen to embrace new technologies like AI.

Mr Alex Yam asked about new library initiatives to encourage tech adoption. Over the next few years, our public libraries will be rolling out showcases that allow the public to experience uses of Gen AI. We hope that these showcases will demonstrate the practical value of AI in daily life, excite citizens about these possibilities and at the same time, help them understand the limitations and learn how to use AI responsibly. Gen AI is a useful tool, but it cannot replace learning or original thought.

These are just some of the activities that citizens can enjoy at our public libraries as National Library Board (NLB) celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. NLB will host a series of "NLB30" events to mark 30 years and beyond of empowering Singaporeans to read, learn and discover together. More details will be announced later this year. Sir, I will say a few words in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] One of the best ways for us to learn to use cutting-edge technology is to do it together with like-minded individuals.

A pioneering initiative that creates opportunities for communities to gather and learn together is Lorong AI. It is a community hub that provides space for those who share similarities, interests and skills in AI to explore how they can drive AI development together. Through this platform, they exchange ideas and discuss the latest discoveries. They also create prototypes and explore the use of AI in our daily lives.

Mr Muhammad Zahari bin Abu Talib plays a crucial role in Lorong AI. As Community Lead, he helps connect individuals, initiates discussions and links various groups. I personally felt their enthusiasm for learning, sharing and collaborating when I attended one of the AI Wednesdays sharing sessions organised by Lorong AI.

Within our Malay/Muslim community, many have already begun exploring AI. A group called PEREKA, comprising Malay/Muslim designers from various fields, shared how they use AI to improve their work. I had the opportunity to meet them recently, and was very excited to hear how they leverage AI to enhance their work processes.

The aim is not to replace human creativity, but to facilitate the ideation process and gather information. All this is to produce design features that align with our cultural values and identity and at the same time, ensuring that the human touch remains at the core throughout the design process.

I really hope that more dynamic local groups like these will emerge so that they can learn together and spark interesting ideas to harness technology for the well-being of Singaporeans.

(In English): Mr Chairman, let me now turn to how we are equipping the future generation to benefit from Gen AI. We have an existing Code for Fun programme offered to all primary and secondary schools, which exposes students to computational thinking through coding as well as inventive thinking through digital making. From this year onwards, the Code for Fun programme will incorporate new AI for Fun modules, which provide students with hands-on opportunities to tinker with AI technology.

For instance, primary school students will be taught how to use an appropriate Gen AI platform to generate stories and images to create a digital storyboard. Students will be taught the risks of Gen AI, such as biases and hallucinations, and the need to check AI-generated content against other sources.

About 60% of primary schools and 40% of secondary schools will introduce AI for Fun this year. It is our endeavour to ensure that every Singaporean, regardless of age, is encouraged to learn, use and have fun with new technologies in an informed and responsible way.

This brings me to the topic of online safety. Incidents that take place online, like the generation and dissemination of deepfake nude photos, cause real-life damage and are unacceptable. About 74% of Singaporeans had encountered harmful online content in 2024. This has led some people to be fearful of the Internet and how it appears to be changing the fabric of our society. But it is important to recognise that these harms are not caused by technology in itself, but by bad actors and bad behaviour.

The Government will do our part to reduce online risks. Minister Josephine Teo earlier spoke about our regulations to make designated social media services and app distribution services responsible for putting in place safety measures to protect their users from harmful content.

However, regulations are not foolproof. Bans and age limits like those being contemplated in other countries may sound compelling but, in reality, there will always be ways to circumvent such rules and restrictions, as Mr Eric Chua has pointed out.

Citizens must also take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones online. Parents play a critical role in guiding their child's digital journey. The Government shares parents' concerns over excessive screen use and exposure to online risks amongst children.

The Ministry of Health's updated guidance on screen use under Grow Well SG and the Parenting for Wellness Initiative equip parents so that they can better protect their children from inappropriate content and instil good screen use habits. Parents can also find bite-sized resources on IMDA's Digital for Life portal. Members may refer to the handout for a list of these resources. A Positive Use Guide on Technology and Social Media will also be available later this year.

Youths are a key group of citizens who shape online behaviour and culture. Youths should be encouraged to use their influence to foster a positive online environment. I was encouraged to see students championing a kinder Internet at a recent digital well-being roadshow at the Singapore Management University. One booth featured an interactive game that showed participants how to navigate online conversations and respond to their friends with care and kindness. Over 650 students participated in the two-day roadshow.

Toxic online discourse is worrying because it undermines our ability to understand one another and disrupts our social cohesion. As Mr Alex Yam mentioned, we must be civic-minded in the online space, just as how we conduct ourselves in our shared physical spaces like our neighbourhoods, parks and schools.

The Government is committed to exploring new ways to nurture a positive online space. We will study issues like online polarisation that can negatively impact our social cohesion and explore ways to encourage a culture of positivity and civic-mindedness online.

In the work that the Government does, it is always important to check in on the sentiments of the community. This allows us to accurately identify Singaporeans' concerns and align with the expectation for a responsive Government.

Mr Gerald Giam shared his experience with surveys and asked if they were commissioned by the Government. It is unfortunate that the poster did not disclose to Mr Giam the identity of the commissioning party for the survey. Without the benefit of seeing the actual questionnaire, it is difficult to say for sure that the surveys were conducted by the Government.

In MDDI's case, we conduct regular polls to gauge the public's awareness of scams as well as the quality of mainstream and online media and the public's news consumption habits. When asked by respondents, our representatives would identify MDDI as the commissioning agency for the surveys.

We conduct the media polls to help Government agencies adjust their public communication efforts to better reach target segments on key national policies. They also help shape our public broadcast funding. The poll findings on scams help MDDI to shape our policies to tackle online harm.

The findings from the Government-commissioned surveys —

The Chairman: Minister of State Rahayu, you might want to round up.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Yes, just two more paragraphs.

The findings from the Government-commissioned surveys are shared publicly when it is useful to do so. However, as the surveys are commissioned primarily to shape public policy, not all findings are suitable for public release.

As to Mr Giam's concern that Government-commissioned surveys could be used for non-public policy purposes, funding for such surveys is subject to the same governance requirements as other forms of public expenditure undertaken by Government agencies.

To conclude, Mr Chairman, we invite everyone – individuals, companies and community organisations – to become a partner of the Digital for Life movement and join us in our efforts to help Singapore build an inclusive and cohesive digital society. All of us have a part to play in making our online space a safe, healthy and positive one.

The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling.

Ms Tin Pei Ling: Chairman, I have three clarifications. First of all, it is heartening to hear of the many measures put in place to protect Singaporeans better from online harms. I would also like to find out what more will be done or has been done so far to protect citizens from scams so that they will feel safe, competent and more confident to interact and transact online, which is also part of the trust that we talked about.

Secondly, it is about DeepSeek. Sir, I would like to ask what are some of the lessons drawn from the recent emergence of DeepSeek, since it has been touted to be cheaper and greener, and also the implications to us in Singapore, whether it is even possible for us to distill something that is unique to Singapore.

Lastly, picking up on the point on funding vernacular media, I think vernacular media has a strategic part to play, especially in projecting Singapore's voice and opinion on key issues internationally. Zaobao, for example, has a very strong presence and network in certain areas or regions. It has been very useful in asserting our point of view.

So, I would like to ask whether the funding support in this area will be continued or strengthened and what else might we be doing to boost this so that we can strengthen Singapore's position on the world stage.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I would, first, like to thank Ms Tin for her acknowledgement of our efforts and in particular, her recognition of the importance of preserving our vernacular media.

If we think about the need to continue projecting Singapore's voice on the international stage, in fact, the role of the vernacular media becomes even more prominent. So, I wish to recognise her acknowledgement and affirm it.

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The big chunk of the Public Service Media funding support is directed towards helping our Public Service Media entities become more relevant in the digital era, so the technology upgrades are essential to this. But we have always maintained that at the same time we want to support quality journalism and that cuts across all language medium. And in particular, recognising that the domestic market for our vernacular media is actually very small, they need extra support. So, the understanding with the public service media entities is that they must set aside adequate resources, and the KPIs do track the performance of the vernacular media.

I think that how they do on the KPIs is not just a matter of looking at their performance, but it is also a matter of helping us understand how the landscape is changing and what more is required to support the continued viability of vernacular media.

Let me also take Ms Tin's question on how MDDI is working to support the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the lead agency in addressing scams. We do so broadly in two ways, first by disrupting and making it harder for scammers to reach Singaporeans, whether by calls, SMSes, or apps infected with malware, because that is really how the victims fall. This is what we, within the working group, call the "attack factor". Second, by developing technology to support MHA's detection and disruption of scam activities. So, those are the two main areas of support.

Maybe to give the Member some sense of the usefulness of these efforts, in 2023, IMDA implemented the full SMS sender ID registry regime and non-registered SMSes are labelled as "likely scams". I am sure we have all gotten them. I certainly have gotten them. And this has been effective. Cases of scam SMSes fell by 70% in the first three months of the regime's introduction and thereafter, it has remained low. IMDA also partnered with telcos to strengthen in network detection and blocking of scam calls and SMSes.

In 2024, 117 million potential scam calls from overseas were blocked. They were about 25% of all international calls. For SMSes, 50 million potential scam SMSes were successfully blocked. IMDA also worked with telcos to offer new features to block all incoming international calls and SMSes, meaning that from the subscriber standpoint, I do not want to be at risk at all, I do not want to just depend on your auto blocking, I do not wish to get any of these calls. And to date, more than 280,000 subscribers have activated the feature to block overseas calls and close to 220,000 subscribers have activated the feature to block overseas SMSes.

I mentioned briefly in my earlier speech how we are working with Google for the enhanced fraud protection feature. This feature is turned on in Singapore by default and it has successfully blocked 1.6 million attempts to install potentially malicious apps across nearly 400,000 devices. If I add GovTech's working with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to disrupt 45,000 scam related websites and also IMDA working with SPF to disrupt more than 57,000 mobile lines assessed to be likely used for scams, these are very considerable efforts. But we are not stopping at the above measures. We are working with telcos and online platforms to address criminal misuse of their services.

The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Janil. I hope replies will also be short because I can see quite a few hands. I really want everyone to keep your replies and responses short.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, I thank Ms Tin for the question. We are still studying the matter. According to DeepSeek, there are hardware and software optimisations that have brought down the training and inference costs, and then by extension, this makes the compute greener because less energy is needed, a fraction of the compute.

If it is true, and seeing as the company has made their model open source, there is indeed a possible positive development for advancing the efforts around resource efficient AI. However, there are counter claims that the actual compute cluster may have been much larger than reported and there may have been distillation of closed models. So, the facts around the matter are unclear, and we are still studying the matter to learn how best we can deploy compute power here in Singapore to advance our ambitions.

The Chairman: Mr Sharael Taha.

Mr Sharael Taha: Mr Chairman, I would like to thank Minister Teo and the team for answering the cuts. Three questions from me. Regarding the botnet case shared by Minister, were the owners of the 2,700 affected devices informed? And how do we prevent assets in Singapore from being exploited by these botnet networks?

The annex distributed mentions the recommendation to purchase IoT devices with the CSA cybersecurity labelling scheme. Is there an intention for all IoT devices sold in Singapore to undergo assessment for the CSA label?

Secondly, for Senior Minister of State Janil, even with the optimised compute that we have discussed earlier, will Singapore's data centre sustainability requirements impact our global competitiveness in AI? And given that added compliance cost and the upcoming carbon tax, could this drive companies to set up data centres elsewhere, making the timeline for studying alternative energy sources even more urgent for us?

And lastly, my last question was something that was not answered in the response. For Senior Minister of State Tan, in Budget 2024, it was announced that there would be collaborations with industry to drive AI adoption and innovation. Can the Ministry provide an update on these collaborations with the industry, please?

The Chairman: Who wants to take replies first? Yes, there is one for Senior Minister of State Janil and one for Senior Minister of State Tan.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, I thank Mr Sharael Taha for his question. Essentially, whether or not the push for green data centres will affect our global competitiveness and drive up costs, indeed, we have to balance the compliance costs with the requirements. But there is plenty of interest in the market and if we can get this right, then this is a value-add and a potential source of competitiveness that we can be a place where the technology providers, the cloud service providers can set up greener facilities, and their customers are looking for this type of solutions.

So, while we do have to make sure that we get the balance correct between the costs of compliance and the push for greening, it is something that we have to do because of our larger issues around our carbon envelope. But if we can do it right, it becomes a source of competitiveness for us.

Mr Tan Kiat How: Sir, in the first tranche of the Digital Enterprise Blueprint Partnerships, we have seven partners pledging to support our enterprises and workers across the various initiatives under the Digital Enterprise Blueprint. The partners include, for example, the Singapore Business Federation, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, DBS Bank, as well as the Singapore Computer Society and SG Tech. To date, they have conducted six events to uplift the capabilities of pre-approved vendors in cloud technologies, cybersecurity and Gen AI. They also delivered AI and data analytics workshops for nearly 1,000 SMEs, helping them thrive in today's technology driven business environment.

And we will continue expanding our network of partnership. Last November we announced a partnership with DBS, for example, with Enterprise Singapore and IMDA to amplify our reach to 50,000 SMEs and supercharge their productivity through accelerating Gen AI adoption. So, Mr Sharael Taha will be pleased to know that we will be sharing upcoming collaborations with new partners, for example, with Alibaba Cloud to raise capabilities of solution providers in AI and cloud technologies, and another one with ST Engineering to improve cyber resilience amongst SMEs. So, we welcome more partners to join us to create a robust ecosystem where enterprises and workers can thrive.

The Chairman: Mr Singh. Sorry, Minister Teo, you want to jump in now? For the first question, yes.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, in the nature of such botnet disruption operations, speed is of the essence and you want to be as comprehensive as possible. So, with those important considerations in mind, it is not possible to attempt even to inform all of the owners of the devices. Instead, what we regularly advise people to do is that as long as you have a device that is connected to the Internet, there are some hygiene practices that should be practised: changing the default password, restarting or rebooting regularly and enabling automatic firmware updates. These are the general guidance that apply to everyone.

And in cybersecurity there is also another term that we say and that is "assume breach". It is something that you just have to keep in mind. You have to be vigilant and assume that the device may well have been compromised, and you need to do something to clean it up regularly.

The Chairman: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh: Sir, following up on my cut and the Minister's response to my cut, I mean, if you compare the two titles that I referred to in my cut, CNA and Straits Times, both serious mainstream English publications, it would be inevitable that members of the public would have a view about which they would opine is of a higher quality. I do not think there is anything untoward about that.

The question that was the nub of the issue I was seeking to raise was on KPIs, which is the title of the cut. If I heard the Minister correctly, Minister said that reach is an important KPI, but not the only KPI. And I stand corrected if I am wrong, Minister then said that trust and satisfaction levels are KPIs that the Ministry was looking to introduce. So, can I confirm that those KPIs actually are not KPIs that are considered currently?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, when we set out to provide funding to any useful activity, we have to consider in that moment what are useful and effective ways to track performance and we do so very diligently. When funding was discussed in support of SPH Media Trust at the time, reach was one of the important KPIs. Over time, we also considered that engagement is important, is actually one of them, but in addition to that, we now think that trust as well as public satisfaction are just as important, so we will look to including them as part of the KPIs that we track for SPH Media Trust.

To the Member's question that he posed in his cut earlier, I should address it briefly too. He had asked about what goes into the Budget book. And I acknowledge his suggestions, which we will consider for the future, but just to say that, like all Ministries, it is not possible to list all of the KPIs. So, I seek Member's understanding for that. The important thing is that where SMT is concerned, they know very well that the KPIs are a very central feature of the conversations that we have, and they can feel it. So, that is something I want to say.

The comparison between ST and CNA, well, the fact of the matter is that opinions will differ. If you ask 10 people their views, probably you will get 15 at least. So, I think we take that as a given. We track how the public views the trustworthiness of these titles and we will continue to do so. And as I shared in my speech, as well as on other occasions, they compare very favourably.

The Chairman: Mr Alex Yam.

Mr Alex Yam: Thank you, Mr Chairman. Clarification for the Minister of State. She spoke at length earlier about the NLB as well as adoption of AI. As we know, AI is quite ubiquitous today, so how will NLB ensure that the adoption of AI remains respectful towards authors and content creators, and of course not diminish the value of creativity and hard work in coming out with content?

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Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Indeed, NLB sees Gen AI as a useful tool and seeks to provide the platforms and opportunities for both to be edified about it. But we are also respectful of the different interests. We do see strong public interest in the different AI prototypes. An example is the NLB's interactive ChatBook featuring S Rajaratnam, which was powered by Gen AI.

So, what NLB does is that it takes a measured approach to developing such prototypes and implements safeguards, such as using controlled datasets, securing copyrights and permissions from authors and creators to use their works, and carrying out extensive testing. This ensures that AI is used ethically and responsibly to complement, not replace, the efforts of authors and creators.

Through such prototypes, NLB also hopes to help visitors discover writers, stories and content and experience them in different ways.

The Chairman: Mr Gerald Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: Sir, I note that Minister of State Rahayu said that citizens who are less digitally-savvy can get in-person assistance. Can I confirm that all Government agencies are expected to provide in-person assistance for their e-services?

Second, can the Minister of State also confirm that all pollsters engaged by the Government are expected to disclose that they were commissioned by the Government and name the agency without being requested by the respondent?

Lastly, can the Ministry also look into publishing at least summaries of these public opinion surveys?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Mr Chairman, let me take the second and third questions.

In respect of the surveys, just to clarify, MDDI does not coordinate all surveys that are done by the Government because each Government agency will have to look at that individually. They will have different needs and may address different issues. So, we cannot confirm that.

It may be that, for some surveys, there may be a preference to have it as anonymised in that sense because the response, if you are told that it is something that is asked by the Government, may then not be accurate and may be skewed because if you are asked, say, for benefits, whether they should be improved or increased, without assessing the situation, the person might just respond because it is the Government, expecting that it should be changed, to just ask for more.

So, I think there are certain considerations which I would not want to assume, because different agencies may do it differently.

On the Member's third question, all surveys are done in the interest of the public. It is really, where possible, if the information that is garnered from those surveys is useful, we would want to put it up. We want to be as rich as possible so as to encourage public discussion.

But there are certain matters that may not be as suitable. Considerations include, let us say, some data include confidential or personal data that can be reidentified if it is put out there. There may be certain sensitivities in issues of, say, racial and religious issues, if we have done surveys on that and certain matters come up. And there may be certain understanding or contracts that we may have with certain agencies that we partner in doing some of those surveys.

So, there are different considerations for different surveys and, therefore, there is a different approach.

The Member had one more question. Yes, on our services. I think we endeavour as much as possible to make sure that there are alternatives and support. Like I said, we set up the ServiceSG centres for the purposes of that. As much as possible, we will endeavour to make sure that those who are in need, who are unable to access it, will be able to get the help they need. And I think that can be done in many different forms. So, if there are concerns highlighted to us, we will see how we can close those gaps.

The Chairman: I am sorry, we have run out of time, Ms Jessica Tan and Mr Ong Hua Han. Can I invite Ms Tin Pei Ling, if you would like to withdraw the amendment?

Ms Tin Pei Ling: I would like to express my sincere thanks to Minister Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary as well as Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How and Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam, as well as all the MDDI family officers. Thank you for the hard work. It is, indeed, a complex amount of work that has to be put in in order to position us well in the digital realm.

With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $2,956,698,500 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $103,188,200 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

The Chairman: We have sat in here for almost five hours. So, I propose to take a break now. Order.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 3.10 pm. Order.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 2.51 pm until 3.10 pm.

Sitting resumed at 3.10 pm

[Deputy Speaker (Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo) in the Chair]