Singapore studying stronger safeguards for high-risk AI uses as systems grow more autonomous: Josephine Teo

Singapore’s approach is to deliberately limit what AI agents can do and to presume that malicious actors will use AI to cause harm more cheaply, quickly and at scale, she said.

She added that there has been no reported cyber attack against government agencies involving an unsupervised AI agent so far.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) use AI to strengthen the security of government systems and critical information infrastructure, said Mrs Teo.

This includes identifying vulnerabilities and potential threats more quickly.

CSA has also strengthened cybersecurity requirements for operators of critical information infrastructure, shared intelligence on active threats for them to take pre-emptive action, and given practical guidance to strengthen cyber defences and secure AI systems, she said.

The government is also looking into how existing channels for reporting cyber incidents through CSA, GovTech and sector leads can be better leveraged to identify incidents involving AI, support remediation and improve safeguards.

It is also looking into whether further coordination or reporting arrangements are needed, she said.