Singapore could introduce AI agents to help improve public services: Josephine Teo

SINGAPORE: Artificial intelligence (AI) agents, or software systems using AI to autonomously complete tasks on behalf of users, could be used to help improve Singapore’s public services in the years to come, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo on Thursday (Aug 28).

Delivering the keynote address at a Google Cloud conference, Mrs Teo said that this could be in the form of helping social workers provide basic guidance to clients in meeting administrative requirements, or to help business owners navigate through the process of identifying which government agency they need to deal with.

She also announced that Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech) will be working with Google's cloud computing platform on a sandbox to experiment with agentic AI and test agentic solutions for public sector use cases.

This is part of Singapore’s continued efforts to learn and grow with AI and authorities will continue to seek out partners to "push the boundaries" of AI adoption, she said.

“From the sandbox, we hope to better understand how to interact with agentic AI and build confidence to capture its value for the public good.”

Agentic AI refers to the broader field of AI that develops the various individual agents to pursue goals and not just follow rules and commands.

It “opens up new layers of possibilities” in the way humans interact with AI, added Mrs Teo.

“Agents can already act as simple assistants - following up on our instructions to analyse data, draft emails or navigate websites to search for information,” she said.

“More sophisticated agents can implement a series of instructions within complex workflows. They can combine tasks and determine the next steps based on the results of the earlier tasks ... With increased sophistication, the potential for productivity improvements and value enhancements also grows."

DEPLOYMENT IN A "SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE WAY"

While these developments present new possibilities, Mrs Teo said that authorities will also need to study issues which may arise.

“As with all emerging technologies, the government believes we need first to understand how they work and why mistakes happen,” she said.

“With AI agents, there are valid concerns about unintended actions, and we need to pay even more attention to governance.”

Questions such as what provisions AI agents should be given, when humans should be in the loop and who should be held accountable should things not go "as expected", all deserve “careful” consideration, said the minister.

“MDDI will play an active role in ensuring that agentic capabilities are developed and deployed in a safe and responsible way, so that our public officers and citizens can work with these tools confidently,” she added.

At the same time, the use of AI is not new to the public service, said Mrs Teo. 

She pointed out that about one-third of Singapore’s 150,000 public officers now regularly use Pair, the government’s AI chatbot, to  enhance their "productivity, writing and research".

At the conference, Google Cloud also showcased partnerships with various local organisations including DBS Bank, GovTech and FairPrice Group.

As part of an expansion of its collaboration with FairPrice Group, three in-store AI assistants have been launched at the FairPrice Finest outlet in Punggol Digital District, which opened on Thursday.

There, shoppers can make usure of a shopping assistant integrated into “smart carts” which provides personalised product recommendations, a wellness assistant designed to promote healthier living, and a digital wine sommelier helping customers discover and select wines.