Singapore government running trials to understand how to implement AI agents responsibly: Tan Kiat How

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government is running trials and experiments to understand what it takes to implement agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems responsibly, said Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How on Wednesday (Oct 7).In response to parliamentary questions about the safety requirements for AI models, he said the government is reviewing and strengthening its frameworks and systems to account for the increasingly autonomous agentic AI systems, while monitoring global developments in the emerging sector.“We are developing capabilities to go beyond existing frameworks and approaches. We are running trials, experiments to stay abreast of the evolving technology and to understand what it takes to implement agentic systems responsibly,” said Mr Tan in response to a question from MP Charlene Chen (PAP-Tampines).Mr Tan said that many government agencies, such as the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), are doing so with the right safeguards and responsibly. “I encourage all private sector organisations, even those who are not running critical information infrastructure or essential digital services, to also take appropriate care and responsibility when deploying AI agents or systems within their operations,” he added.Mr Tan said that agentic AI systems, which can execute actions, interact with external systems and adapt their behaviour to reduce human oversight, present both opportunities and risks.“We should recognise that many risks arising from agentic AI and some of the autonomous systems that the member has alluded to are extensions of existing challenges,” he said.Existing guidelines and regulations, including risk management processes and oversight, also apply to agentic AI systems, he added.This includes the principle of maintaining human accountability, implementing sufficient controls and guardrails, as well as efforts to strengthen cybersecurity to protect the systems that AI agents interact with, he said.“Of course, we are reviewing how to adapt and strengthen these frameworks and systems to account for the increased autonomy of agentic systems, while also monitoring international developments in this emerging field,” said Mr Tan.Mr Tan also welcomed frontier AI companies to take greater responsibility in understanding and managing the risks arising from the systems that they develop, including identifying emerging capabilities and risks early and putting in place safeguards before they are widely deployed.“Where these systems or the AI frontier models' capabilities have caused harm or have caused impact on others, we certainly welcome that they take responsibility and to rectify the issue as soon as possible,” he said.A GLOBAL PROBLEMThe safe use of frontier AI models is an issue being tackled globally, as AI labs face mounting scrutiny over rogue activity.A string of high-profile breaches by AI agents in recent months has sparked widespread worries within the industry over its ability to control the more powerful AI models now under development.Last week, OpenAI informed over 100 organisations about incidents involving unauthorised activity tied to its AI agents.On Tuesday, OpenAI and Anthropic told the Australian parliament they would welcome laws requiring them to report data breaches carried out by their AI agents, acknowledging the decision to notify authorities was currently at their discretion.The comments followed an outcry after OpenAI took months to inform the Australian government that one of its agents had breached the country's main health portal.On Tuesday, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said in a written parliamentary reply that Singapore is studying whether new safety measures are needed in high-risk uses of AI, as increasingly capable and autonomous AI systems create new risks that existing safeguards may not fully address.In essential services and other higher-risk AI uses, these safeguards could include more rigorous testing, independently verifiable evidence that safety measures work, tighter controls on deployment and stronger regulatory oversight, she said.Mrs Teo also said that there has been no reported cyber attack against government agencies involving an unsupervised AI agent so far.But the government does not dismiss “catastrophic or even extinction-level” AI risks, nor assume that they will materialise, she added.Its approach is to monitor evidence closely, build technical capabilities to understand advanced AI systems, and work internationally on measures to address severe risks as the evidence develops.Last week, Mrs Teo also took to social media to share that safeguards put in place by frontier AI companies are important but insufficient to address the risks posed by increasingly capable systems.She said that malicious users could misuse increasingly powerful AI to cause harm, such as by looking for weaknesses in computer systems, writing malicious code, automating parts of cyberattacks and making scams more convincing.