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

The government is reviewing and strengthening its frameworks to account for increasingly autonomous agentic AI systems, said Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How.

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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.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less “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.

“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.

The government is reviewing how it can adapt and strengthen its frameworks and systems in the face of the risks from agentic and autonomous AI systems, while monitoring international developments in this emerging field. Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How, who said this in reply to MPs’ questions in parliament on Wednesday (Oct 7), pointed out that these are existing risks and the government is reviewing how to strengthen its frameworks. It has also developed its own internal capabilities to go beyond existing frameworks and approaches, such as running trials and experiments to stay abreast of the evolving technology.

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.

The 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.

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数字发展及新闻部高级政务部长陈杰豪表示，政府正在审查和加强其框架，以应对日益自主的人工智能系统。

一名正在使用笔记本电脑的人。（图片：iStock）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：新加坡数码发展及新闻部高级政务部长陈杰豪周三（10月7日）表示，新加坡政府正在进行试验和实验，以了解如何负责任地实施智能人工智能（AI）系统。

针对议会关于人工智能模型安全要求的质询，他表示，政府正在审查和加强其框架和系统，以应对日益自主的人工智能系统，同时密切关注这一新兴领域的全球发展。

“我们正在发展超越现有框架和方法的能力。我们正在进行试验和实验，以跟上不断发展的技术，并了解如何负责任地实施智能体系统，”陈先生在回答国会议员陈嘉玲（人民行动党-淡滨尼）的提问时说道。

陈先生表示，许多政府机构，例如新加坡政府科技局（GovTech），都在采取适当的保障措施，以负责任的态度开展这项工作。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小谜题，大脑筋急转弯 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 “我鼓励所有私营部门组织，即使是那些不运营关键信息基础设施或重要数字服务的组织，在在其运营中部署人工智能代理或系统时，也应采取适当的谨慎和责任，”他补充道。

“我鼓励所有私营部门组织，即使是那些不运营关键信息基础设施或重要数字服务的组织，在在其运营中部署人工智能代理或系统时，也要采取适当的谨慎和责任措施，”他补充道。

面对智能体和自主人工智能系统带来的风险，政府正在审视如何调整和加强其框架和系统，同时密切关注这一新兴领域的国际发展动态。数字发展及新闻部高级政务部长陈杰豪周三（10月7日）在国会答复议员质询时表示，这些风险确实存在，政府正在审视如何加强其框架。政府也已发展自身内部能力，以超越现有框架和方法，例如开展试验和实验，从而紧跟不断发展的技术。

谭先生表示，能够执行动作、与外部系统交互并调整自身行为以减少人为监督的智能人工智能系统，既带来了机遇，也带来了风险。

他说：“我们应该认识到，这位议员提到的由智能体人工智能和一些自主系统带来的许多风险，都是现有挑战的延伸。”

他还补充说，现有的指导方针和法规，包括风险管理流程和监督，也适用于智能人工智能系统。

他表示，这包括维护人类问责制的原则、实施足够的控制和防护措施，以及加强网络安全以保护人工智能代理与之交互的系统。

“当然，我们正在研究如何调整和加强这些框架和系统，以适应智能体系统日益增强的自主性，同时也在关注这一新兴领域的国际发展，”谭先生说。

陈先生也欢迎前沿人工智能公司承担更大的责任，了解和管理他们开发的系统所带来的风险，包括及早发现新兴能力和风险，并在广泛部署之前采取保障措施。

他说：“如果这些系统或人工智能前沿模型的功能对他人造成了伤害或影响，我们当然欢迎他们承担责任并尽快纠正问题。”

安全使用前沿人工智能模型是全球正在努力解决的问题，因为人工智能实验室正因违规活动而面临越来越严格的审查。

近几个月来，人工智能代理发生的一系列备受瞩目的安全漏洞事件，引发了业内人士对人工智能代理能否控制目前正在开发的更强大的人工智能模型的广泛担忧。

上周，OpenAI 向 100 多个组织通报了与其 AI 代理相关的未经授权活动事件。

周二，OpenAI 和 Anthropic 向澳大利亚议会表示，他们欢迎要求他们报告其人工智能代理所进行的数据泄露的法律，并承认目前是否通知当局由他们自行决定。

此前，OpenAI 花了数月时间才通知澳大利亚政府，其一名代理人入侵了该国的主要健康门户网站，此事引发了公众的强烈抗议。

周二，新加坡数码发展及新闻部长杨莉明在国会书面答复中表示，新加坡正在研究在人工智能高风险应用中是否需要新的安全措施，因为功能日益强大且自主的人工智能系统会产生新的风险，而现有的安全措施可能无法完全应对这些风险。

她表示，在关键服务和其他高风险人工智能应用领域，这些保障措施可能包括更严格的测试、可独立验证的安全措施有效性证据、更严格的部署控制和更强有力的监管。

张女士还表示，迄今为止，尚未有报道称政府机构遭到涉及不受监管的人工智能代理的网络攻击。

但她补充说，政府既不忽视人工智能带来的“灾难性甚至灭绝性”风险，也不认为这些风险一定会发生。

其方法是密切监测证据，建立理解先进人工智能系统的技术能力，并随着证据的发展，在国际上合作采取措施应对严重风险。

上周，张女士也在社交媒体上表示，前沿人工智能公司采取的保障措施固然重要，但不足以应对日益强大的系统带来的风险。

她表示，恶意用户可能会滥用日益强大的人工智能来造成危害，例如寻找计算机系统中的漏洞、编写恶意代码、自动化网络攻击的部分过程以及使诈骗更具说服力。

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