Strengthening AI governance in Singapore: (1) Safety guidelines for Generative AI model developers and application deployers, (2) expanded PET sandbox, and (3) ASEAN guide on data anonymisation

30 July 2024

On 15 July 2024, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo gave an opening address at the Personal Data Protection Week in which she highlighted three practical steps that the Singapore Government is taking to strengthen artificial intelligence (“AI”) governance.

New safety guidelines for Generative AI model developers and application deployers

This set of guidelines, which will be part of the AI Verify framework, seeks to establish a baseline, common standard through transparency and testing. The guidelines will recommend that developers and deployers be transparent with users by providing information on how Generative AI (“Gen AI”) models and applications work, such as the data used, the results of testing and evaluation, and the residual risks and limitations that the model or application may have. The guidelines will also outline safety and trustworthy attributes that should be tested before deployment of the models or applications to address issues such as hallucination, toxic statements, and even bias content.

The Info-communications Media Development Authority (“IMDA”) will consult the industry on these guidelines to ensure they are relevant and robust.

Supporting more use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (“PETs”) in AI

To encourage more use cases for Gen AI, IMDA’s PET Sandbox will be expanded to support projects belonging to a new archetype, which is “Data Use for Generative AI”. Through the PETs Sandbox, the Personal Data Protection Commission (“PDPC”) has regularly published regulatory guidance to companies. PDPC has also issued technology guides to help businesses understand when and how to use PETs, starting with guidelines on data anonymisation. On 15 July 2024, PDPC released a Proposed Guide on Synthetic Data Generation. For more on the new guide, please see our article “PDPC publishes proposed guide on synthetic data generation” in this issue of the Legal Bulletin.

Adopting regional approach towards shaping development of standards with new ASEAN Guide on Data Anonymisation

A new ASEAN Guide on Data Anonymisation will be released in early 2025. It will serve as an important and practical resource for businesses in ASEAN looking to anonymise data for greater and more responsible use of data across the region.

Reference materials

The opening address is available on the Ministry of Digital Development and Information website www.mddi.gov.sg.