Josephine Teo unveils enhanced Singapore AI language model, encourages workers to boost basic AI skills
SINGAPORE: An enhanced version of a locally developed large language model now understands more Southeast Asian languages and possesses code-switching and emotion recognition capabilities.
The updated version of the Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network (MERaLiON) is able to handle Malay, Tamil, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia and Vietnamese, on top of English, Mandarin and Singlish.
Developed by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the upgrades were announced by Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at tech event ATxSummit.
The upgrades make MERaLiON relevant to about 450 million people who use the languages on a day-to-day basis, said Mrs Teo during the unveiling on Wednesday (May 28).
'Furthermore, it understands sentences containing a mix of languages, which is very common in multicultural societies,' she added, referring to the model's code-switching abilities.
It can also understand emotions, cultures and communication styles.
A*STAR and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) established a consortium for industry players to research and develop practical uses for the technology.
The platform will focus on developing practical artificial intelligence applications including multilingual customer support, emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems.
Continued enhancements will allow the technology to be applied more widely across Southeast Asia, and across a variety of industries such as customer service, social work and marketing.
For example, MERaLiON could be used in elderly care by analysing emotional cues during well-being calls and alerting caregivers to warning signs for timely intervention.
Developers are exploring including Chinese dialects for future releases.
Since its initial release in December last year, the first version has been downloaded more than 90,000 times.
AI REGULATION
During the event, Mrs Teo, who is also the Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, announced new global initiatives and collaborations to strengthen Singapore's AI ecosystem and encourage responsible AI adoption.
When it comes to AI regulation, Mrs Teo said a 'blunderbuss approach' will not serve Singapore's interests well. Instead, she said authorities need to examine specific risks related to specific uses, before putting laws and guidelines in place.
For example, targeted measures should be taken to deal with AI being used to generate content to shape people's views during elections, Mrs Teo added.
However, 'if the AI is used to generate content used for entertainment that is generally not harmful, that doesn't create misunderstanding for children, there is very little reason to … regulate it at the outset,' she told CNA.
'Will the time come for us to have more omnibus kind of legislation and regulation? It's a little too early to say.'
Mrs Teo said Singapore will take a nuanced approach to regulation, backed by research, as the nation continues its efforts to align with international AI governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI development and use.
AI SKILLS AT WORK
As AI becomes indispensable in the workplace, there are also concerns that workers could lag behind.
Mrs Teo encouraged employees to take initiative to have a basic understanding of AI.
'If you've got a career assignment to another country, even if your work doesn't require you to speak the local language, you'll know that there is value in acquiring the capability to do so,' she said.
'Think of AI like that. In the new landscape of work, you are going to use AI in one way or the other. It's good to take ownership of this challenge, to learn some basic AI skills.'
But the rise of AI will also mean increased demand for professionals with specialised skills, and Mrs Teo said Singapore will need to boost support for formalised training to support businesses' AI needs.
She said the drive for AI adoption and innovation is strong in Singapore, despite a tense geopolitical environment where tech is seeing intense competition among major players.
'At the moment, geopolitical contestation isn't a binding constraint,' she said.
'The momentum is very encouraging. The innovations are coming. It should motivate us to continue to expand the reach of AI to more businesses … We will ensure there is enough of the support to keep this going.'
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