Latest news with #JosephineTeo
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
French multinational Thales to launch AI centre in Singapore
Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo speaks at the France-Singapore Frontier Technologies Forum 2025 on May 30. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM SINGAPORE – French aerospace and defence giant Thales will set up a new artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Singapore to develop AI solutions for critical environments and strengthen its research and development capabilities. Solutions that are developed at the cortAIx (pronounced 'cortex') centre will benefit the company's global network, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at the France-Singapore Frontier Technologies Forum, held at the Fullerton Hotel on May 30. The Singapore centre will be Thales' fourth cortAIx site, after France, Canada and Britain, said Thales cortAIx factory vice-president Mickael Brossard. Launched in 2024, cortAIx is an initiative by the French firm to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence for aircraft, armed forces and critical infrastructure, bringing together experts in the sector. Thales, which has operated in Singapore since 1973 and currently conducts manufacturing and maintenance here, among other activities , also signed a deal with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore on May 30 to set up an International Avionics Lab here in 2026, to develop and test new solutions for air traffic management and airport operations. These agreements were among several between French and local organisations that were unveiled at the forum. Mrs Teo announced that France's National Centre for Scientific Research, through its centre at the National University of Singapore's Create facility, will participate in Singapore's National Robotics Programme to strengthen research in embodied AI. Embodied AI is the integration of artificial intelligence with physical systems. The collaboration will be supported with funding of $20 million, Mrs Teo said. (From left) Mistral AI VP Revenue Geoff Soon, cortAIx Factory VP Mickael Brossard, CNRS CEO and President Antoine Petit, HTC Assistant Chief Executive, Chief AI Officer Ang Chee Wee, ST Engineering Group CTO Lee Shiang Long and AI Singapore AI Innovation director Laurence Liew during a panel discussion at the France-Singapore Frontier Technologies Forum 2025 on May 30. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM Meanwhile, French start-up Mistral AI will partner with ST Engineering on applied AI engineering, she added. This comes on top of a tie-up between Mistral AI, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and Microsoft to enhance Home Team operations, announced on May 26. In January, the start-up said it had plans to set up a Singapore office. Mrs Teo also announced that aerospace giant Airbus will work with Singapore's Economic Development Board and the Infocomm Media Development Authority to jointly develop potential applications for a 5G-non-terrestrial network, in which satellites and other high-altitude platforms are used to extend 5G coverage and functionality. 'They aim to reduce time lag and quicken responsiveness of AI systems, so they can be deployed in more scenarios,' she said. French energy company Engie will also partner with transport operator SBS Transit on reducing the carbon footprint of public transport, Mrs Teo said. Singapore and France are both strong proponents of multilateralism, she said. 'Our world is becoming more fractious and unpredictable. Yet, Singapore and France have continued to support an open and inclusive trading system,' she said. 'While tariff-induced uncertainties persist, French businesses operating in Singapore can continue to benefit from the Asean Free Trade Area, which makes it more cost-effective for French businesses in Singapore to export and source goods from this region,' said Mrs Teo. Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, National Robotics Programme Executive Director (Designate) Tung Meng Fai, CNRS CEO and President Antoine Petit, and French Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz at the bilateral agreement presentation on May 30. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM Ms Clara Chappaz, France's Minister Delegate for artificial intelligence and digital technologies, said the two countries had a common mission not only to see technology develop, but to see it used for the common good. Speaking at the event, Minister-in-charge of Energy, and Science and Technology Tan See Leng noted that ties between the two countries were 'underpinned by strong economic cooperation that has grown steadily over the years'. Manpower Minister and Minister in charge of Energy and Science and Technology Tan See Leng speaking at the France-Singapore Frontier Technologies Forum 2025 on May 30. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM France is currently the Republic's second-largest goods trading partner and third-largest investor among EU member states, Dr Tan said, adding that more than 2,600 French firms operate here. 'Since the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) entered into force in 2019, bilateral goods trade has grown by around 10 per cent to exceed $21 billion in 2024. Bilateral services trade also expanded by around 20 per cent to surpass $8 billion in 2023,' he said. The announcements were made in conjunction with a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Singapore. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had earlier announced the two countries would upgrade their bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which would deepen cooperation in existing sectors as well expand collaboration in new areas such as decarbonisation. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Singapore's MERaLiON, Southeast Asia's empathetic Large Language Model, Breaks New Ground with Multilingual Processing and Emotional Intelligence
SINGAPORE, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At ATxSummit 2025, the flagship event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information (MDDI), unveiled updates to Singapore's Large Language Model - Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network (MERaLiON) - and launched the MERaLiON Consortium, a significant boost to Southeast Asia's AI capabilities. She also announced new global initiatives and collaborations which strengthen Singapore's AI ecosystem and accelerate responsible AI adoption, putting Singapore at the forefront of efforts to operationalise AI safety. MERaLiON breaks new ground with enhancements and new Global Partnerships MERaLiON, a large language model developed by A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I 2 R) and supported by IMDA, breaks new ground in regional AI capabilities with enhanced multilingual processing and emotional intelligence. The model now handles Malay, Tamil, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, and Vietnamese on top of English, Mandarin and Singlish, with advanced code-switching abilities and emotion recognition features. These improvements enable more intuitive and culturally aware AI applications in Southeast Asia, which could be applied to customer service, social service, and marketing. To accelerate adoption, IMDA and A*STAR I 2 R have launched the MERaLiON consortium, to bring together local and global industry players and research and development (R&D) institutions like HTX, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT), NCS, National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC), SPH Media and ST Engineering with technology companies like Axiom IT Solutions, BytePlus, CommonTown, DBS, Grab and Microsoft Singapore. The consortium will focus on developing practical AI applications, from multilingual customer support to health and emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems. Since its release in December 2024, MERaLiON's first version has garnered over 90,000 downloads globally, attracting users from corporate research labs, media service providers, startups, and academics. Advancing global conversations for a trusted AI ecosystem In the area of AI safety research, Singapore was the site of global cooperation in identifying and prioritising research domains through the "The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities" (The Singapore Consensus). This Consensus is a living document that will serve as the foundation for the ATxSG Government-to-Government (G2G) Ministerial Roundtable on Digital Trust which seeks to bridge science to policy, and translate technical research into practical policies, by facilitating meaningful conversations between AI scientists and policymakers. Singapore's enhanced AI Verify Testing Framework addresses both Generative AI (Gen AI) and traditional AI risks. In continued collaboration with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), we developed a crosswalk to map the enhanced Framework with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. This reaffirms the alignment between our two countries' AI governance frameworks and reflects our shared commitment to cooperation. Together, these initiatives underscore Singapore's commitment to building foundational infrastructure for AI safety development and testing that is grounded in scientific evidence to co-develop implementable, interoperable frameworks for responsible AI. Strengthening global digital trust partnerships Singapore's AI Safety Institute signed a Joint Statement with France's AI Safety Institute to kickstart collaboration and cooperation on AI safety and cooperation on 28 May 2025. The Joint statement was signed between MDDI, Mrs Josephine Teo, and French Minister Delegate of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologues, Mrs Clara Chappaz at ATx 2025. Singapore and US spearhead the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Certification for businesses to facilitate trusted cross border data flows, providing access to 9 economies with about 40 trillion in market size. This was developed by the Global CBPR Forum, of which Singapore serves as deputy chair. Companies can apply for the new Certification from 2 June 2025, which will allow organisations to demonstrate compliance with internationally recognised data protection standards. Singapore's Enigma Health partners with Roche and ST Engineering Enigma Health, a spinoff from SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, signed two strategic partnerships on 27 May 2025, with Roche and ST Engineering's Enterprise Digital to expand its capabilities. This was announced by Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information at the "Scaling and Sustaining Healthcare with Gen AI" symposium held at ATxSG. These two new partnerships will accelerate clinical trials, market access, insights and business intelligence to help with patients' care and access to novel drugs and digital technologies. Enigma Health's flagship product, Enigma, is Singapore's home-grown sovereign healthcare agentic AI platform developed by a team of clinicians and AI scientists to improve workflow optimisation, streamlining data-intensive and time-consuming processes while ensuring robust data security and regulatory compliance. It has been piloted at SingHealth institutions. IMDA and Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to combat telecommunications fraud across ASEAN. The MOU was exchanged between Ms Jasmin Lau, Minister of State at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, Chairman of the NBTC at the sidelines of ATxSG 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Singapore's MERaLiON, Southeast Asia's empathetic Large Language Model, Breaks New Ground with Multilingual Processing and Emotional Intelligence
Enhancements to MERaLiON will enable more intuitive and culturally aware AI applications in Southeast Asia and new Consortium with global partners to drive adoption Advancing global conversations through the Digital Ministers Roundtable and mapping of AI Verify Testing Framework and US NIST AI Risk Management Framework New sovereign healthcare agentic AI model, Enigma, sees significant results and partners with industry leaders to accelerate clinical trials and enhance patient care SINGAPORE, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At ATxSummit 2025, the flagship event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information (MDDI), unveiled updates to Singapore's Large Language Model - Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network (MERaLiON) - and launched the MERaLiON Consortium, a significant boost to Southeast Asia's AI capabilities. She also announced new global initiatives and collaborations which strengthen Singapore's AI ecosystem and accelerate responsible AI adoption, putting Singapore at the forefront of efforts to operationalise AI safety. MERaLiON breaks new ground with enhancements and new Global Partnerships MERaLiON, a large language model developed by A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I2R) and supported by IMDA, breaks new ground in regional AI capabilities with enhanced multilingual processing and emotional intelligence. The model now handles Malay, Tamil, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, and Vietnamese on top of English, Mandarin and Singlish, with advanced code-switching abilities and emotion recognition features. These improvements enable more intuitive and culturally aware AI applications in Southeast Asia, which could be applied to customer service, social service, and marketing. To accelerate adoption, IMDA and A*STAR I2R have launched the MERaLiON consortium, to bring together local and global industry players and research and development (R&D) institutions like HTX, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT), NCS, National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC), SPH Media and ST Engineering with technology companies like Axiom IT Solutions, BytePlus, CommonTown, DBS, Grab and Microsoft Singapore. The consortium will focus on developing practical AI applications, from multilingual customer support to health and emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems. Since its release in December 2024, MERaLiON's first version has garnered over 90,000 downloads globally, attracting users from corporate research labs, media service providers, startups, and academics. Advancing global conversations for a trusted AI ecosystem In the area of AI safety research, Singapore was the site of global cooperation in identifying and prioritising research domains through the "The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities" (The Singapore Consensus). This Consensus is a living document that will serve as the foundation for the ATxSG Government-to-Government (G2G) Ministerial Roundtable on Digital Trust which seeks to bridge science to policy, and translate technical research into practical policies, by facilitating meaningful conversations between AI scientists and policymakers. Singapore's enhanced AI Verify Testing Framework addresses both Generative AI (Gen AI) and traditional AI risks. In continued collaboration with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), we developed a crosswalk to map the enhanced Framework with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. This reaffirms the alignment between our two countries' AI governance frameworks and reflects our shared commitment to cooperation. Together, these initiatives underscore Singapore's commitment to building foundational infrastructure for AI safety development and testing that is grounded in scientific evidence to co-develop implementable, interoperable frameworks for responsible AI. Strengthening global digital trust partnerships Singapore's AI Safety Institute signed a Joint Statement with France's AI Safety Institute to kickstart collaboration and cooperation on AI safety and cooperation on 28 May 2025. The Joint statement was signed between MDDI, Mrs Josephine Teo, and French Minister Delegate of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologues, Mrs Clara Chappaz at ATx 2025. Singapore and US spearhead the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Certification for businesses to facilitate trusted cross border data flows, providing access to 9 economies with about 40 trillion in market size. This was developed by the Global CBPR Forum, of which Singapore serves as deputy chair. Companies can apply for the new Certification from 2 June 2025, which will allow organisations to demonstrate compliance with internationally recognised data protection standards. Singapore's Enigma Health partners with Roche and ST Engineering Enigma Health, a spinoff from SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, signed two strategic partnerships on 27 May 2025, with Roche and ST Engineering's Enterprise Digital to expand its capabilities. This was announced by Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information at the "Scaling and Sustaining Healthcare with Gen AI" symposium held at ATxSG. These two new partnerships will accelerate clinical trials, market access, insights and business intelligence to help with patients' care and access to novel drugs and digital technologies. Enigma Health's flagship product, Enigma, is Singapore's home-grown sovereign healthcare agentic AI platform developed by a team of clinicians and AI scientists to improve workflow optimisation, streamlining data-intensive and time-consuming processes while ensuring robust data security and regulatory compliance. It has been piloted at SingHealth institutions. Singapore-Thailand alliance strengthens ASEAN's fight against telecom scams IMDA and Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to combat telecommunications fraud across ASEAN. The MOU was exchanged between Ms Jasmin Lau, Minister of State at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, Chairman of the NBTC at the sidelines of ATxSG 2025. CONTACT: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore Sign in to access your portfolio
CNA
4 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Singapore unveils locally developed AI language model MERaLiON
Singapore is exploring the use of its locally developed language model, MERaLiON, in functions like customer support and eldercare, thanks to its ability to understand a wider range of Southeast Asian languages. The model was unveiled at the Asia Tech Summit, a conference bringing together industry leaders. 12 organisations, from sectors such as health and banking, are working to research and develop practical uses for MERaLiON. Meanwhile, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo said Singapore will continue to drive AI adoption across businesses. Nicolas Ng reports.
CNA
4 days ago
- Business
- CNA
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.'
