Latest news with #LorettaYuen
Business Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
New initiatives to facilitate cross-border data transfer and multimodal AI model Meralion
[SINGAPORE] New initiatives to facilitate cross-border data transfer and artificial intelligence (AI) safety were among the slew of announcements by the Infocomm and Media Authority of Singapore on Wednesday (May 28). A new Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) certification was announced, which would give businesses certainty in international data transfers. The certification would show compliance with internationally recognised data protection standards. This new certification is built on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) CBPR certification. OCBC is among the 100 Apec CBPR-certified organisations expected to benefit. At the start, the global CBPR certification will give access to nine economies – US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Canada, Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Mexico. The global CBPR certification will take effect on Jun 2. 'Robust safeguards and a uniform framework for personal data across borders are crucial for secure and efficient data flows,' said Loretta Yuen, head of group legal and compliance, OCBC. A new version of a multimodal large language model developed by A*Star – Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network (Meralion) – was also launched on Wednesday. Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo announced that a consortium for Meralion will be established in a speech at ATX Singapore. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) will partner companies such as DBS, Grab, ST Engineering, NCS, SPH Media Trust as well as the Ministry of Health to harness expertise in the ecosystem, share learnings and accelerate adoption,' she said. Meralion can understand emotions, context and intent across South-east Asia's multiple languages and cultures such as English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Vietnamese. Version one was downloaded more than 90,000 times since its launch in December 2024. 'Understanding local nuance, context and culture isn't just a technical challenge – it's a human one,' said Bidyut Dumra, group head of innovation, DBS. The consortium will priorities three areas: Multilingual customers support: enabling seamless natural communication across languages and dialects Health and emotional insight detection: analysing speech and text for emotional cues Agentic decision-making: making AI agents aware of context and cultural sensitivity The consortium will aggregate demand and reduce costs, while sharing data and technical insights to improve Meralion's performance. Tools, training and developer resources will be built to accelerate implementation, and consortium members will develop real-world proof-of-concepts together for deployment. 'As a news media company, we recognise the importance of embracing technologies that can enhance user experience, and in so doing allow us to reach and engage audiences more effectively,' said Loh Yuh Yiing, chief operating officer of SPH Media.
Finextra
28-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Singapore ponders caning punishment for scammers
Singapore is considering drastic action to tackle its scam epidemic - the introduction of caning for offenders. 0 Singaporeans lost an average of $4031 each to scams in 2023, putting the island state top of the global league table, according to the Financial Times. This is ascribed to their prosperity, embrace of digital services and compliance with authority. The country is now pondering a new way to deter potential scammers: corporal punishment. In response to a suggestion in parliament, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling recently said: 'We will consider Dr Tan's suggestion for caning to be prescribed for certain scam-related offences, recognising the serious harm they can cause.' Loretta Yuen, chair of the fraud committee at the Association of Banks in Singapore is backing the idea, telling the FT: "We believe in caning as a strong deterrent." Adds Yuen: 'It's a deterrent, but there is also a sense of revenge to it.'
