Singapore's twin engine approach to Al regulation

Equal emphasis is given to supporting Al adoption and consumer protection.

- Yeong Zee Kin

As AI creeps into every facet of daily life, its deployment and development have raised new issues for policymakers to consider. These include how copyright and data protection laws apply to web scraping. The opacity of platform algorithms assigning jobs to gig workers or setting prices for consumers is another brewing problem.

The European Union Artificial Intelligence Act's recent entry into force on Aug 1 adds to a growing collection of laws that regulate AI.

Three archetypes have emerged globally. There are targeted laws that regulate the use of AI for specific industry applications for example, both China and the EU have introduced regulation of recommendation systems deployed by online platforms.

Another archetype is the extension of data protection laws to regulate AI whenever personal data is used. Finally, the EU AI Act is an overarching law that regulates AI systems according to the risks they pose.

The question arises then as to what is Singapore's approach on regulation in this rapidly developing field.

Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo recently said that there are no immediate plans to introduce overarching laws to regulate AI.

But that does not mean there is no regulatory intervention.

The preference is to rely on existing laws to address harms associated with AI and, if necessary, update them to address inadequacies. For example, misinformation laws cover both human-altered images and Al-created deepfakes; and the updated Penal Code can deal with sextortion using both intimate images as well as deepfakes.

Underlying this approach is the assumption that AI is merely a tool.