SAF Looking to AI to Reduce Training Risks, Says Ng Eng Hen

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to make military training safer, for instance, by identifying risks in real time as soldiers go through exercises.

- Hariz Baharudin

Outgoing Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the SAF's highly structured training makes it well suited for AI applications, as large amounts of data are generated from repeated drills under similar conditions.

"You have a format, and many, many units go through it. When you think about that process, that is gathering data. The same set of circumstances, but different data. And the more data you get, that is your data bank," he told reporters in an interview on May 13, ahead of his retirement from politics.

"The more soldiers go through that live firing or exercises, it builds your data bank. And that is the beginning of machine learning."

Dr Ng said that with enough data, AI models can be trained to identify patterns of risk or safety lapses. This could allow the SAF to flag high-risk activities or even intervene in real time if soldiers stray outside safe parameters during exercises.

While such technology still needs to be tested, he said AI "lends itself perfectly" to SAF training, offering an additional layer of safety to complement human supervision.