Latest news with #ATxSummit
Korea Herald
10-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Asia Tech x Singapore 2025 Recap
SINGAPORE, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At the recent ATxSummit, the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) 2025, organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), key global and regional efforts around AI, LLM models, AI adoption for enterpise and upskilling for talent were announced. Building a trusted AI ecosystem is a key focus for Singapore, as maximal adoption and innovation can happen, leading to greater productivity and societal benefits. Singapore has been influencing global norms for AI through: Advancing AI science locally and globally "The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities", The Singapore Consensus, was presented at the Ministerial Roundtable to bridge research and policies on AI safety. This anchors on science-based evidence to identify priorities to build trusted, reliable and secure AI and translates research into policies to ensure responsible development and use of AI. IMDA has been working with global partners to develop practical and implementable frameworks e.g. IMDA's enhanced AI Verify Testing Framework now addresses GenAI risks and aligns with US NIST standards, streamlining AI governance across both markets. Singapore and US will spearhead the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Certification for businesses to facilitate trusted cross border data flows. This provides businesses with access to 9 economies with about 40 trillion in market size. Providing practical testing guidance and tools with AI Verify Foundation Globally, there is a growing need to test and prototype AI in real-world setting and the Global AI Assurance Pilot has brought together expert testers and companies from around the world to work through use cases. The pilot gained strong local and international interest. 16 specialist AI testers were paired with 17 GenAI deployers from 10 different industries. The valuable insights will influence global norms for AI. Announced on 29 May, IMDA develops first-of-its-kind Testing Starter Kit for Gen AI Applications, offering practical testing guidance for businesses developing or using GenAI apps. Open-sourcing practical testing toolkits such as the Testing Starter Kit help companies test the performance and reliability of AI models in their business context. Catalysing innovation to real-world deployment The regional-language LLMs developed through the National Multimodal Large Language Model Programme supported by IMDA includes the text-based SEA-LION LLM, and the multimodal MERaLiON LLM. Announced on 28 May, MERaLiON (Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network) developed by A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) is Southeast Asia (SEA)'s empathetic Multimodal LLM, designed to understand the region's diverse languages, cultures, and communication styles. MERaLiON's first version garnered over 90,000 downloads globally since its release in Dec 2024, attracting users from corporate research labs, media service providers, startups, and academics. MERaLiON Version 2 features upgrades like wider coverage of Southeast Asian languages, code-switching capabilities, being emotionally intelligent and paralinguistic understanding. These improvements pave the way for more intuitive and culturally aware AI apps in SEA. This would help businesses build products and services in SEA that are catered for cultural nuances to enhance their service and engagement with customers. Through such projects, Singapore and SEA can retain a distinct voice and identity in this digital age. A*STAR I 2 R and IMDA launched the new MERaLiON Consortium to harness expertise in the ecosystem, and forge partnership among organisations, end users, R&D, technology players to accelerate learning and adoption to develop practical AI apps (e.g. from multilingual customer support to health and emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems). For critical fields like healthcare – SingHealth, the largest healthcare group in Singapore, announced that Enigma, Singapore's agentic healthcare AI, co-developed by clinicians and AI scientists, signed Memorandum of Understandings with Roche and ST Engineering to expand the reach and use of Enigma. Frontier tech is making headway and Singapore is working with enterprises and talent to level up IMDA is working with enterprises to turbocharge their adoption of tech through initiatives tailored to their levels of digital maturity. By embracing digital, businesses can cut costs, enhance productivity, venture new product lines and markets. Last year, Singapore launched the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB), a roadmap to help SMEs stay ahead of the curve by incorporating tech like AI, Cloud, Cyber Resilience into their operations. On 27 May, Singapore announced three new partnerships with Alibaba Cloud, Prudential Singapore, and ST Engineering Info under DEB to uplift the digital capabilities like AI, cloud technologies and cyber resilience. IMDA is enhancing its partnership with tech giants like AWS and Microsoft via the GenAI x Digital Leaders Programme to turbo-charge access to tech expertise/resources, advisory on projects, business impact and implementation support for digitally mature SMEs. In tandem, Singapore is meeting the growing demand for talent by training and reskilling tech talent. IMDA secured 400 job and training opportunities under TechSkills Accelerator where locals can take on AI Practitioner roles with leading companies such as AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and SingTel. Announced on 27 May, IMDA is expanding the effort and partnering AI Singapore and leading companies to provide another 400 more AI Practitioner job and training opportunities for locals. These 800 new training opportunities aim to accelerate the pipeline of AI practitioners and enable locals to take on higher-value work in frontier companies.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Asia Tech x Singapore 2025 Recap
SINGAPORE, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At the recent ATxSummit, the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) 2025, organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), key global and regional efforts around AI, LLM models, AI adoption for enterpise and upskilling for talent were announced. Building a trusted AI ecosystem is a key focus for Singapore, as maximal adoption and innovation can happen, leading to greater productivity and societal benefits. Singapore has been influencing global norms for AI through: Advancing AI science locally and globally "The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities", The Singapore Consensus, was presented at the Ministerial Roundtable to bridge research and policies on AI safety. This anchors on science-based evidence to identify priorities to build trusted, reliable and secure AI and translates research into policies to ensure responsible development and use of AI. IMDA has been working with global partners to develop practical and implementable frameworks e.g. IMDA's enhanced AI Verify Testing Framework now addresses GenAI risks and aligns with US NIST standards, streamlining AI governance across both markets. Singapore and US will spearhead the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Certification for businesses to facilitate trusted cross border data flows. This provides businesses with access to 9 economies with about 40 trillion in market size. Providing practical testing guidance and tools with AI Verify Foundation Globally, there is a growing need to test and prototype AI in real-world setting and the Global AI Assurance Pilot has brought together expert testers and companies from around the world to work through use cases. The pilot gained strong local and international interest. 16 specialist AI testers were paired with 17 GenAI deployers from 10 different industries. The valuable insights will influence global norms for AI. Announced on 29 May, IMDA develops first-of-its-kind Testing Starter Kit for Gen AI Applications, offering practical testing guidance for businesses developing or using GenAI apps. Open-sourcing practical testing toolkits such as the Testing Starter Kit help companies test the performance and reliability of AI models in their business context. Catalysing innovation to real-world deployment The regional-language LLMs developed through the National Multimodal Large Language Model Programme supported by IMDA includes the text-based SEA-LION LLM, and the multimodal MERaLiON LLM. Announced on 28 May, MERaLiON (Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network) developed by A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) is Southeast Asia (SEA)'s empathetic Multimodal LLM, designed to understand the region's diverse languages, cultures, and communication styles. MERaLiON's first version garnered over 90,000 downloads globally since its release in Dec 2024, attracting users from corporate research labs, media service providers, startups, and academics. MERaLiON Version 2 features upgrades like wider coverage of Southeast Asian languages, code-switching capabilities, being emotionally intelligent and paralinguistic understanding. These improvements pave the way for more intuitive and culturally aware AI apps in SEA. This would help businesses build products and services in SEA that are catered for cultural nuances to enhance their service and engagement with customers. Through such projects, Singapore and SEA can retain a distinct voice and identity in this digital age. A*STAR I2R and IMDA launched the new MERaLiON Consortium to harness expertise in the ecosystem, and forge partnership among organisations, end users, R&D, technology players to accelerate learning and adoption to develop practical AI apps (e.g. from multilingual customer support to health and emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems). For critical fields like healthcare – SingHealth, the largest healthcare group in Singapore, announced that Enigma, Singapore's agentic healthcare AI, co-developed by clinicians and AI scientists, signed Memorandum of Understandings with Roche and ST Engineering to expand the reach and use of Enigma. Frontier tech is making headway and Singapore is working with enterprises and talent to level up IMDA is working with enterprises to turbocharge their adoption of tech through initiatives tailored to their levels of digital maturity. By embracing digital, businesses can cut costs, enhance productivity, venture new product lines and markets. Last year, Singapore launched the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB), a roadmap to help SMEs stay ahead of the curve by incorporating tech like AI, Cloud, Cyber Resilience into their operations. On 27 May, Singapore announced three new partnerships with Alibaba Cloud, Prudential Singapore, and ST Engineering Info under DEB to uplift the digital capabilities like AI, cloud technologies and cyber resilience. IMDA is enhancing its partnership with tech giants like AWS and Microsoft via the GenAI x Digital Leaders Programme to turbo-charge access to tech expertise/resources, advisory on projects, business impact and implementation support for digitally mature SMEs. In tandem, Singapore is meeting the growing demand for talent by training and reskilling tech talent. IMDA secured 400 job and training opportunities under TechSkills Accelerator where locals can take on AI Practitioner roles with leading companies such as AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and SingTel. Announced on 27 May, IMDA is expanding the effort and partnering AI Singapore and leading companies to provide another 400 more AI Practitioner job and training opportunities for locals. These 800 new training opportunities aim to accelerate the pipeline of AI practitioners and enable locals to take on higher-value work in frontier companies. CONTACT: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNA
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
An app to 'talk' to a kebaya? Peranakan Museum partners with OpenAI to let you do just that
Museum visits can be semi-intimidating. You listen to a passionate docent tell you about an artefact's rich history. Then at the end of the tour, they ask: Any questions? You have several. Why is a vase pink? Why does the man look so sad in the photograph? Why do these people have their portrait displayed in a museum? But of course, you don't ask. Because you don't want to come off stupid. Instead, you ask how the artefact influenced a certain ethic group's identity in modern day. It makes you sound well-informed, you believe. But a museum visit should encourage curiosity, not stem it. And it's this belief that forms the basis of artificial intelligence (AI) organisation OpenAI's first museum partnership in Asia with Singapore's Peranakan Museum, announced at the OpenAI Forum during tech event ATxSummit on Thursday (May 29). The pilot collaboration with Ask Mona – a French AI studio that uses an OpenAI large language model to enhance cultural experiences – will allow visitors to 'speak' with certain museum artefacts via AI-generated conversations on Ask Mona's web app, accessible on any mobile device. It will be available till Jul 6. Selected artefacts include traditional Peranakan attire, a kamcheng jar (a type of porcelain storage jar that's often decorated) and several pictures depicting various aspects and key personalities of Peranakan culture. For instance, with the kebaya, I posed Ask Mona a question one may hesitate to ask out loud: 'Why does a kebaya look so uncomfortable to wear?' Its response, generated after a few seconds, read: 'The kebaya might seem uncomfortable due to its form-fitting design. This style became popular in the 1930s. 'The kebaya is often made with translucent European fabrics. These fabrics can appear delicate and restrictive. Historically, it was a loose-fitting garment, evolving over time. Its design reflects a blend of cultural influences, making it unique. 'The kebaya is paired with a sarong or kain panjang, adding to its elegance.' TWO-WAY CONVERSATIONS This AI technology, to be clear, isn't the same as having a digital screen display information about an exhibit or listening to an audio narration about an artefact's history. Such methods remain helpful in engaging museum goers. But they can 'feel like a one-way conversation', said Lum Jia Yi, assistant director of audience, communications and digital at the Peranakan Museum. 'With Ask Mona, audiences get to ask their questions. And we get to find out their train of thought (that) helps us shape what audiences are trying to find out about the collections, and (understand) how we can present our materials better.' Ultimately, the museum aims to make its collections and culture 'more accessible to the general audience', not least since the Peranakan culture is a 'living, breathing culture that's constantly evolving', Lum added. And since audiences are constantly on their phone, the AI technology simply allows them to interact with the museum 'in a way that they are comfortable with'. While ATxSummit attendees got to see the initiative up close alongside the artefacts, which were brought to the summit, the experience isn't currently available at the Peranakan Museum itself. Non-attendees can access the experience by joining the OpenAI Forum community at where they will receive a link to the Ask Mona web app. They can then "speak" with the various Peranakan Museum artefacts listed in the app - from anywhere in the world. On one hand, such experiences make museums more accessible, allowing anyone the opportunity to learn about other cultures at their own pace - and without the fear of judgement. Understandably, this may then beg the question: Will AI eventually replace the need for human docents? In short, no, said CEO and co-founder of Ask Mona, Marion Carre. Not only does she believe we need to move beyond the classic opposition of human versus AI, she has also observed that most people use such AI technology to start conversations with friends and family about their museum experience. Some museums have even told Carre that people used to look at artwork for three to five seconds on average – but with the likes of Ask Mona, they now spend three to five minutes interacting with an artwork. 'We're really about using AI to improve the museum experience globally,' she told CNA Lifestyle. Her team also ensures that all data fed into OpenAI's large language model used by Ask Mona strictly comes from the museum, which means anticipating the questions visitors may actually have at each exhibit. USING AI FOR CULTURE AND HERITAGE Crucially, the partnership reveals the possibilities of using AI beyond the typical spaces of the classroom and the workplace. What's not often explored is the impact that AI can have to 'bring people closer to culture and heritage', said Sandy Kunvatanagarn, head of Asia-Pacific policy at OpenAI. 'Inspired by that and the fact that this year is SG60, we thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to really see how we can use AI technology and the Peranakan Museum's focus on accessibility and community – and combine that with the work that Ask Mona has been doing around the world – to bring everybody together to have a conversation about the richness of Peranakan culture. 'Not just in Singapore, but through the web app (which gives people) the ability to access it all around the world.' OpenAI believes AI has the power to change many aspects of life, Kunvatanagarn added, 'but one thing that is consistent, and that should be for everybody, is culture and understanding their own heritage'. 'If AI can play a part in language preservation or cultural accessibility, or whatever it is that people want to learn about who they are, we think there's a place for AI to be in that. And it's done by working with partners who are experts in this space, and us providing the tools to make it happen.'
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Salesforce exec tells BI there's an even more important skill for employees than coding
Coding is no longer the most important skill in the AI era, said Salesforce's chief futures officer. Peter Schwartz said in an interview that employees need empathy more than anything else. "Parents ask me what should my kids study, shall they be coders? I said, 'learn how to work with others.'" Coding is no longer the must-have skill of the AI era, said Salesforce's chief futures officer, Peter Schwartz. "The most important skill is empathy, working with other people," said Schwartz in an interview with Business Insider at the Singapore tech conference ATxSummit. "Parents ask me what should my kids study, shall they be coders? I said, 'learn how to work with others.'" Schwartz said empathy is the ability to understand and relate to another human being, like with coworkers. It's the ability to "collaborate and to creatively work together." "That will be the most important thing because the AIs can deal with all the routine stuff," he added. When asked how to screen for it, Schwartz said it's hard to measure. "I don't have a good answer," he said. "But that's what I am looking for. I look for that empathy that this is a person who's really going to be a great teammate, somebody I can work closely with," he added. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said earlier this year that his company might not hire software engineers in 2025 because of how much AI agents have helped boost some coders' productivity. Schwartz called AI's impact on coding for Salesforce "huge." "We've seen a massive increase in productivity of our coders because they have the tools to be able to do coding much faster — frankly, more creatively," Schwartz said. During Google's third-quarter earnings call in October, CEO Sundar Pichai said more than a quarter of the company's new code was generated by AI. As AI gets better at writing code, some product managers have speculated that AI will increasingly take on some technical coding tasks and circumvent their need for engineers. Job postings for software engineers on Indeed have hit a five-year low. Some tech leaders said learning the fundamentals is still essential, while others emphasized the importance of soft skills in setting candidates apart. Mark Zuckerberg said in a July interview with Bloomberg that he believed the most important skill was "learning how to think critically and learning values when you're young." "If people have shown that they can go deep and do one thing really well, then they've probably gained experience in, like, the art of learning something," Zuckerberg said, discussing what he looked for in job candidates. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
29-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A Salesforce exec tells BI there's an even more important skill for employees than coding
Coding is no longer the must-have skill of the AI era, said Salesforce's chief futures officer, Peter Schwartz. "The most important skill is empathy, working with other people," said Schwartz in an interview with Business Insider at the Singapore tech conference ATxSummit. Schwartz said empathy is the ability to understand and relate to another human being, like with coworkers. It's the ability to "collaborate and to creatively work together." "That will be the most important thing because the AIs can deal with all the routine stuff," he added. When asked how to screen for it, Schwartz said it's hard to measure. "I don't have a good answer," he said. "But that's what I am looking for. I look for that empathy that this is a person who's really going to be a great teammate, somebody I can work closely with," he added. AI has come for coding Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said earlier this year that his company might not hire software engineers in 2025 because of how much AI agents have helped boost some coders' productivity. Schwartz called AI's impact on coding for Salesforce "huge." "We've seen a massive increase in productivity of our coders because they have the tools to be able to do coding much faster — frankly, more creatively," Schwartz said. During Google's third-quarter earnings call in October, CEO Sundar Pichai said more than a quarter of the company's new code was generated by AI. As AI gets better at writing code, some product managers have speculated that AI will increasingly take on some technical coding tasks and circumvent their need for engineers. Job postings for software engineers on Indeed have hit a five-year low. Some tech leaders said learning the fundamentals is still essential, while others emphasized the importance of soft skills in setting candidates apart. Mark Zuckerberg said in a July interview with Bloomberg that he believed the most important skill was "learning how to think critically and learning values when you're young." "If people have shown that they can go deep and do one thing really well, then they've probably gained experience in, like, the art of learning something," Zuckerberg said, discussing what he looked for in job candidates.
