JAKARTA: Helping more businesses across South-East Asia adopt artificial intelligence will be a major priority for Singapore when it assumes the Asean chairmanship in 2027, as governments across the region race to harness the technology.
Speaking at the Asia Economic Summit in Jakarta on June 17, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said Singapore would build on efforts by the Philippines, the current Asean chair, to encourage greater AI adoption among micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“Next year, Singapore will assume the Asean Chair,” Teo said. “We will bring more SMEs, workers, and governments together to use AI better,” she added.
Teo also cautioned against what she described as a narrow interpretation of “AI sovereignty”, arguing that it would be unrealistic for most countries to seek ownership of every layer of the AI ecosystem, from chips and models to data and applications.
Instead, countries should focus on ensuring they can govern AI effectively, make their own choices about technology partners and build strong domestic AI ecosystems, she said.
Singapore will be investing more in shared digital resources for the region, including language models, governance toolkits and programmes aimed at building AI capabilities, Teo said
Asean is well-positioned to expand AI adoption according to Teo who cited the region’s growing digital infrastructure, a digitally connected population and increasing efforts by governments and businesses to equip workers with AI-related skills.
South-East Asia is widely seen as one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. Its digital economy is expected to surpass US$300 billion in 2025, driven by rapid growth in e-commerce and AI adoption, an annual report released in November by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company said.
Teo noted that data centre capacity across the region is expected to triple between 2025 and 2030, while undersea cable networks are expanding rapidly.
But infrastructure is not just about cables and computing power, she added. It also includes the software and policy frameworks that make AI accessible and useful.
Teo gave the example of SEA-LION, or South-East Asian Languages in One Network, an open-source large language model developed in Singapore and trained on South-East Asian languages.
The model has been downloaded more than 200,000 times and is used by companies across the region to build AI applications.
Data use
Teo emphasised the importance of policies that support the responsible use of data, describing it as the “lifeblood” of AI.
To train reliable AI models, businesses need access to quality data and an environment that allows data to move across borders, she said.
This is especially important for companies operating in multiple countries that need a complete view of their customers and supply chains.
While restrictions may be necessary to protect personal information and national security, overly burdensome rules can hinder innovation and make it harder for smaller firms to expand, she added.
“Collectively, we should help these small companies to thrive and to scale, whether they are in Jakarta, Bandung, Hanoi, or Bangkok,” said Teo.
She pointed to the proposed Digital Economy Framework Agreement (Defa), an Asean initiative aimed at establishing common rules for digital trade and supporting trusted cross-border data flows.
The pact is expected to be signed in November 2026, after negotiations are finalised and legal scrubbing completed, according to Asean targets set by its member states.
Looking ahead to Singapore’s Asean chairmanship, Teo said the Republic would work to deepen cross-border data flow mechanisms and align AI governance approaches across the region.
Asean can achieve much more if it moves ahead in step with one another, and Teo said that this is embodied in Indonesia’s national creed of “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” or unity in diversity.
“This is not just Singapore’s agenda. It is Asean’s agenda. Asean’s strength has never been about being the same. It has always been about working together, despite being different,” she said. - The Straits Times/ANN
