{"id":616373,"date":"2023-03-10T08:49:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/asia-spurs-transparency-and-digital-economy-growth\/"},"modified":"2023-03-10T08:49:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:14","slug":"asia-spurs-transparency-and-digital-economy-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/asia-spurs-transparency-and-digital-economy-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia spurs transparency and digital economy growth\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In recent years, Asian countries have stepped up efforts to support the rapid growth of their digital economies. These include measures to equip businesses with the necessary tools and infrastructure to use emerging technologies, such as AI, and support innovation and foster global confidence in them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Singapore has unveiled the world’s first AI governance testing framework and toolkit. Named AI Verify, it is currently a minimum viable product at a pilot stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u2018innovative regulator\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe have a belief that being an innovative regulator is not an oxymoron,\u201d says Lew Chuen Hong, chief executive of Singapore\u2019s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). \u201cAnd the real role of the regulator is to build the foundations for trust, so that businesses, governments, and consumers have the trust to innovate and co-create in the digital domain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As AI fast becomes ubiquitous in day-to-day activities, calls for more robust governance to ensure AI systems are fair, transparent, and safe are increasing. For example, the European Union is negotiating a new AI Act and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is working on new legislation to allow it to rule on issues of AI discrimination, fraud, and related data misuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Asia, countries such as Korea, India, and Singapore are trying to chart their own paths in AI ethics and governance. Among them, Singapore is taking a balanced approach by working with various stakeholders to build a more trusted AI environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, Singapore released its\u00a0Model AI Governance Framework<\/a>\u00a0to provide detailed guidance\u2014with implementable measures and practices\u2014to help companies deploy AI responsibly. Besides showcasing use cases from different industries, IMDA also collaborated with the World Economic Forum\u2019s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to release a\u00a0guide<\/a>\u00a0to help organizations align their AI governance practices with the framework.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Putting AI governance to the test<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2022, Singapore took another step forward to help companies validate the implementation of responsible AI. The island nation unveiled the world\u2019s first AI governance testing framework and toolkit, named\u00a0AI Verify<\/a>, designed to provide a standardized method to verify AI systems\u2019 performance in relation to internationally recognized ethical principles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently a minimum viable product at a pilot stage, AI Verify is a testing framework that comprises process checks and technical tests.\u00a0For a start, the technical tests will focus on verifying the fairness, robustness, and\u00a0explainability\u00a0of some supervised learning models. Companies that test with\u00a0AI Verify can use the reports it generates to improve their AI models and demonstrate how their AI systems align with their claimed performance. Rather than setting ethical standards, AI Verify helps companies be more transparent about their AI implementation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following feedback and preliminary testing with partners such as Singapore-based bank DBS, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Singapore Airlines, and Standard Chartered Bank, AI Verify is available for\u00a0international pilot<\/a>. Policymakers, regulators, AI system developers, and business owners can participate and provide feedback on the global viability of the framework.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Robust growth, high digital penetration\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The role of AI governance will become even more significant as Asia\u2019s digital economy continues to grow. While a tech slowdown has dogged the U.S.\u2014with more than\u00a091,000 workers laid off<\/a>\u00a0in 2022\u2014Asia seems unfazed. According to a Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company report in October 2022, Southeast Asia\u2019s leading digital economies likely amounted to\u00a0S$ 200 billion<\/a>\u00a0(US$ 149 billion)\u00a0in 2022, marking a 20% increase from 2021. Far from this being a short-term growth spurt, the region\u2019s digital economy is forecast to reach\u00a0S$ 300 billion<\/a>\u00a0(US$ 224 billion)\u00a0by 2025.<\/p>\n

Asia\u2019s ability to defy a digital downturn that has plagued others lies in\u00a0\u201cbig shifts both on the demand side and the supply side,\u201d says\u00a0Simon Chesterman, senior director of AI governance at AI Singapore. On the demand side, a combination of high internet usage, high penetration of digital devices, such as smartphones, and population-level comfort with technological innovation has seen many Asian individuals and businesses embrace the digital economy at speed, explains Chesterman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of February 2023, 93% of companies in Singapore had adopted some form of digital technology, marking an increase of 19 percentage points from 2018, according to IMDA. This explains a key point of differentiation with some western economies, says Chesterman. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got fast-developing economies, people are more willing to embrace change because they can see the benefit,\u201d he says. \u201cWhereas the more comfortable you are, the more resistant you may be to change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This willingness to embrace digital technologies has only increased with the global pandemic. Three quarters (76%) of the population in Southeast Asia viewed\u00a0technology as an enabler<\/a>\u00a0rather than an impediment during the peak of covid-19, according to an August 2022 report by VMware\u2014surpassing the global average by four percentage points\u2014and 77% say digitalization improves both their work and lifestyles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Compounding strong demand in the region has been a steady supply of innovation from the region\u2019s vast network of enterprises, underpinned by direct support from government. Increased public funding in Hong Kong, for example, resulted in the creation of 3,755 start-ups in 2021, a 12% boost over the previous year, marking a record high for the Special Administrative Region. The Singapore government has committed S$ 25 billion (US$ 18 billion) to research, innovation, and enterprise from 2021 to 2025, and growing the digital economy was identified as one of the key pillars of that initiative.<\/p>\n

Building a digital ecosystem<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, Singapore\u2019s IMDA, which bills itself as the \u201carchitect\u201d of the island\u2019s digital future, has introduced a series of initiatives to entrench the city-state as a global and regional technology hub. It has made strategic investments in both hard and soft infrastructure to accelerate digital economic growth in the country. Singapore has achieved nationwide standalone 5G coverage (over 95%) three years ahead of schedule, and IMDA has rolled out digital utilities such as TradeTrust, which streamlines the exchange of electronic documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IMDA also plays a central role in creating a strong digital talent pipeline and a progressive regulatory framework to foster innovation. By enhancing the credibility and trustworthiness of digital products and services, it aims to spur growth in the digital economy. In June 2022, for instance, it launched a US$ 36.3 million\u00a0Digital Trust Centre<\/a>\u00a0as part of the country\u2019s R&D efforts focused on enhancing the legitimacy of digital systems.<\/p>\n

A fine balance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Government intervention often takes a two-pronged approach, Chesterman explains: \u201cGovernments should regulate to avoid market failures, because it\u2019s inefficient to expect individual consumers to negotiate this themselves. The second reason governments regulate, though, is, even if it\u2019s not geared toward efficiency, we have certain values and principles that we hold to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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There are challenges though, Chesterman adds. To develop globally accepted standards, a delicate balance between a viable framework and overregulation needs to be achieved via mechanisms such as\u00a0digital economy agreements<\/a>. Finding a way to develop a framework that can evolve at the same rapid pace as the technology itself is also crucial.<\/p>\n

Singapore has risen to the challenge with AI Verify. Its pioneering work in AI governance, coupled with ongoing infrastructure investments to support the country\u2019s digital economy, indicates the significance of the sector to the region\u2019s growth prospects. It also shows the need for authorities in the region to collaborate with international partners to ensure any such digital economy is both open and interoperable. This is particularly true for cities like Hong Kong and geographically small countries like Singapore.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall states like Singapore require open trade for survival,\u201d says Lew. \u201cA strong and robust digital economy means companies here can thrive globally, where size or geography does not matter. Investing in such technology and innovation is critical for long-term competitiveness and value capture.\u201d<\/p>\n

This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review\u2019s editorial staff.<\/em><\/svg> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In recent years, Asian countries have stepped up efforts to support the rapid growth of their digital economies. These include measures to equip businesses with the necessary tools and infrastructure to use emerging technologies, such as AI, and support innovation and foster global confidence in them.\u00a0 Singapore has unveiled the world’s first AI governance testing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":616374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1867,46,73124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spurs","category-technology","category-transparency"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}