The United States and China are the world’s largest and second largest economies respectively, and currently lead the world in artificial intelligence research. The two superpowers also own more companies and capital than any other country.
But experts said on Tuesday that maybe size doesn’t matter and smaller countries like Singapore can keep up in the race to adopt artificial intelligence. of wealth Brainstorming Artificial Intelligence Singapore Conference.
“It was clear from the beginning that a country like Singapore would never be able to compete with China and the United States in terms of scale,” said Simon Chesterman, deputy provost at the National University of Singapore and senior director of the Singapore Artificial Intelligence Group. Establishing an artificial intelligence ecosystem in Southeast Asian countries.
But “if you can’t beat them on quantity, you can at least try to compete on quality,” said Chesterman, who argued that countries need to “take advantage of their small size.”
In Tortoise Media’s Global Artificial Intelligence Index, Singapore is the third-highest economy, behind China and the United States and ahead of larger economies such as Germany and Japan.
Serena Cesareo, a senior researcher at the London-based news agency, said the country’s core pillars are “infrastructure, talent and adoption.”
Singapore is smaller than New York City in terms of land area, and its scale could help the government pursue its AI strategy more effectively.
This compactness helps “make industry more competitive, better deliver government services, and help citizens understand and interact with [AI] Andrea Phua, senior director of the National Artificial Intelligence Group, Ministry of Digital Development and Information Technology, Singapore said:
She said that this is not about “using artificial intelligence for the sake of artificial intelligence”, but about using artificial intelligence correctly so that Singapore companies and people get used to using artificial intelligence applications, thereby promoting innovation.
One way for AI applications to get better is to get more users, and thus more data.
Shameek Kundu, a member of the Singapore government’s artificial intelligence advisory committee, said Singapore’s focus is on adapting the entire workforce, not just machine learning engineers and data scientists, to AI. He cited the Singapore Law School and the advice it provides lawyers on how to use generative AI as an example.
Chesterman explained that AI is not just about data, computing power or hardware, but also about investing in people to take advantage of AI developments.
He compared artificial intelligence to previous technological revolutions, such as electricity. “Not everyone needs to be an electrician, but you do need to know how to develop tools that use electricity or apply electricity in new ways,” Chesterman said.
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