SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Microsoft have signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI) safety and security, as both sides seek to address growing risks from rapidly advancing AI technologies."The partnership reflects both organisations' commitment to ensuring that AI development remains safe, secure and trustworthy," IMDA and Microsoft said in a joint media release on Friday (Jun 12).They will work together on three key areas - research, information sharing and policy development.IMDA and Microsoft will collaborate on technical research into AI safety, including research on agentic AI and the development of evaluation methods, tools and benchmarks for AI models. This includes a focus on multilingual AI safety and broader efforts to strengthen societal resilience against trust and safety challenges posed by AI systems.
IMDA and Microsoft will also exchange knowledge, best practices, governance frameworks and research findings on AI safety and security. In addition, IMDA, the Singapore AI Safety Institute and Microsoft will jointly explore a policy framework for how governments and infrastructure operators can responsibly structure access to frontier AI models. This work will involve other Singapore government agencies and is expected to culminate in a white paper examining both demand-side needs - such as those of government agencies and infrastructure operators - and supply-side policy considerations for model providers.The agreement comes amid growing international concern over the potential misuse of increasingly capable AI models. These so-called frontier AI systems are becoming more powerful and accessible, raising risks such as automated cyberattacks, disinformation at scale and potential exploitation by criminal actors. Policymakers globally, including in Singapore, have warned that such technologies could lower the barrier for sophisticated cyber operations and accelerate the pace and scale of digital threats.Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam recently warned that threat actors are increasingly harnessing frontier AI to sharpen their attacks.The telco sector is “especially critical”, he said, while urging firms to raise their cyber posture.IMDA and Microsoft said on Friday that the partnership is crucial as AI is moving faster than any single organisation can manage alone.They noted that the collaboration reflects Singapore’s broader approach of working with industry to advance AI safety while supporting innovation."The goal is ultimately a trusted ecosystem which facilitates innovation, while still ensuring safe and reliable development and deployment," said IMDA and Microsoft.IMDA deputy chief executive Kiren Kumar said the partnership demonstrates how government and industry can jointly drive effective AI governance."This goes beyond developing policy frameworks towards jointly building benchmarks, tools and other evaluation methods, concretely advancing the state of evaluation sciences in an area of increasing importance," he said.Microsoft's chief responsible AI officer Natasha Crampton said Singapore is playing a key role in shaping global discussions on responsible AI."Through this partnership with IMDA, we can combine government insight with Microsoft’s technical and operational experience to strengthen AI evaluation, address emerging risks, and build greater trust in advanced AI systems," she said.
