Singapore PM calls for balance between AI security and innovation

Singapore (ANTARA) - Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday called for a balance between safety and innovation in regulating artificial intelligence (AI), warning that the technology is developing faster than legal systems’ ability to adapt.

“We must create the right balance, between security and progress, between control and creativity,” Wong said at the SGLaw200 Youth Forum, adding that society has already faced the consequences of AI misuse through sophisticated scams, deepfakes, and misinformation.

“This is not a hypothetical risk. It is already happening,” he stated.

He added that more difficult questions will arise as AI systems become more deeply embedded in fields such as healthcare and autonomous vehicles.

He cited various examples, including erroneous medical diagnoses and fatal incidents involving self-driving cars, while questioning who should be held accountable when AI systems cause harm.

“Is it the developers who built it, the ones who wrote the algorithm, the company that deploys the machine, or the user?” the Prime Minister asked.

Wong said the current legal framework is not designed for a world where machines can make decisions with significant impacts, and governments need to revisit issues surrounding responsibility, obligations, and accountability.

“Once again, this will not be easy. Moving too slowly, and the law will lag behind, while society risks harm. Moving too quickly and we risk stifling innovation,” Wong added.

Even as technology advances rapidly, he emphasised that justice and equity must ultimately remain the domain of human judgment rather than algorithms.