REACH (Telegram) 29 - What are your views on the refreshed Smart Nation 2.0’s vision and plans? How can we continue to ensure a safe and secure digital space for Singaporeans as we continue our digitalisation efforts?

(SK)

03 Oct 2024 (10am - 7pm)

REACH (Telegram)

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 9:46 AM]

Dear Contributors,

Welcome Back! 😊

⏰ We will be opening the chat from 10am to 7pm today. ⏰

House Rules (short version of our Terms of Use) to keep in mind:

1. Be kind and respectful. We all want to be in a safe space to share our views. 

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Full set of Terms of Use: https://www.reach.gov.sg/Participate/reach-telegram-group/REACH-Telegram-Group-Chat-Terms-of-Use/

We will strive to uphold these rules to ensure this is a safe space for all. 

Please be assured that the points made by participants during the chat are aggregated and shared with relevant agencies. 

The topic will be posted shortly. 

Thank you. 

Megan 😊

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 10:01 AM]

📢 Topic 📢

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched Smart Nation 2.0 on Oct 1. He said that in this next phase, Singapore needs to focus on the "three building blocks" of growth, community and trust, going beyond the focus on digitalisation in the first Smart Nation plan launched in 2014. 

Smart Nation 2.0 includes plans to equip scientists and students with artificial intelligence (AI) know-how and provide swifter remedies to victims of cyber bullying and deepfakes.

💬 What are your views on the refreshed Smart Nation 2.0’s vision and plans? How can we continue to ensure a safe and secure digital space for Singaporeans as we continue our digitalisation efforts?

📌 New $120 million AI for Science grant 💰

Led by the National Research Foundation, this new grant aims to enhance scientific research by promoting AI proficiencies among researchers in public institutions. This adds to the more than $500 million already invested in AI projects through national research programme AI Singapore.

📌 AI for Fun coding modules 💻

Starting in 2025, primary and secondary schools will roll out new AI for Fun coding modules under the “Code For Fun” (CFF) programme. This initiative will offer students opportunities to tinker with AI technology. 

📌 Smart Nation Educator Fellowship 🖊️

The fellowship will be available to educators who shape the national curriculum to expose them to the latest trends and issues in the digital space.

📌 New Singapore government agency to tackle online harms 👥

A new Singapore government agency would also be established to help victims quickly put a stop to “online harms”. The agency will act on behalf of victims to order perpetrators and online service providers such as social media platforms to stop the online harm. 

📌 Digital inclusion as a big theme 🫂

Singapore will double down on outreach efforts to ensure that more citizens, including seniors, learn to use digital skills with confidence, though key services will continue to be available over physical counters. Government-linked active ageing agency Council for Third Age (C3A), will also develop over 180 courses to help seniors improve their digital proficiencies.

🔗 https://str.sg/kAQP

🔗 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/smart-nation-20-launch-growth-community-trust-building-blocks-refreshed-strategies-pm-wong-4651876

🔗 https://www.smartnation.gov.sg/sn2/

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REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 10:51 AM]

Dear Contributors,

We want to HEAR MORE from you!

💬 What are your views on the refreshed Smart Nation 2.0’s vision and plans? How can we continue to ensure a safe and secure digital space for Singaporeans as we continue our digitalisation efforts?

We have had good feedback from this group, and we hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Thank you.

Megan 😊

G, [3/10/2024 10:54 AM]

12 months sentence!

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/iswaran-sentencing-former-singapore-minister-guilty-court-live-4653961

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 11:13 AM]

📢 Former Transport Minister Iswaran sentenced to 12 months’ jail

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/iswaran-sentenced-to-12-months-jail-judge-says-former-minister-abused-position-to-accept-gifts

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 11:21 AM]

[ Poll : I am confident that the new initiatives outlined in Smart Nation 2.0 will support Singaporeans in navigating the challenging digital landscape today. Please share the reason for your answer in the chats! ]

- Yes 👍

- No 👎

- Maybe 😏

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 12:39 PM]

*Growth, Community and Trust*

1. Digitalisation effort, notably this new era of AI is a very big topic because it covers not only all economic industrial sectors, it also covers community, social, entertainment, communication and eTransaction between business-to-people, government-to-business, government-to-people - as our ways of life.

2. Hence, digitalisation, AI thrust to promote our Economic Growth, Community engagement and Trust in Digital Platform - become critical to our population as a Society and Economy.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 12:57 PM]

*Trust*

1. Notably, let us address eTransaction digitally online - against scams.

2. Banking and Financial transactions are the most critical components in Digitalisation - and scammers have scam many innocent victims of their life savings through social engineering, phishing, trickery, and other online baits.

3. Hence, one aspect of security is to ensure that a digital user identity in accessing online banking and online financial transactions - must be appropriately authenticated - that the person is the real owner of the bank account doing the eTransaction and not a scammer.

4. I am happy to read that local banks or resident banks in Singapore will be using SingPass with biometric authentication (prevented against masquerading by scammers) via Liveliness verification to establish the real identity of the bank users in banking and eTransaction.

5. Understand that there are about 10 anti-spoofing biometric security measures identified against stealing of biometric data, man-in-the-middle attack, masquerading and other security attacks.

I believe extensive and deep R&D have been conducted to reinforce the security and safety in the use of biometric authentication to ensure it is fail-safe.

(Note :- Biometric data to each individual is an important and critical data unique like a DNA to each person. It must not be stolen, because once lost, the person identity will be compromised forever until end of life and no way to change the biometric data like changing password - as a person need to reborn with a new set of biometric data - facial, fingerprint, palm print, audio, iris, DNA etc.)

6. Hence I understand that biometric data will not be collected by banks but keep in the highly secured database with the Government through authentication via SingPass biometric authentication.

7. Hopefully, extensive education must be conducted with the population - not to give away their biometric data to business, scammers, or other people frivolously with baits of free gifts, money or other baits - because once their biometric data are given away frivolously, scammers may be able to misuse them to do bank transactions and steal their life savings.

8. Because we will never know how ingenious scammers can be. Even with AI, scammers can counter AI with GAN for example (Generative Adverserial Neural Network) and other equivalent counter-measures to improve biometric authentication and liveliness from stolen biometric data baring the anti-spoofing biometic security measures are developed and in place to prevent such scamming techniques from getting through.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 1:07 PM]

9. Another initiative by Government to establish a Government Agency to act immediately to work with Social Media Platform to take down and block undesirable AI content such as deepfake and other digital content of victims without the need to go through Court Process --- will be an effective means to curb digitalisation and AI harm by scammers, hackers and cyberbullies.

10. This is a more effective and cost effective means to combat online crimes - and protect online victims - that can cause psychological and physical harms to the victims if not immediately address.

Court process will take too long, burn a big hole in the pocket of victims and perpretators can go away scot free when due process are being carried out.

Jun Ming, [3/10/2024 1:19 PM]

I hope it's not a short programme, it a semester long programme or year long programme where students expected to create a product out

Jun Ming, [3/10/2024 1:20 PM]

Or code something out for themselves

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 1:28 PM]

*Growth*

1. I feel that as we grow and attract foreign investors to build Data Centres for AI, Cloud and digitalisation in our City - to be an IT hub, AI hub, Cloud hub -- there come a point that we will reach a saturation point. Singapore has already attracted large amount of data centres investors and is already a Data Centre Hub - but land spaces, power supply and water supply is reaching a saturation point and will be severely challenge by more traditional data centres.

2. Because supporting Data Centres, notably Data Centre for AI need plenty of land spaces, also need large amount of water supply to cool the Data Centres and tremendous amount of power supply.

3. In one recent report:-

"OpenAI reportedly wants to build 5-gigawatt data centers, and nobody knows who could supply that much power".

Power require for 1 major city, 100 times the requirements of a normal DC, equivalent to 5 nuclear reactors production of energy and tremendous amount of water supply needed.

 https://fortune.com/2024/09/27/openai-5gw-data-centers-altman-power-requirements-nuclear/#:~:text=OpenAI%20reportedly%20wants%20to%20build%205%2Dgigawatt%20data%20centers%2C%20and%20nobody%20knows%20who%20could%20supply%20that%20much%20power 

4. The whole of Singapore power grid - will not be able to provide such mammoth amount of power just to run OpenAI data centre.

5. Hence, Malaysia is sucking up many data centres investment from Big Tech, the latest being :-

Oracle to invest more than US$6.5bil in AI and cloud computing in Malaysia.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2024/10/02/oracle-to-invest-more-than-us65bil-in-ai-and-cloud-computing-in-malaysia

6. Hence, Singapore strategy will need to attract more high value added "Green Data Centre" that uses lesser land spaces, green power and lesser water ---- the "Hardware" aspect.

7. By constantly attracting "Hardware" Data Centre is not sustainable - as it will reach a saturation point due to infrastructure constraints, notably - run out of land spaces, power and water.

8. Hence, our main strategic focus on AI, Cloud, Digitalisation --- will have to focus on "Software" - R&D on AI, software development on Cloud, Digitalisation, CyberSecurity.

Data Centre is useless - without software, apps, cybersecurity and AI development and R&D.

9. Hence I support the Government initiatives and grants to focus on AI R&D development and digitalisation.

10. In addition, all our Economic Industrial sectors should explore how to exploit AI and digitalisation and cybersecurity to expand, grow and support their business into a new area of growth.

Other than our domestic efforts, our business should also look at overseas Countries - notably developed Countries which have exploited AI and digitalisation in their respective industrial sectors - so that we can catch up if we have fallen behind.

11. I am confident Singapore can grow very well with AI and digitalisation - as we are already very advanced compare to many Countries.

But I think we can do even better and more securely.

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 2:01 PM]

📢 Former Minister Iswaran sentenced to 12 months' jail for obtaining valuables worth S$403,300, obstructing justice

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/iswaran-jail-12-months-sentence-section-165-gifts-obstructing-justice-transport-minister-4654161

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 2:01 PM]

📢 Topic 📢

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 2:19 PM]

*Users of GAI - Generative AI*

1. Users who use GAI in their work or social settings - must always guard against pitfalls from GAI and not assume GAI will always provide the correct answers.

2. Notably the pitfalls of GAI are:-

a. Hallucinations - that is GAI invent answers that is not the right answer.

b. Not up to date information ie. Outdated information.

3. Most of the time, users must always double check and verify information from other sources eg. Google search.

4. For users that use GAI to generate programming codes or source codes configuration - users must check all the codes, run it and thoroughly test it with all rounded test cases.

5. Most if not all the time, there is a need to refine the source codes to make it work.

6. Hence GAI should be seen as a productivity tool and not a replacement of human workers.

7. Boss must know this.

8. Workers must also know this.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 2:32 PM]

Hence in future, when quoting GAI as the information source, quote such as:-

Source:- xxxxx GAI

Verified by :- Google or media source or Source code refine by xxxx Software Engineer 

Will be a more credible trusted source.

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 4:03 PM]

📢 Topic 📢

G, [3/10/2024 5:13 PM]

How acceptable is it for REACH to continue to take in comments that are AI / bot generated?

Are they true reflections of Singaporean views?

How much of such AI / bot generated views has REACH used?

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 5:23 PM]

Just to assure my experience with REACH is more than 2 decades.

All my above comments come from my brain.

Not AI generated or bots.

REACH can type in prompts to check and verify whether is it AI generated on all the comments make here or it come from human brain.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 5:26 PM]

My credentials - I have plan, design and implemented more than 10 data centres infrastructure and no less than 50 large scale projects.

Within Singapore and overseas crossing all the main continents - US, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Central Asia (ex Soviet Union).

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 5:32 PM]

📢 Why was Iswaran handed a one-year jail sentence? Key points from judgment

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/why-was-iswaran-handed-a-one-year-jail-sentence

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 5:33 PM]

And if copy from AI, I will quote the source.

So since no source quoted - it come from my brain.

Not AI generated GAI.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:00 PM]

Also have make presentation to some Ministers and MOS in some topics in town hall session or through zoom video conferencing.

The latest being the money lock with Minister IT and biometric authentication with Minister assigned Ministry officer.

So rest be assured, whatever written come from a human not AI.

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 6:03 PM]

📢 Topic 📢

G, [3/10/2024 6:10 PM]

Perhaps REACH can also let us know what the value is to a govt feedback channel on accepting copy and pasted AI generated content for feedback purposes.

Nobody knows who really controls the AI and the algo/learning that was used to train the AI. And where does that line whereby AI generated answers become foreign interference in domestic politics?

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:12 PM]

That's why, we need human brain to do critical thinking.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:14 PM]

Even without AI, if human don't do critical thinking - foreign interference will still happen - whether AI or no AI.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:15 PM]

Our government have many smart people around.

They know if the ideas are workable or not workable.

G, [3/10/2024 6:25 PM]

If your ideas are really good, you don’t need to talk about your accomplishments to support your ideas

If you have to, it speaks poorly of your ideas, if you done so, it speaks poorly of you

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:28 PM]

Oh there is no need for me to seek praise.

Good one government will adopt and benefit the people.

If not idea set aside.

No hard feelings.

But just want to correct the inneundos that the long comments are AI generated or BOT generated that you have mentioned a few times.

It is to clear the air.

Plagiarism is not a wholesome practice, a dishonest practice if without quoting the source and claim is my own, and I need to clear this.

LCL (Danny 心), [3/10/2024 6:31 PM]

Anyway, there are software that can detect AI generated content.

It is used by universities and I believe government also is using this.

So no worries if people are wary that comments are human made or AI generated.

G, [3/10/2024 6:34 PM]

So this is the foreign interference concern regarding AI usage:

Many readily available and popular AI bots (e.g. meta via WhatsApp) were developed by foreign organisations with leftist , communist leanings, and very much pro LGBTQ, pro abortion, pro mass immigration etc. As seen from the COVID years, these organisations were also very active in online censorship to protect a pro jab, pro big pharma narrative to the point it became cultish.

As a Singaporean concerned on the security and sovereignty of Singapore, this is a big red flag. Foreign interference in domestic politics is becoming or even has become so subtle

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 6:46 PM]

Dear Contributors,

⏰ We will be closing the chat in 15 minutes ⏰

Thank you very much for being part of our Telegram chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan 😊

G, [3/10/2024 6:52 PM]

By allowing and continuing to allow so much AI bot generated content (from meta and other leftist leaning organisations) here in REACH, how much is REACH complicit in allowing subtle foreign interference in domestic policies in this govt feedback group?

REACH Singapore, [3/10/2024 6:59 PM]

Dear Contributors

We will be closing the chat for today.

Thank you very much for being part of our Telegram chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan 😊

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