Editorial

ETHOS Issue 27, Jan 2025

Slowly, and then all at once, artificial intelligence (AI) has been approaching the centre of global public life. While the field of AI is decades old, it has only just recently captured the public (and business) imagination, due mainly to the dazzling rise of ChatGPT, with its uncanny ability to generate human-like responses to a wide variety of queries. The technology certainly still has plenty of headroom to evolve and grow, but the growing and ubiquitous momentum for its use across the private and public sectors means it is already a society-shaping force to be reckoned with. These are early days, and its impact on the future has yet to be fully apprehended.

This development is not without its detractors. Humanity’s experience with social media, for instance, has been a mixed one: many, weary and wary of the demands and risks of a digitally mediated perspective on the world, have started to lose trust that these innovations are always for the better. A 2023 global study on the shifting public perceptions of AI by The University of Queensland and KPMG,1 for instance, found three in five respondents wary of AI systems and their potential for misuse, even as they recognise its potential benefits.

The answer to this tension is not to turn away from AI, but to keep pace with it, the better to shepherd its growth wisely and harness its power for the public good while ameliorating its excesses. Technologies such as AI offer governments a game-changing means to level up their systemic capacities and multiply their productivity and reach in many areas: an advantage small states such as Singapore cannot afford to pass up. But having built an early lead in the infrastructure and investments needed, how might the Singapore Public Service bootstrap the mindset and culture—including a spirit of enterprise and a sense of urgency—needed to realise AI’s potential at scale? Organisations the world over are still learning how best to do so, although it is clear that a successful strategy must include and inspire employees, while reimagining new ways of working. While encouraging widespread adoption is key to understanding its nuances and quirks in this critical nascent phase, AI must excite and not alienate users: its application should be led by addressing real needs not easily met by other tools.

In public sector work, there is no dearth of wicked problems to be solved. But AI is also a promising enabler of new knowledge creation, and can allow current stores of public data to become even more generally valuable. The risk of AI being used by bad actors to compromise cybersecurity is mounting as the technology becomes more capable: but it can also be used to protect critical systems. There are also shortcomings inherent in the technology itself that need to be addressed by thoughtful, human-centric design and operation.

Amid the excitement and fervour of this new wave of technological advancement, we need to stay nimble, flexible, and in close touch with the many parties who share a stake in the technology and what might be wrought from it. The governance of AI, as of the country, is an iterative process and ongoing journey, and one that the Public Service does not (and cannot) embark on alone. The more pervasive and powerful artificial intelligence becomes, the more human wisdom and empathy will be invaluable as a tempering force. Both will require careful and continual cultivation, if Singapore is to come out ahead in future.

I wish you an inspiring read.

Dr Alvin Pang
Editor-in-Chief, ETHOS