Facilitating the Safe Adoption of AI – New Initiatives Unveiled at Committee of Supply 2026

Introduction

As 2026 marches forward, and the Government sets out its roadmaps for national development programmes, one topic has continued to take a place in the spotlight – the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (“AI“). For example, at the unveiling of Singapore’s Budget 2026, AI stood as one of the key pillars, with the Government setting out initiatives to accelerate AI adoption and empower workers in an AI-enabled economy.

The framework for Singapore’s AI development was further articulated at the Committee of Supply Debate 2026, where Minister Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information, delivered a speech that focused on the Government’s plans relating to AI, including upcoming initiatives for enterprises and workforce, as well as governance and cybersecurity measures.

The planned initiatives present valuable opportunities for enterprises to integrate AI into their business processes, particularly small and medium enterprises (“SMEs“), as well as for workforce members to pursue AI upskilling. Businesses should be aware of the potential avenues for growth, but must also keep on top of the changing regulatory controls, particularly as cybersecurity standards continue to be enhanced.

In this Update, we look at the key initiatives and measures unveiled at the Committee of Supply Debate 2026.

AI Initiatives

Minister Teo stated in her speech that the Government is looking to take full advantage of AI’s ability to be democratised, ensuring that its benefits are accessible to all enterprises along the scale of businesses, including SMEs.

Singapore will thus be launching the following initiatives:

1. National AI Impact Programme: The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will launch the National AI Impact Programme, which aims to support 10,000 local enterprises to integrate AI into their business processes to create a sizable pool of early adopters over the next three years. SMEs stand to gain significant advantages through this programme.

2. Enhanced grants: AI tools make up 30% of the digital solutions on the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (“IMDA“) “SMEs Go Digital” platform. Minister Teo stated that the Government will expand the range of AI-enabled solutions with grant support to meet different business needs, allowing more SMEs to access the pre-approved tools to integrate AI readily and affordably.

3. Workforce training:

• • IMDA’s Digital Leaders Programme will be enhanced, and a new Digital Leaders Accelerator Bootcamp will be launched, to build skills and confidence in change management.
  • To uplift the workforce and help them stay relevant, the Government will also support 100,000 workers to become AI Bilingual, with an initial focus on professions that are highly exposed to AI, and serve multiple industries.
  • IMDA will work with relevant agencies and professional bodies to expand its TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) programme, to develop AI Bilingual workers in key domains, starting with the Accountancy and Legal professions, and extending its reach to other fields such as Human Resources.

Governance and Cybersecurity

With AI evolving quickly, Singapore’s governance must also keep pace. 

1. Governance Framework: Singapore has launched the world’s first Model Governance Framework for Agentic AI to help organisations manage systems that can act with greater independence, whilst ensuring human oversight. For more information, please see our earlier Legal Update here.

2. Safeguards: For high-risk, high-impact systems like frontier models, Singapore will progressively strengthen safeguards. Singapore will also continue contributing meaningfully to the international discourse on AI safety.

Cybersecurity plays a key role in AI development and deployment, as greater protection will be required against malicious threat actors. To address this, CSA has launched new measures to enhance Singapore’s cybersecurity standards.

1. Cybersecurity certification:

• • By end 2027, Critical Information Infrastructure (“CII“) Owners must obtain a Cyber Trust Mark (“CTM“) Level 5 (the highest tier of the certification) for the non-CII systems under their control that support the organisation’s business operations/services.
  • By end 2026, CII auditors must obtain this mark at the organisation level for systems that support its business operations/services.
  • Licensed cybersecurity service providers must obtain an active CTM Promoter (Tier 3) certification by 31 December 2026.
  • CSA is also reviewing the scope of the current cybersecurity standards and may include non-CII systems, such as networks that are interconnected with the CII systems.
  • Sector Leads may introduce additional sector-specific obligations. For example, IMDA will be enhancing its cybersecurity regulations for telecommunications operators.

2. Cybersecurity labelling:

• • The mandatory cybersecurity requirements for residential routers will be raised from Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (“CLS“) Level 1 to Level 2 by 2027. Under CLS Level 2 requirements, manufacturers need to ensure that residential routers incorporate stronger security measures such as secure communications, secure storage of sensitive data and robust authentication mechanisms.
  • CSA will explore requiring IP cameras to meet Cyber Labelling Scheme Level 2, and will continue to monitor and review if more digital devices should be required to meet minimum cybersecurity standards.

3. Cybersecurity tools:

• • To better enable enterprises to raise their cybersecurity level, the Government will avail some of its expertise to the private sector. 
  • The Government will selectively share classified threat intelligence with CII Owners.
  • The Government will equip CII Owners with proprietary threat detection systems to strengthen their abilities to detect malicious activities in their networks.
  • CSA will partner with CII Owners to test the use of technologies such as AI.

Concluding Words

Singapore’s Government has taken a proactive and forward-facing approach to facilitate the wider adoption of AI solutions across the Singapore economy. In this latest slate of initiatives, enterprises will be able to capitalise on opportunities to integrate AI into their processes, as well as upskill the workforce toward AI literacy.

Growth must of course be balanced by regulatory oversight, and in this regard Singapore has also continued to develop and enhance the applicable governance frameworks and cybersecurity standards, as well as sector specific guidance, such as the “Guide for using Generative AI in the Legal Sector” issued by the Ministry of Law and the “Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Guidelines Version 2.0” issued by the Ministry of Health. Both Guides have just been issued earlier in March 2026. Enterprises should stay updated on the latest and upcoming changes to ensure compliance with the applicable obligations.

For further queries, please feel free to contact our team set out on this page.