AI regulation in Singapore (2026)

Minister Josephine Teo unveiled a refresh of NAIS at ATxSummit 2026, setting 10 priorities across industry, government, research, talent, compute, data, trust and international partnerships, with new National AI missions in advanced manufacturing, financial services, connectivity and healthcare. The update cements Singapore's ambition to become a global AI hub while deepening sectoral transformation.

IMDA launched the Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI at the World Economic Forum in Davos — the world's first governance framework specifically targeting autonomous AI agents that independently plan, reason, and act. Voluntary but legally consequential, it covers four dimensions: bounding risk upfront, meaningful human accountability, technical controls, and end-user responsibility.

At the Singapore AI Research Week, the government updated its National AI R&D Plan and committed more than S$1 billion through the National Research Foundation for public AI research, compute infrastructure, and talent development over 2025–2030. This underpins Singapore's positioning as a global AI research hub.

IMDA and the AI Verify Foundation published the finalised Model AI Governance Framework for Generative AI, developed with input from over 70 global organisations including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic. It establishes accountability expectations for foundation-model developers and deployers, covering content provenance, safety testing, and incident reporting.

The Personal Data Protection Commission issued the first AI-specific guidelines under the Personal Data Protection Act, clarifying consent, purpose-limitation, and accuracy obligations when personal data is used to train, test, or operate AI recommendation and decision systems. Though advisory, the PDPC frequently cites these guidelines in enforcement decisions.

Singapore launched NAIS 2.0 at the inaugural Singapore Conference on AI, with the vision 'AI for the Public Good, for Singapore and the World' and a commitment of more than S$1 billion over five years. It set two goals — Excellence and Empowerment — across 3 systems, 10 enablers, and 15 actions, updating the 2019 roadmap for an era of large-scale foundation models.

At the ATxAI conference, IMDA launched the AI Verify Foundation — a nonprofit stewardship body with seven premier members (IMDA, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Red Hat, Salesforce, Aicadium) and over 60 general members — to develop AI governance testing tools as open-source global public goods and shape international AI standards.

IMDA and PDPC released AI Verify, the world's first AI governance testing framework and software toolkit, for international pilot at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It combines technical tests and process checks against 11 principles (transparency, fairness, safety, etc.) aligned with EU, US, and OECD standards, enabling companies to objectively demonstrate responsible AI.

PDPC and IMDA released the enhanced second edition of the Model AI Governance Framework, adding practical implementation guidance and case studies. Building on the 2019 first edition, it converted ethical principles — explainability, transparency, fairness, human-centricity — into concrete operational recommendations, and became the core voluntary standard for AI deployment in Singapore.

DPM Heng Swee Keat unveiled Singapore's first National AI Strategy at SFF×SWITCH, identifying five national AI projects (transport & logistics, smart cities, healthcare, education, safety & security) and five ecosystem enablers. The National AI Office under the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office was established on 1 October 2019 to coordinate national AI priorities across research, industry, and government.