Google and Singapore are expanding their work on frontier AI, with new projects spanning public healthcare, scientific research, enterprise adoption and AI safety.
The tech giant and Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information today announced a new National AI Partnership, expanding a collaboration that began with a 2022 agreement with the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group. The memorandum of understanding is meant to support Singapore's National AI Strategy by deploying AI at scale for economic growth and public good.
The agreement gives the partnership a wider remit at a point when Singapore is trying to move AI from policy ambition into practical use. It links Google DeepMind's work in health and scientific research with Google Cloud's support for companies, AI tools for education, and safety testing for agentic systems.
Healthcare and research take priority
Health and life sciences will be an early focus. Google DeepMind, which has a presence in Singapore, is exploring work with public health clusters as part of its global AI co-clinician research initiative. The research looks at how AI could support doctors and how healthcare might develop into "triadic care", where AI agents assist patients under the clinical authority of physicians.
Google DeepMind will also work with the National Research Foundation to train local researchers on agentic AI tools for science, including Co-Scientist, which the announcement said is showing promise in biomedical applications. Google DeepMind will also host workshops for Singapore's scientific community.
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Google and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will work together to help turn lab discoveries into higher-value innovations across materials and life sciences. A*STAR plans to give its researchers and staff secure AI tools on Google Cloud, including hypothesis-generation capabilities for scientific research and analysis. The collaboration is meant to help researchers draw insights from scientific datasets in a governed environment while protecting intellectual property.
The partnership also includes a project for blind and low-vision athletes. Google DeepMind is developing a Gemma-powered running assistant that uses spatial reasoning to give runners real-time information about their surroundings. The tool is intended to help athletes run independently without physical lines or human guides, and will be tested with SG Enable so it can be refined for vision-impaired runners.
Google Cloud gets a bigger enterprise role
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For businesses, Google Cloud's expanded team of forward deployed engineers will work with Singapore-based companies on agentic enterprise projects, following the launch of its Singapore Engineering Center. The partnership also builds on Google Cloud's existing work with AI Singapore, the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT), GovTech Singapore, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), and the National University of Singapore.
Google will also continue programmes under its Majulah AI initiative, which spans jobseekers, students, seniors and working professionals. These include Skills Ignition SG with the Infocomm Media Development Authority for jobseekers, Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First, AI Cloud Takeoff for startups, entrepreneurs and developers, and Gemini Academy for Singaporeans including seniors.
Google says Skills Ignition SG has trained 28,000 Singaporeans to date, while its AI Challenge has onboarded 600 trainees and 27 organisations.
On the education side, Google has already enabled advanced AI features in Google Workspace for Education for educators from primary schools to junior colleges, and the Ministry of Education will expand that work to strengthen AI capabilities in teaching and learning, including educator training and upskilling programmes.
"This partnership builds on years of close collaboration with Google, and we are pleased to take it to the next level. Bringing frontier AI into our public services and enterprises is central to Singapore's AI ambitions. This partnership, spanning across multiple agencies, allows us to deploy it at scale," says Chng Kai Fong, permanent secretary for digital development and information.
Safety testing moves into focus
The agreement also covers AI safety, a growing concern as AI systems start to act across software and online workflows. Singapore is testing how AI agents, specifically "computer use" agents, behave in real-world settings as it studies their value, risks and governance needs.
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A joint whitepaper by Google, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, GovTech and IMDA discusses findings from their AI Agents Sandbox, including practices for agents that perform tasks such as software testing and social assistance applications.
Google DeepMind is also working with IMDA and MLCommons on multimodal and multilingual safety benchmarks. The collaboration focuses on responsible AI deployment that accounts for local languages and cultures.
"Through this expanded partnership with the Singapore Government, we are putting AI into action by combining the best of our technology, R&D expertise, and local talent to accelerate AI for the public good. This also creates a scalable blueprint for responsible AI innovation, built in Singapore for the world,” says Ben King, country managing director for Google Singapore.
