Singapore – Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Microsoft have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI) safety and security, the organisations announced on June 12.
The agreement was signed by Kiren Kumar, Deputy Chief Executive, IMDA, and Natasha Crampton, Chief Responsible AI Officer, Microsoft. It aims to support the development of AI systems that are safe, secure, and trustworthy through joint research, information sharing, and policy development.
Under the MoU, IMDA and Microsoft will collaborate on technical and research initiatives focused on AI safety and security. Areas of work include research into agentic AI, as well as the development of evaluation methods, tools, and benchmarks for AI models. The partnership will also explore multilingual AI safety and ways to improve societal resilience against trust and safety challenges associated with AI systems.
The two organisations will also exchange knowledge, governance frameworks, best practices, and research findings related to AI safety and security. Relevant insights may be shared with ecosystem partners where appropriate.
In addition, IMDA, the Singapore AI Safety Institute, and Microsoft will work with other Singapore government agencies to explore a policy framework for trusted access to frontier AI models. The initiative will examine how governments and infrastructure operators can responsibly access advanced AI models for purposes such as safety and security testing.
As part of this effort, the parties plan to jointly develop a white paper that will assess demand-side requirements from government agencies and infrastructure operators, alongside policy considerations for AI model providers.
The partnership aligns with Singapore’s broader approach of working with industry stakeholders to advance AI safety and security while supporting innovation and the responsible deployment of emerging technologies.
“Our collaboration on AI safety with Microsoft demonstrates how government and industry can partner together to drive and scale good governance for the public good. This goes beyond developing policy frameworks towards jointly building benchmarks, tools and other evaluation methods, concretely advancing the state of evaluation sciences in an area of increasing importance,” said Kumar.
Crampton added: “Singapore is helping shape the global conversation on how AI can be developed and deployed safely, securely, and responsibly. Through this partnership with IMDA, we can combine government insight with Microsoft’s technical and operational experience to strengthen AI evaluation, address emerging risks, and build greater trust in advanced AI systems.”
