Singapore – In a joint effort to advance Singapore’s essential digital skills, Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority has recently announced that it has teamed up with software development firm Amazon. This strategic collaboration under the national Digital for Life movement will be spearheaded by corporate volunteers from Amazon.sg, Amazon Payments and AWS, supported by IMDA.
In this initiative, the two will organise community workshops aimed at safe online shopping and Gen AI. They have also co-curated a community workshop to teach Singaporeans of all ages on how to shop and make payments safely and confidently online.
Meanwhile, community workshops with family-oriented non-profit organisation partners including the Children’s Wishing Well, Club Rainbow, and Glyph Community are set to be conducted in September to promote and boost competency in essential digital skills among vulnerable and underprivileged communities.
The said collaboration will also see workshops conducted by Amazon Web Services to educate Singaporeans about generative artificial Intelligence and new technologies, which highlights their functional benefits in everyday lives and encourages responsible use.
The first AWS community workshop on Gen AI was conducted in June 2024 with Singapore’s National Library Board, with attendees ranging from primary school children to retirees. These attendees were taught about how to use AI models to create an application.
These initiatives support the AWS AI Spring Communities program which focuses on community development with AI, as part of AWS’s recently announced flagship program, AWS AI Spring Singapore. Under AWS AI Spring, AWS will train 5,000 individuals annually on AI skills from 2024-2026.
Speaking about the initiatives, Doreen Tan, assistant chief executive (Strategic Planning and Digital Readiness) at IMDA, said, “As the digital space evolves, we recognise the importance of equipping Singaporeans with the tools and skills to stay safe online. Our collaboration with Amazon builds on IMDA’s Digital Skills for Life competencies, which cover learning to transact securely and being savvy and kind online.”
“We welcome more partners to join us in the Digital for Life movement, to build a more inclusive society where no one is left behind and everyone can enjoy the benefits of the digital age,” she added.
Josen George, general manager at Amazon APAC, also said, “Widespread education and collective action are critical armors in our fight against scams. As technology advances, bad actors will continue to find new ways to take advantage of communities. We must strive to be a few steps ahead of them by working together, sharing our knowledge, and creating a safe environment for day-to-day activities online.”
“Amazon – including teams from Amazon.sg, Amazon Payments and AWS, is proud to work closely with IMDA to further educate Singaporeans about safe online shopping and safe transactions using digital payment methods such as PayNow, as well as sharing the benefits and responsible use of new technologies such as Gen AI. Safety is the top priority in everything we do at Amazon,” explained Josen.
Amazon has donated S$100,000 to the Digital for Life Fund, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Singapore Government, in order to support digital literacy and wellness, as well as digital technology and inclusion initiatives for vulnerable communities.
