When it comes to AI, there is no such thing as too many chefs

AI is not simply a priority for Singapore. It is an economic necessity. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how we work, communicate, govern, and innovate – but are we being intentional about the infrastructure of AI itself?

Closed AI systems concentrate power in a few companies, leaving regulators, businesses, and the public with little visibility or influence. Open AI systems, in contrast, distribute power, allowing many to test, refine, and improve the models that increasingly drive our lives.

As AI increasingly shapes every facet of commerce, governance, and daily life, we must confront a critical question: Who holds the power to design, govern, and profit from these systems?

A World Trade Organization (WTO) report projects that AI will boost global trade by nearly 40% by 2040. The same report highlights Singapore as an example of how resource-constrained economies can capitalise on AI by adapting existing open-weight models rather than developing proprietary ones from scratch.

The stakes are high. For Singapore, the choice between closed and open AI is not just technical – it is strategic, economic, and existential.

Closed AI systems are opaque, exclusionary, and dangerously concentrated
Singapore faces intensifying global and regional competition, compounded by a shrinking workforce and rapidly ageing population that threaten long-term growth. Whilst neighbouring economies enjoy demographic dividends and rival hubs court tech talent, AI is not simply a priority for Singapore. It is an economic necessity, a lever to offset labour constraints and a cornerstone of our strategy to future-proof national competitiveness.

Yet, most advanced AI systems today focus on proprietary, closed models, accessible to their creators. This opacity means less accountability on the creators – problems and biases remain hidden in their lines of code; detectable and fixable only by those allowed to access them.

When a technology as consequential as AI is concentrated in the hands of a few large, profit-driven corporations, the risks go far beyond antitrust violations or national sovereignty. Is it acceptable that this tool that is now shaping markets, societies, research, and science, remains controlled by so few?

When it comes to AI, many cooks enhance the broth 
If closed AI systems are like a secret recipe known only to one chef, open AI systems are more like a community cookbook. Anyone can read the recipe, understand the ingredients, suggest changes, and share improvements. With many cooks testing and refining it, the dish improves over time. In this way, Singapore can leverage collective expertise to make the most of its resources and generate meaningful impact.

For instance, an AI developer might publish their code, details like the model architecture, and even the trained model itself. Then, people all over the world can contribute improvements and fixes. This ‘wisdom of crowds’ approach builds more robust and trustworthy AI systems, where many eyes can spot problems and many hands can build solutions. 

Open-source AI offers a counterbalance to AI being held by only a few, powerful people. A model where collaboration, transparency, and public input are built into the ethos of a system.

Open systems to unleash innovation for Singapore  
Singapore has made it clear that it aims to become a nation of confident AI experts, evident by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s announcement at Budget 2026 of a $1b investment to accelerate AI developments in the next five years. In this year’s Budget, PM Wong committed $150m  for a new Enterprise Compute Initiative, helping to enable eligible enterprises to partner with major cloud service providers and access AI tools and computing power.

To achieve its ambition, Singapore needs to embrace open-source systems. SMEs drive nearly half of Singapore’s GDP, and open-source gives them affordable, powerful tools to optimise operations and stay competitive. But the impact goes beyond business. Students, researchers, and solo entrepreneurs can also tap into AI capabilities that used to demand massive infrastructure and big budgets.

Singapore’s broader tech strategy already reflects this mindset – through initiatives like A*STAR’s open-source robotics programme, which promotes shared test-beds and collaborative development, proving that openness accelerates innovation and collective progress. Together, these open-source ecosystems enable skill-building, faster experimentation, practical AI adoption at scale, and the development of sovereign capabilities.

For instance, a recent partnership with the National University of Singapore Research and Innovation Centre would allow graduate research programmes, local startups, and SMEs to gain access to the AI Innovation Platform, accelerating scientific research on cutting-edge full-stack AI infrastructure and open-source models.

Singapore is already leveraging open-source AI to build sovereign capabilities and accelerate real-world deployment; AI Singapore’s SEA-LION is fine-tuned for Southeast Asian languages, enabling local developers to directly adapt the model for regional nuances.

In the public sector, the Government Developer Portal provides reusable open-source tools like the Singapore Government Design System and Purple A11y, whilst Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) AI Verify Foundation offers an open-source framework to test AI model accuracy, safety, and trustworthiness.

For a small, trade-dependent economy, these open-source ecosystems enable hands-on skill-building, faster experimentation, and practical AI adoption at scale.

These examples show how multiple actors – startups, researchers, SMEs, and public institutions – can collaborate to build, test, and refine AI.

Singapore is unlikely to build every foundational model or match the computing scale of larger economies. But it can excel by adapting, improving, and governing open systems with its deep domain expertise and world-class regulatory frameworks.

A future we build, together
As we step into an era where algorithms determine economic winners, paving the way for Singapore’s AI culture with open-source principles goes far beyond fiscal benefits – it’s intentionally building a participating culture of openness; a future moulded by many hands instead of the powerful few, where collective wisdom is revered over individual genius. Where creating and building is better, together.

With the right guardrails, the small island nation can balance openness with strategic autonomy, avoiding digital colonialism and offering protectionism. For a small nation with big ambitions, that is exactly what Singapore needs.