SINGAPORE: Karan Bhatia, the Global Head of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Google, was recently in Singapore, having attended the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) as well as Google’s AI Ready ASEAN Youth Challenge.
In a May 24 LinkedIn post, he praised Singapore for it’s handing of AI, writing, “Singapore gets it. They’re actively using technology to improve people’s lives while building the guardrails to promote public trust.”
While there has been an amount of backlash against AI, especially among Gen Z in the United States, Mr Bhatia noted that “people in the Asia-Pacific region are consistently the most optimistic in the world” when it comes to the technology, which became apparent to him after he visited Singapore.
In his post, the Google executive listed some takeaways from his trip to the city-state, beginning with declaring that “the next generation is embracing technology for good.”
Mr Bhatia said that he had been honoured to join President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the AI Ready ASEAN Youth Challenge, and met “impressive young innovators” who were developing, such as an AI platform for dementia care in Brunei and a translation app fighting childhood malnutrition in the Philippines.
He also noted how critical public-private partnerships are, adding that Google has expanded its National AI partnership with the government of Singapore for the purpose of addressing societal challenges in healthcare, life sciences, and education. Google is collaborating with a number of agencies, including GovTech Singapore and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, to build the Agentic AI Sandbox, the first-of-its-kind in the world to safely test AI agents in helping people with practical tasks, such as applying for social assistance
Mr Bhatia, who thanked Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, wrote, “the rapid pace of technological change requires real-time collaboration between governments and industry,” noting that Google’s partners in Singapore prove that “fast-paced progress and responsible governance can go hand in hand.”
Several commenters on his post agreed with him.
“Singapore understands that the future of AI is not just about speed and capability. It’s about earning trust while scaling innovation responsibly,” one wrote.
“Singapore’s cultural willingness to embrace technology pragmatically: not as innovation for its own sake, but as a tool to improve outcomes, efficiency, and quality of life.
That mindset seems especially well-suited for AI — pairing openness to experimentation with governance and public trust.
Singapore has been ahead of the curve before. It would not surprise me if they continue to lead in operationalising AI at a national scale,” commented another. /TISG
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