Anthropic opens Singapore office, signs AI safety agreement with government

Singapore has welcomed Anthropic, an AI company, by opening an office in the city-state and signing an agreement on AI cooperation with the government. The partnership centers around AI safety, model evaluation, responsible adoption, and incident response. Anthropic's co-founder, Benjamin Mann, emphasized the importance of working with AI safety institutes, such as the new Singapore AI Safety Institute, to understand the risks and benefits of new models as they are developed.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) aims to deepen understanding of public-private partnerships to ensure safe and responsible technology development, as well as to comprehend the technology's impacts on the world and the workforce.

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam expressed hopes for full transparency and quicker information sharing amid growing AI risks. Singapore has previously signed agreements with AI firms like OpenAI and Google DeepMind to strengthen its position as a leading hub for AI innovation.

Anthropic's new Singapore office, located at Raffles Place, currently has 12 job openings across various departments, including finance, sales, and engineering. The company's work with Singapore began in 2023, when it participated in a government-run evaluation sandbox and collaborated on AI safety and security. Anthropic's head of APAC policy, Michael Sellitto, praised the government's forward-leaning stance on responsible adoption, use, and regulation of technology.