Artificial Intelligence
Anthropic opens Singapore office, signs AI cooperation MOU
Anthropic opened a Singapore office and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore government on AI cooperation, with both sides focusing on safety, security, adoption and wider impacts.
- Anthropic opened a Singapore office and signed an AI cooperation memorandum of understanding with the Singapore government on 14 October.
- Benjamin Mann and Chng Kai Fong signed the agreement, while Josephine Teo and Michael Sellitto witnessed it.
- The memorandum covered safety, security, adoption and the impact of AI, and Mann said it would help cooperation with the Singapore AI Safety Institute.
- Anthropic said its work in Singapore began in 2023 through an IMDA and AI Verify Foundation evaluation sandbox, and its Economic Index ranked Singapore second of 121 countries in Claude.ai usage relative to population.
- Anthropic said more than 1,500 GovTech engineers and technical staff had adopted Claude Code.
Anthropic opened its Singapore office and announced a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore government on AI cooperation. The agreement covered safety and security, as well as adoption and the effects of the technology.
Benjamin Mann and Chng Kai Fong signed the deal on the sidelines of Singapore International Cyber Week, with Josephine Teo and Michael Sellitto present. K Shanmugam said the government wanted faster sharing of information from major technology firms when problems emerged, and Mann said the agreement would support work with the Singapore AI Safety Institute.
The company said its Singapore involvement dated back to 2023, when it joined an evaluation sandbox run by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and the AI Verify Foundation. Anthropic also said the office was at Raffles Place, that it had 12 job openings listed on its website, and that it was building out a local team around sales and customer work.
Anthropic said more than 1,500 GovTech engineers and technical staff had adopted Claude Code to update government systems and speed software delivery. Its Economic Index placed Singapore second among 121 countries for Claude.ai use relative to population, and Mann said AI would eventually displace jobs even though the company had not yet seen that happen.
Named in this story
People
- Benjamin Mann
- Anthropic co-founder who signed the memorandum and spoke about it
- Chng Kai Fong
- permanent secretary of the Ministry of Digital Development and Information who signed the memorandum
- Josephine Teo
- minister who witnessed the signing
- Michael Sellitto
- Anthropic’s head of APAC policy who witnessed the signing
- K Shanmugam
- said the government wanted faster transparency from major technology firms
- Dale Finlay
- Anthropic’s ASEAN general manager who discussed the new office’s focus
Companies
- Anthropic
- opened its Singapore office and signed the cooperation memorandum
Organisations
- Singapore AI Safety Institute
- was named as a partner for safety evaluation work
- AI Verify Foundation
- ran the evaluation sandbox with IMDA
Governments and agencies
- Singapore government
- signed the AI cooperation memorandum with Anthropic
- Ministry of Digital Development and Information
- its permanent secretary signed the memorandum
- Infocomm Media Development Authority
- ran the evaluation sandbox Anthropic joined in 2023
- Government Technology Agency of Singapore
- said more than 1,500 staff had adopted Claude Code
Products and systems
- Claude
- Anthropic’s frontier model
- Claude Code
- Anthropic’s coding tool used by GovTech staff
- Anthropic Economic Index
- Anthropic’s research initiative on how Claude is used
- Claude.ai
- the service ranked in the usage comparison
Places
- Raffles Place
- the site of Anthropic’s new Singapore office
How the source tells it
The article read mainly as straight reporting, but it carried some vendor boosterism and policy urgency through the companies’ own claims and officials’ emphasis on transparency and safety.
- vendor boosterism company self-praise and repeated claims about customer uptake, mission and future influence
- policy urgency official demands for immediate transparency and the focus on safety and security