Debated in Parliament on 9 May 2023.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Prime Minister (a) how does the Public Service intend to leverage new artificial intelligence technologies, such as ChatGPT, in e-Government services; and (b) whether such tools will augment and replace existing chatbot services to provide a better user experience for citizens.
The Government has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) in digital services, such as chatbots on Government websites, the OneService Chatbot for reporting municipal issues through social messaging platforms, and the SG Translate Together web portal.
Recent developments in AI technologies, such as those powering Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, can help the Government improve the quality of e-services, for example, through better customised responses by chatbots to public queries. We must, however, ensure the accuracy and reliability of responses before such service enhancements can be deployed for public use. This will require a period of experimentation and testing.
There are other ways in which the public can benefit from the use of such technologies within the Government, for example, through more efficient research and analysis of complex issues. The Public Service has, therefore, introduced guidelines for public officers when using such technologies, to clarify accountability and safeguard data security.
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