19-7-2023 (SINGAPORE) Around 4,000 civil servants in Singapore are using an AI-based chatbot called Pair to assist them with writing, research, and coding in a trial of AI bots aimed at increasing productivity within the government and benefiting the public. The writing and research bot was developed by Open Government Products team at GovTech to generate quick responses for public officers.
Pair uses large language models, which are AI models that process and generate natural language or human-like text by learning patterns and structures from vast amounts of training data. It provides “a sparring partner for ideas” and will allow the secure and efficient use of large language models as a writing assistant within the government space.
Plans are underway to progressively roll out the chatbot to around 150,000 government staff in all agencies, GovTech said. The agency is also testing large language models to upgrade SupportGoWhere, a portal for locals to search and apply for government aid.
Currently, SupportGoWhere users have to manually browse through the website themselves, or use the “Support Recommender” quiz, where they answer multiple-choice questions to narrow down the list of support schemes that might be relevant to them. By incorporating AI into SupportGoWhere, users will be able to describe their problem in their own words and receive information on what assistance they can apply for and where to get it.
Pair and the upgraded SupportGoWhere are part of the first tranche of AI use cases in the government. Public officers are also being trained to improve their data and AI literacy skills through GovTech’s digital literacy programme, ePrimer, which has been refreshed to incorporate concepts such as generative AI, large language models, and prompt engineering.
The four-hour course comprises five modules with videos and real-life case studies contextualized to the government sector. Some modules are available to the public on the Singapore Government Developer Portal to help them gain knowledge about these general concepts.
