AI Singapore
AI Singapore is Singapore's national AI programme, launched in May 2017. It is funded by the National Research Foundation and hosted by the National University of Singapore. Its work spans research, industry adoption, talent development, governance and AI products such as SEA-LION.
Company & leadership
- Launched
- May 2017
- Host institution
- National University of Singapore
- Public funder
- National Research Foundation, Singapore
- Executive Chairman
- Professor Christian Wolfrum, from 1 July 2026
Origins and public governance
AI Singapore brings together research institutions, businesses and technology teams to develop national AI capabilities. Its structure is a publicly funded national programme. Professor Ho Teck Hua is identified as its founding Executive Chairman in the programme's five-year report.
The National Research Foundation supports the programme, and the National University of Singapore hosts it. SEA-LION is developed through AI Singapore's Products pillar, within this wider research and innovation organization.
Current leadership
Professor Christian Wolfrum became Executive Chairman on 1 July 2026. The current team page lists Professor Phoon Kok Kwang as Deputy Executive Chairman for Research, Professor Luke Ong for Applied and Translational work, and Professor Mohan Kankanhalli for Talent and Ecosystem.
Dr Leslie Teo is Senior Director of AI Products, the pillar responsible for SEA-LION. Laurence Liew directs AI Innovation, Professor Cham Tat Jen directs AI Research, and Professor Simon Chesterman is Senior Director of AI Governance.
Singapore locations
The programme lists two Singapore office locations: innovation 4.0 at 3 Research Link, and Academic Building North at 61 Nanyang Drive. Its contact page identifies both locations rather than a single corporate headquarters.
Work beyond foundation models
AI Singapore supports fundamental research and industry adoption as well as model development. Its 100 Experiments programme works with companies on AI applications. The AI Apprenticeship Programme develops engineering talent. Its education programmes serve students and working professionals, while its governance pillar studies issues such as fairness, privacy and accountability.
National language-model programme
In December 2023, IMDA announced the National Multimodal Large Language Model Programme in partnership with AI Singapore and A*STAR. The initiative received S$70 million from the National Research Foundation to develop model research, engineering capability and talent. That funding announcement concerns the national programme, rather than an equity investment in AI Singapore.
SEA-LION is AI Singapore's regional language-model project. Its model collections now include generation, vision, embeddings and moderation releases. The model pages below cover selected major releases, while the official collections retain earlier checkpoints and additional deployment formats.