Singapore has called for a new international compact between governments, technology companies and the wider global community to manage the security risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies without stifling innovation.
Speaking at the High-Level Plenary Session on Diplomacy during Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) 2026 on October 15, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan warned that technological progress is accelerating far faster than the world’s ability to govern it.
He argued that the erosion of the rules-based international order, combined with the growing influence of major technology companies, is creating new challenges for diplomacy, cybersecurity and global security.
“The objective of all this is not to stop technological progress,” Balakrishnan said. Instead, countries must build greater trust, safety and assurance so that innovation can continue while its risks are managed.
AI Is Reshaping the Balance of Global Power
Balakrishnan contrasted advances in technology over the past three decades with the weakening of international governance.
He pointed to the 1996 victory of IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer over chess world champion Garry Kasparov as an early milestone in computing, alongside the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty by the United Nations General Assembly that year.
Since then, AI capabilities have advanced rapidly, quantum technologies have progressed, and breakthroughs in biotechnology and energy have opened new possibilities.
However, international institutions and multilateral agreements have struggled to keep pace with these developments.
Balakrishnan said strategic competition now extends beyond traditional military and geopolitical rivalries into economics, science and technology. Interdependence, once regarded as a foundation for peace and prosperity, is increasingly being used as an instrument of geopolitical pressure.
He warned that this trend is weakening the international community’s ability to address shared challenges, including cybersecurity, climate change, pandemics and emerging technologies.
Big Tech Companies Are Becoming Major Geopolitical Actors
A central theme of the minister’s address was the growing power of private technology companies in shaping international affairs.
Major technology firms control critical digital platforms, infrastructure and AI capabilities that governments, businesses and societies increasingly depend on. Their decisions on technology deployment, access and security safeguards can have consequences far beyond their home countries.
Balakrishnan compared this concentration of corporate power with the historical influence of chartered trading companies, including the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, which accumulated substantial economic and political influence during the colonial era.
While acknowledging that modern technology companies are not necessarily equivalent to their historical predecessors, he said the comparison illustrates how private organisations can acquire capabilities and resources that exceed those of many nation-states.
This creates a challenge for traditional diplomacy, which has largely centred on negotiations between sovereign governments.
Balakrishnan argued that governments must continue to fulfil their responsibilities for national security, international law and decisions on the use of force. However, because private companies increasingly develop and control the technologies shaping those decisions, international diplomacy must also engage technology firms collectively and across national boundaries.
He identified frontier AI as a particularly important area for cooperation, given that a relatively small number of companies are developing systems with potentially far-reaching security implications.
Autonomous AI Could Complicate Nuclear Deterrence
The minister also warned that the growing role of AI in military operations could challenge established assumptions about deterrence and strategic stability.
AI is already being used to support the identification and engagement of targets, while autonomous weapons systems are changing how military operations are conducted.
Balakrishnan said the implications extend beyond battlefield efficiency to the fundamental principles underlying nuclear deterrence, including mutually assured destruction.
Traditional deterrence relies partly on assumptions about human judgment, an understanding of an adversary’s intentions and a shared instinct for self-preservation.
If AI systems take on increasingly significant roles in strategic assessments and decisions about whether to use force, these assumptions could become less reliable.
“How do you deter an algorithm?” he asked, highlighting the difficulty of anticipating how AI systems might respond under pressure.
He warned that miscalculations and escalation could occur at machine speed, leaving little time for human intervention in decisions involving life and death.
The remarks underscore the importance of ensuring that AI-enabled military capabilities do not undermine strategic stability or remove meaningful human judgment from consequential decisions.
Three Major AI Risk Areas Identified
Balakrishnan outlined three broad categories of risk that governments and technology companies must address as AI becomes more capable and widely deployed.
- Loss of human control: Increasingly autonomous systems may behave in unexpected ways, making it difficult for developers and operators to guarantee that their actions remain within intended limits.
- Malicious use: Criminal groups and other non-state actors can exploit AI to scale cyberattacks, scams, ransomware and other forms of digital crime.
- Economic and social disruption: AI could deepen inequality, increase political polarisation and undermine societies’ ability to agree on facts, reach compromises and make collective decisions.
He stressed that no government, regardless of its resources, and no technology company, regardless of its technical capabilities, can address these challenges independently.
Instead, international stakeholders need shared assessments of the risks, common norms and practical safeguards that allow innovation to proceed responsibly.
Singapore Pushes for Inclusive Global Cyber Governance
Balakrishnan said Singapore’s experience in international cybersecurity negotiations demonstrates that consensus remains possible despite geopolitical divisions.
Singapore chaired the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). The work helped reaffirm the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace and establish a permanent Global Mechanism on ICT security.
He emphasised that international agreements must translate into practical cooperation, supported by trust, technical expertise and confidence-building measures.
He also called for smaller states and developing countries to have a meaningful role in shaping international rules for emerging technologies.
The governance of technologies that affect the entire world, he argued, should not be controlled exclusively by major powers and leading technology companies.
Without broader participation, countries that lack access to advanced digital technologies risk falling further behind economically and technologically, potentially deepening global inequalities and creating new forms of dependence.
Three Capabilities Countries Need to Compete in the AI Era
To participate meaningfully in the global digital economy and help shape AI governance, Balakrishnan identified three essential capabilities that countries should develop.
1. Research and technology access
Countries need access to foundational research, AI models, technical tools and the expertise required to understand emerging technologies, including AI and quantum computing.
Such access would help governments assess both the opportunities these technologies create and the security risks they introduce.
2. Talent development
Balakrishnan called for greater investment in education and training to build expertise in AI, cybersecurity and other emerging digital fields.
He noted that skilled professionals are increasingly sought after by leading AI laboratories and technology companies, making the development and retention of talent an important national priority.
3. Secure digital infrastructure
Countries need resilient digital systems, reliable connectivity and access to computing resources.
However, even major powers cannot necessarily build every component of the technology ecosystem independently. International partnerships and capacity-building programmes therefore remain essential.
Singapore Expands International Cybersecurity Cooperation
Balakrishnan highlighted several initiatives through which Singapore contributes to regional and international cybersecurity capacity-building.
These include joint cyber exercises with international partners, collaboration on technical standards, and regional programmes such as the ASEAN Cyber Capacity Programme and the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence.
Singapore also works with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs through the UN-Singapore Cyber Programme, which he said has trained participants from more than 90 countries.
These initiatives aim to strengthen technical capabilities, develop cybersecurity talent and improve cooperation between countries facing common digital threats.
Balakrishnan argued that capacity-building should not be viewed simply as assistance to developing countries, but as an investment in global security.
“Cyber threats do not recognise national borders; they do not require passports,” he said, warning that vulnerabilities in one part of the global digital ecosystem can have consequences far beyond the affected country.
Diplomacy Must Evolve Alongside AI
In closing, Balakrishnan revisited the early ideals of an independent cyberspace, including internet pioneer John Perry Barlow’s 1996 Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.
Thirty years later, he argued, it is clear that cyberspace cannot govern itself and that governments retain a responsibility to protect their citizens and national interests.
However, traditional state-to-state diplomacy must adapt to a world in which technological capabilities and influence are increasingly distributed among governments and private companies.
His message at SICW 2026 was that international security in the AI era will depend on cooperation across these groups, rather than on governments acting alone.
As AI, quantum computing and other emerging technologies continue to advance, Singapore is advocating a governance approach that combines international norms, practical safeguards, inclusive participation and capacity-building.
The challenge, Balakrishnan said, is not to halt technological progress, but to ensure that its benefits can be realised without compromising security, stability or equitable access.
For governments and technology companies alike, that will require a new model of diplomacy capable of keeping pace with the technologies reshaping the global balance of power.
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