Anthropic Opens Singapore Office and Partners with Government on AI Safety and Model Evaluation

Anthropic Establishes Fifth Asia-Pacific Hub in Singapore

Anthropic has opened a Singapore office, marking its fifth location in the Asia-Pacific region, and formalized a partnership with the government through a memorandum of understanding focused on AI safety and responsible AI adoption. Co-founder Ben Mann and Kai Fong Chng, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, signed the agreement during Singapore International Cyber Week, with Minister Josephine Teo witnessing the ceremony.1

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Source: The Next Web

The memorandum of understanding covers AI safety, AI security, AI model evaluation, research on adoption and impact, and responsible use across both public and private sectors. Mann emphasized that the partnership reflects Anthropic's founding principle that capability and safety must advance together, stating it would help ensure the transition to powerful AI systems progresses responsibly in Singapore, across Asia-Pacific and globally.2

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Technical Exchanges and Model Evaluation Framework

The partnership establishes technical exchanges with Singapore's AI safety, security and assurance institutions on AI model evaluation, testing standards and incident response protocols. Anthropic plans to share research findings, Economic Index data, and provide technical and policy expertise as Singapore develops its regulatory framework for artificial intelligence. The collaboration will also explore strengthening AI skills development, supporting small and medium-sized businesses in adopting AI responsibly, and building AI capabilities among public officers.1

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This commitment to transparency comes as Anthropic faces scrutiny elsewhere. Europe's AI Office has struggled to obtain documentation and access to frontier models, including Anthropic's Mythos system, despite the company signing the EU's code of practice for general-purpose AI in July 2025. Reuters reported that Anthropic and OpenAI have sought control over what reviewers can publish, citing trade secrets, though Anthropic maintains it retains sign-off only with new evaluation firms.1

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Claude AI Drives Significant Adoption Across Singapore

Singapore represents one of Anthropic's most active markets globally, with Claude AI being deployed across major organizations serving millions daily. According to Anthropic's Economic Index, Singapore ranks second among 121 countries in Claude.ai usage relative to population, with usage nearly six times higher than what its population size alone would predict.2

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More than 1,500 engineers and technical staff at GovTech Singapore have adopted Claude Code to modernize government systems and accelerate software delivery. In financial services, DBS Bank uses Claude AI for software development and day-to-day productivity tasks, while sovereign wealth fund GIC is rolling it out across investment and corporate services teams. Grab deploys Claude to power BriX, its sales assistant, which saves approximately 40,000 hours every quarter and identifies new sales opportunities.1

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Strategic Positioning in Asia-Pacific AI Competition

Dale Finlay, General Manager of ASEAN at Anthropic, noted that having a team on the ground enables closer collaboration with local organizations that hold AI to extremely high standards for reliability and AI security. The Singapore office is actively hiring, though no specific headcount targets were disclosed.1

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The move follows OpenAI's May announcement of its first applied AI lab outside America in Singapore, backed by S$300 million (approximately $235 million) and roughly 200 roles. Singapore's jurisdiction matters strategically—the country isn't restricted under US export controls, though Anthropic bars Chinese companies and their foreign-owned entities from accessing its frontier models and has advocated for broader controls in Washington. Previous reporting found OpenAI and Google selling advanced AI to Singapore-registered arms of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, whose parent companies appear on Pentagon lists.1

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Anthropic has also requested governments grant power to block deployments posing significant risk of catastrophic harm. On the same day as the Singapore announcement, Anthropic's head of international stated in Dublin that open models carry more risk by definition, highlighting the company's stance on AI safety and responsible adoption frameworks.1

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