From deepfakes to digital trust: Singapore's vision for responsible AI and verified content
On August 17, when Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong took the stage at this year’s National Day Rally, he didn’t just acknowledge that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we live — he shared a clear, forward-looking vision for how Singapore intends to lead in this new era.
AI, he said, is “a defining technology of our time.”
But what stood out was the Prime Minister’s insistence that this progress must be grounded in trust, guided by ethics, and shaped by people — not just code.
As someone who works closely with governments across Asia Pacific, I find that message timely and deeply resonant. At Adobe, where we are building AI into the applications people use every day — from digital content creation to document workflows — we see both the potential and the responsibility that comes alongside.
A clear example of how we put this into practice is through Adobe Journey Optimizer. This powerful solution enables businesses to create multi-step customer journeys that deliver the right message at the right moment, driven by real-time customer actions and signals. At its core, the Adobe Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator powers intelligent AI agents to make fast, complex decisions at scale, while allowing teams to manage and coordinate both Adobe and third-party agents tailored to their needs.
Through tools like these, we’re committed to creating AI that not only works intelligently but also responsibly — building trust, enabling meaningful engagement, and shaping a future where technology uplifts everyone.
And in Singapore, we see a partner that’s not only thinking ahead but thinking carefully.
Building trust at the speed of innovation
Today, anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection can conjure a video so real it blurs the line between fact and fiction. That’s the power of AI. It is remarkable, and in many ways, empowering, but it also comes with consequences.
Deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation are already influencing elections and fuelling disinformation. As Prime Minister Wong noted, AI is already widely accessible — but its impact will depend on how responsibly it is used.
In a recent Adobe study, 80 percent of people in Australia and New Zealand identified AI-driven misinformation as one of society’s biggest threats. And that concern is mirrored across the Asia Pacific region. People want the benefits of AI, but not at the expense of truth.
In my work with governments across the region, it’s clear: the public wants to trust the content they see — and the systems that deliver it.
Trust can’t be bolted on later. It must be built in from the start.
That’s exactly why Adobe created Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) in 2019, a global, open-source effort to bring greater transparency to digital content. It works by embedding tamper-evident metadata — called Content Credentials — into images, videos, and documents. This metadata includes critical information: who created the content, when and where it was created, what tools were used, and whether AI played a role in generating or altering it.
This doesn’t just help creators maintain credit for their work. It helps consumers, journalists, and citizens verify the integrity of the media they’re seeing. It’s a simple concept — digital content with a digital passport — but one with enormous implications for restoring trust in a digital-first world.
And it's a concept that Singapore is actively championing. Last year, Adobe was proud to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety (CATOS) to explore how provenance technologies like Content Credentials can be implemented across Singapore.
From newsrooms to public agencies to education platforms, this collaboration aims to embed content authenticity into the very infrastructure of digital communication. This supports Singapore’s AI governance framework (IMDA, PDPC) by setting industry standards for responsible AI adoption. Digital trust, after all, isn’t a feature, it’s fast becoming a civic necessity.
Responsible AI by design
Trust cannot be not retrofitted. It must be built into the tools people use to create content in the first place. At Adobe, we’ve taken deliberate steps to make sure our generative AI solutions are developed responsibly, from the start.
Our generative AI family, Adobe Firefly, was designed with ethics at its core. It’s trained on licensed and public domain data — not scraped from the open web. Its outputs are safe for commercial use. And it automatically applies Content Credentials to every asset generated. With Adobe Sensei GenAI we bring intelligent automation to the workplace — helping users draft text, repurpose content across platforms, and personalise digital experiences. It’s built for professionals who need to work faster, but not at the expense of integrity or control.
Now, Adobe has taken this commitment to the next level with the launch of Content Authenticity web app, a free, easy-to-use tool that empowers creators to attach Content Credentials to their digital work, including images, audio, and video files.
Developed hand-in-hand with the creative community, the web app gives users full control over the information embedded in their content, such as their name, website, or social media handles. This helps ensure proper attribution, protects against misuse, and brings much-needed transparency around how content was created, including whether AI was involved.
Crucially, the app also enables creators to set generative AI training and usage preferences, allowing them to clearly signal if they do not want their work used to train third-party AI models.
These principles align closely with Singapore’s AI governance framework, which has set an international standard for ethics, explainability, and human agency in AI deployment. It’s a model Adobe not only supports — it’s one we actively implement in our product design and public policy work.
Verified content in the public sector
Governments increasingly rely on digital media to inform, engage, and serve citizens. And as the Prime Minister himself highlighted, AI is already enhancing service delivery across Singapore. From multilingual transcription in call centres to smart diagnostics in dental clinics, AI is being used to save time and improve accuracy — not to replace people, but to let them focus on what matters most.
But technology alone isn’t enough. The stories we tell — through national campaigns or community initiatives — shape our sense of identity and belonging. Tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Firefly are already helping bring real Singaporean stories to life, while Adobe Creative Cloud fosters collaboration among schools, nonprofits, and communities. It’s not just about consuming content, but about creating and strengthening the social fabric.
Misinformation threatens this progress. That’s why Content Credentials play such a critical role — providing transparency that helps keep official messages, public campaigns, and educational content trustworthy and verifiable. When trust is at stake, every detail counts.
Adobe is proud to support this transition. Through partnerships with public sector agencies across healthcare, education, and citizen services, we help design secure, personalized, and accessible digital experiences using Adobe Experience Cloud. Whether renewing a license or booking a vaccine appointment, interactions should be seamless — delivering both efficiency and trust.
Shaping a trusted digital future
Navigating misinformation is not just about tech — it’s also about people. As the digital world evolves, so does the need for strong media literacy. Skills like identifying how content is generated and applying critical thinking are now essential.
The same goes for AI. It’s more than a productivity tool, it’s a force multiplier that will reshape the structure of work itself. Some jobs will evolve. And entirely new roles will emerge. What matters most is equipping people with the skills and confidence to thrive in this future.
At Adobe, we support Singapore’s SkillsFuture by partnering with schools, universities, and training providers to bring creative and data literacy into classrooms. We offer certifications that combine technical skills with storytelling, helping learners build meaningful capabilities. Platforms like Adobe Express for Education, provide powerful creative tools to students and teachers — completely free.
As generative AI becomes more ubiquitous, we must also cultivate digital ethics, media literacy, and critical thinking — especially among the next generation. That’s why we believe in not just enabling creativity but creating consciously. At Adobe, we see our role in this ecosystem as more than a technology provider. We’re a partner in nation-building — helping Singapore’s digital transformation unfold with integrity, inclusion, and impact.