SINGAPORE: Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and United States technology startup Anthropic co-hosted their first event in Singapore on Thursday (Apr 23), following GIC’s recent investments in the frontier AI firm behind Claude.
The closed-door event brought together about 150 senior leaders from Singapore’s technology and investment communities in a sharing that featured live demonstrations of Anthropic’s AI tools.
Attendees included venture capitalists from across Asia, Singapore-based technology executives and representatives from Singapore government agencies.
Speaking at the Anthropic x GIC Asia Pacific Innovation Day event at the state investor’s office in Capital Tower, Mr Dominic Soon, senior vice president of private equity at GIC, said AI is “no longer optional for anyone”.
CNA Games
Show More Show Less
“It's foundational. Through our own portfolio companies and our own experience, we know that organisations, both large and small, can benefit immensely from AI if it is implemented responsibly, safely and thoughtfully. And in this area, Anthropic has been a leader and an innovator,” he said.
He noted that Singapore had the largest users of Claude per capita, with people using five and a half times more of Anthropic’s platform than expected for a country of its size.
For companies that want to make the most of Claude, there is “ample talent” in Singapore, he said, adding that Singapore is well-positioned to be a global AI hub.
GIC first invested in Anthropic in September 2025 in its US$13 billion (S$16.6 billion) Series F fundraising.
In February, GIC led the US$30 billion Series G in Anthropic alongside Coatue Management, a major US investment firm, bringing Anthropic’s valuation to US$380 billion.
The state investor has kept mum about its total investment so far, though the Financial Times said in January that GIC would invest US$1.5 billion in the AI firm in its Series G funding.
“The investment will fuel the frontier research, product development, and infrastructure expansions that have made Anthropic the market leader in enterprise AI,” GIC said in a news release in February.
GIC added on Thursday that it plays a “unique role” in the tech ecosystem, serving as a bridge between tech companies and businesses, institutions and policymakers in Singapore and across Asia.
“Our partnership with Anthropic exemplifies how we work with innovative companies to create lasting value and impact,” the company said.
In their sharing, executives from Anthropic – product head Angela Jiang, engineering head Katelyn Lesse and technical staff member Carly Ryan – highlighted how startups can adopt Anthropic’s AI models more effectively to scale faster and operate smarter.
The sharing also focused on practical frameworks and tools that companies can use to harness AI, such as by incorporating it in their company culture, workflows and product development.
Katelyn Lesse, Head of Engineering (Platform) at Anthropic, speaks at an event co-hosted by Anthropic and GIC at the GIC office on Apr 23, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Justin Tan)
Co-founder and chairman of Endowus Samuel Rhee, who was among the attendees, said the consumer experience at the financial technology company has been enhanced significantly by Anthropic’s AI models.
“What Anthropic is doing is trying to launch solutions like the manager agent or the advisor tools, and those are actually going to help enable human users of the model to maximise the model's capabilities,” he said.
For Mr Quek Siu Rui, CEO and co-founder of Carousell, Anthropic’s speed in launching updates and products was notable.
“It just gives you a glimpse into the potential of what AI and agents can do for your business, and for me, I'm just sitting there in the audience thinking about how Carousell can move so much faster if we embrace AI and agents,” he said.
Anthropic, an AI safety and research company, is known for the AI platform Claude, which has rivalled other firms’ frontier AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and DeepSeek.
The company has also been in the headlines for its dispute with the US after Anthropic refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said Anthropic was "shaping up" in the eyes of his administration, months after his administration blacklisted the company.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had met with White House officials last Friday to attempt to repair the relationship.
More recently, the company’s launch of the AI model Mythos has sparked concerns among regulators for its capabilities.
Announced on Apr 7, Anthropic has said that Mythos can identify and exploit “zero-day vulnerabilities” – flaws previously unknown to the software’s developers – in every major operating system and web browser when directed by a user.
This poses a danger as flaws identified by the model could be potentially exploited by hackers.
Instead of releasing the model to the public, Mythos is being deployed under a controlled initiative – Project Glasswing – in which select organisations are permitted to use its Mythos Preview model to fix vulnerabilities in their systems.
The company has shared the model with over 40 organisations that provide technology used in maintaining critical global infrastructure, including Apple and Microsoft.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that a small group of unauthorised users had already accessed the Mythos model.
Anthropic has said it is investigating a report claiming unauthorised access to Mythos Preview through one of its third-party vendor environments.
In an advisory on Apr 15, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) urged organisations to strengthen their cybersecurity measures, citing the potential for increased risks from frontier AI models.
CSA has issued an alert to sector leads and critical information infrastructure owners to tighten cyber hygiene measures and put in place longer-term mitigation measures, the spokesperson said.
Continue reading...
The closed-door event brought together about 150 senior leaders from Singapore’s technology and investment communities in a sharing that featured live demonstrations of Anthropic’s AI tools.
Attendees included venture capitalists from across Asia, Singapore-based technology executives and representatives from Singapore government agencies.
Speaking at the Anthropic x GIC Asia Pacific Innovation Day event at the state investor’s office in Capital Tower, Mr Dominic Soon, senior vice president of private equity at GIC, said AI is “no longer optional for anyone”.
CNA Games
Show More Show Less
“It's foundational. Through our own portfolio companies and our own experience, we know that organisations, both large and small, can benefit immensely from AI if it is implemented responsibly, safely and thoughtfully. And in this area, Anthropic has been a leader and an innovator,” he said.
He noted that Singapore had the largest users of Claude per capita, with people using five and a half times more of Anthropic’s platform than expected for a country of its size.
For companies that want to make the most of Claude, there is “ample talent” in Singapore, he said, adding that Singapore is well-positioned to be a global AI hub.
GIC first invested in Anthropic in September 2025 in its US$13 billion (S$16.6 billion) Series F fundraising.
In February, GIC led the US$30 billion Series G in Anthropic alongside Coatue Management, a major US investment firm, bringing Anthropic’s valuation to US$380 billion.
The state investor has kept mum about its total investment so far, though the Financial Times said in January that GIC would invest US$1.5 billion in the AI firm in its Series G funding.
“The investment will fuel the frontier research, product development, and infrastructure expansions that have made Anthropic the market leader in enterprise AI,” GIC said in a news release in February.
GIC added on Thursday that it plays a “unique role” in the tech ecosystem, serving as a bridge between tech companies and businesses, institutions and policymakers in Singapore and across Asia.
“Our partnership with Anthropic exemplifies how we work with innovative companies to create lasting value and impact,” the company said.
ADOPTING AI
In their sharing, executives from Anthropic – product head Angela Jiang, engineering head Katelyn Lesse and technical staff member Carly Ryan – highlighted how startups can adopt Anthropic’s AI models more effectively to scale faster and operate smarter.
The sharing also focused on practical frameworks and tools that companies can use to harness AI, such as by incorporating it in their company culture, workflows and product development.
Katelyn Lesse, Head of Engineering (Platform) at Anthropic, speaks at an event co-hosted by Anthropic and GIC at the GIC office on Apr 23, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Justin Tan)
Co-founder and chairman of Endowus Samuel Rhee, who was among the attendees, said the consumer experience at the financial technology company has been enhanced significantly by Anthropic’s AI models.
“What Anthropic is doing is trying to launch solutions like the manager agent or the advisor tools, and those are actually going to help enable human users of the model to maximise the model's capabilities,” he said.
For Mr Quek Siu Rui, CEO and co-founder of Carousell, Anthropic’s speed in launching updates and products was notable.
“It just gives you a glimpse into the potential of what AI and agents can do for your business, and for me, I'm just sitting there in the audience thinking about how Carousell can move so much faster if we embrace AI and agents,” he said.
THE BUZZ BEHIND ANTHROPIC’S CLAUDE AND MYTHOS
Anthropic, an AI safety and research company, is known for the AI platform Claude, which has rivalled other firms’ frontier AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and DeepSeek.
The company has also been in the headlines for its dispute with the US after Anthropic refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said Anthropic was "shaping up" in the eyes of his administration, months after his administration blacklisted the company.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had met with White House officials last Friday to attempt to repair the relationship.
More recently, the company’s launch of the AI model Mythos has sparked concerns among regulators for its capabilities.
Announced on Apr 7, Anthropic has said that Mythos can identify and exploit “zero-day vulnerabilities” – flaws previously unknown to the software’s developers – in every major operating system and web browser when directed by a user.
This poses a danger as flaws identified by the model could be potentially exploited by hackers.
Instead of releasing the model to the public, Mythos is being deployed under a controlled initiative – Project Glasswing – in which select organisations are permitted to use its Mythos Preview model to fix vulnerabilities in their systems.
The company has shared the model with over 40 organisations that provide technology used in maintaining critical global infrastructure, including Apple and Microsoft.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that a small group of unauthorised users had already accessed the Mythos model.
Anthropic has said it is investigating a report claiming unauthorised access to Mythos Preview through one of its third-party vendor environments.
In an advisory on Apr 15, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) urged organisations to strengthen their cybersecurity measures, citing the potential for increased risks from frontier AI models.
CSA has issued an alert to sector leads and critical information infrastructure owners to tighten cyber hygiene measures and put in place longer-term mitigation measures, the spokesperson said.
Related:
Continue reading...