World’s second-richest nation proposes mandatory notices when firms use personal data for AI training

The proposal comes in draft advisory guidelines issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), which oversees Singapore's data protection laws. The agency said organizations should provide AI-specific notifications instead of relying on broad privacy statements that personal data may be used for purposes such as "new product development."

The proposed rules aim to give consumers greater transparency over how their personal data is collected and used to develop AI systems. Personal data may include names, email addresses, voice and video recordings, transaction histories and location data.

Under the draft guidelines, organizations would be expected to provide prominent AI-specific notices, such as in-app pop-ups or dedicated webpages, explaining what a generative AI model does, what personal data it uses and why the data is needed.

For example, a company developing a text-to-speech feature should inform users that their voice recordings will be used to train the AI model and explain that the recordings help the system recognize speech patterns, according to The Straits Times.

Marina Bay Sands resort and the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in Singapore. Photo from Unsplash

Organizations should also provide clear instructions allowing users to opt out of, or withdraw consent for, the use of their personal data for AI training.

According to the PDPC, the proposed guidelines are designed to reduce the risk of personal data being used to develop unforeseen AI services, including financial profiling.

The draft however does not specify whether organizations would be required to obtain explicit consent before using personal data for AI training or whether providing an opt-out mechanism would be sufficient.

It also does not clarify whether the notification requirement would apply when personal data has been anonymized before being used to train AI models.

Another unresolved issue is whether organizations, including banks, insurers and social media platforms, could refuse services to customers who decline to allow their personal data to be used for AI training.

The month-long public consultation on the proposed guidelines ended on July 1. The PDPC is reviewing feedback as Singapore, ranked the world's second-richest country by GDP per capita in 2025, considers how its data protection framework should respond to the growing use of generative AI and AI-enabled devices that collect biometric data, according to Malay Mail.