IMDA Launches $48M Fund for Singapore Media Firms to Adopt AI
Source: The Straits Times
IMDA's S$48 million Digital Content and Capability Development programme will help Singapore media firms create locally relevant content while adopting AI tools, backed by 55 curated AI courses under the National AI Impact Programme.
Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority has launched a S$48 million Digital Content and Capability Development programme that will help local media firms create Singapore-centric content while experimenting with artificial intelligence tools. The four-year initiative, announced by Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How, comes as nearly half of all Singaporeans aged 15 and above use social media video platforms weekly and AI-assisted production workflows rapidly reshape the media landscape.
The fund operates through a two-step process: media firms must first be accredited by IMDA — 117 companies, including traditional production houses and digital-native creators, received accreditation in April and May 2026 — and then respond to calls for proposals detailing their creative concepts, production approaches, and intended audience reach. Evaluation criteria prioritise innovation, team capability, and relevance to local audiences. The programme explicitly supports short-form episodic content, micro-dramas, and AI-generated content alongside traditional formats.
The AI experimentation component is not just about production efficiency. IMDA's stated goal is to enable media professionals to shift focus toward higher-value creative work — storytelling and narrative craft — by automating lower-level production and localisation tasks. Coinciding with the fund's launch, IMDA also released 55 curated AI courses under the National AI Impact Programme, accessible via SkillsFuture credits. These cover everything from generative AI-enhanced social media content creation to audio production, targeting Singapore's ambition to train over 100,000 non-tech workers in AI know-how.
Why it matters for Singapore: This fund represents one of the most concrete government interventions yet in the intersection of AI and creative industries. By coupling financial support for Singapore-centric content with explicit AI adoption incentives, IMDA is betting that local media firms can compete with global platforms on storytelling quality while using AI to close the production cost gap. For Singapore's media professionals, the message is clear: AI fluency is becoming a prerequisite, not a differentiator, for accessing government support.