Global miner Rio Tinto has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with AI Singapore (AISG) to develop and scale artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that address operational challenges across its supply chains.
Facilitated by Enterprise Singapore, the two-year collaboration will also support the development of Singapore’s AI talent by giving emerging practitioners access to practical industry challenges and hands-on learning opportunities, Rio Tinto said in a statement on Wednesday.
AISG is a national program launched by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, to anchor deep national capabilities in artificial intelligence.
With Singapore home to Rio Tinto’s Commercial hub, this partnership strengthens the company’s ability to apply practical AI solutions from the country, supporting productivity, data‐driven decision‐making and operational excellence across its global value chain.
The partnership builds on an initial AI‐assisted freight invoice processing solution.
Each year, Rio Tinto processes more than 10,000 freight invoices – a manual and time‐consuming task that requires cross‐checking multiple data sources.
By combining AI Singapore’s technical expertise with Rio Tinto’s operational data and insights, the project aims to streamline validation, improve accuracy and reduce turnaround times.
This initiative demonstrates how AI can be applied to solve practical, industry-wide challenges.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Rio Tinto, a global metals and mining company, as part of our mission to advance Singapore’s AI ecosystem,
“Providing our talent with access to complex, real world industry challenges accelerates practical learning and helps drive meaningful AI adoption in sectors such as mining, where digital transformation is emerging,” Laurence Liew, Director of AI Innovation, AI Singapore.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto Commercial Chief Financial Officer Will Millsteed said mining is often seen as a traditional industry, but the challenges we face today require modern, AI‐enabled solutions.
“By working with AI Singapore, we are strengthening our ability to apply artificial intelligence to complex supply chain problems,
“This collaboration reflects our commitment to using technology to solve business challenges, build new capabilities and deliver real improvements,” he added.
Enterprise Singapore’s Assistant Managing Director for Trade and Connectivity, Lee Pak Sing, said Rio Tinto’s choosing Singapore as its Asian hub to accelerate AI adoption across its commercial business builds upon Singapore being their global commercial and
shipping hub and adds to the emerging AI ecosystem here that supports global commodity companies.
“This partnership will combine Singapore’s AI technical expertise with Rio Tinto’s data and industry insights. With more of such projects, we hope to develop Singapore as the place where commodity companies can leverage AI to transform their businesses,” he added.
The partnership strengthens Rio Tinto’s technical capability, supports Singapore’s AI talent, and enables practical AI solutions that improve productivity, reliability and decision making across the business, the statement concluded.