Eduardo Pedrosa
Singapore, 19 August 2026
For
almost three months, I unknowingly paid a recurring charge
that I believed was legitimate. It appeared on my credit
card statement under a familiar-looking merchant name,
raised no obvious red flags and blended into the dozens of
transactions we make every month. Only when I looked more
closely did I realize I had been the victim of an online
scam.
Like many people, I consider myself reasonably
careful online. Yet the experience was a timely reminder
that in today’s digital economy, trust can be exploited
just as easily as technology can be advanced.
That
lesson stayed with me throughout APEC Digital Weeks in
Chengdu last month.
Much of the week’s discussion
centered on artificial intelligence (AI), data and the
future of the digital economy. But beneath every
conversation lay a much simpler question: how do we build
digital systems that people can trust?
It is tempting
to think of trust as something intangible. Yet it is every
bit as important to the digital economy as roads are to
trade or ports are to shipping. Without trust, people
hesitate to share data, businesses delay investment and new
technologies struggle to gain acceptance.
Innovation
may move quickly, but adoption depends on confidence. In
many ways, trust has become the invisible infrastructure of
the digital economy.
Before AI Had a
Name
Everyone seems to think the age of AI arrived
overnight.
One day we were using the internet to
search for information and send emails. The next, AI was
writing reports, translating languages, supporting medical
diagnoses and helping businesses make decisions. The pace of
change feels extraordinary, and in many ways it is. But
technological revolutions rarely begin on the day they
capture public attention.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
When APEC was established in
1989, few people imagined a world connected by smartphones,
cloud computing or AI. Yet less than a year later, member
economies created the Telecommunications
and Information Working Group, recognizing that digital
connectivity would become an increasingly important driver
of economic development across the Asia-Pacific. Looking
back today, that decision appears remarkably
forward-looking.
The technologies have changed beyond
recognition, but APEC’s underlying purpose has remained
consistent, and that is to help economies use technology to
strengthen growth, expand opportunity and improve people’s
lives.
AI is not a departure from that journey. It is
the latest chapter in it.
From Connectivity to
Capability
The scale of the region’s digital
transformation has been nothing short of
remarkable.
When China last hosted APEC in 2014, just
over half of people across the Asia-Pacific were using the
internet. Today, almost 90 percent are online, representing
nearly 1.2 billion additional people connected in just one
decade.
That success also changes the conversation.
For many years, the region’s priority was expanding
connectivity. Today, connectivity is increasingly the
foundation rather than the destination.
The next
challenge is ensuring that those digital foundations
translate into greater productivity, stronger public
services and wider economic opportunity.
AI is already
becoming part of that transition. Manufacturers are
improving productivity. Doctors are gaining new tools to
support diagnosis and treatment. Researchers are
accelerating scientific discovery. Small businesses are
reaching customers far beyond their local markets, while
governments are exploring new ways to deliver more
responsive public services.
The greatest impact of AI
may not come through dramatic breakthroughs that dominate
headlines. It may come through thousands of practical
improvements that quietly make businesses more competitive,
public services more effective and everyday life a little
easier.
Trust is the Real Infrastructure
Yet
as the conversations unfolded, another theme became
impossible to ignore: data.
AI depends on data. The
quality of its outputs, the reliability of its decisions and
the confidence people place in it are all shaped by the
quality, availability and responsible use of data. As AI
becomes more capable, data is increasingly becoming the
foundation on which digital innovation is built.
But
data does not create value simply because it exists. It
creates value when people and businesses have the confidence
to share, use and exchange it responsibly. That means
protecting privacy, strengthening cybersecurity, promoting
transparency and building governance frameworks that
encourage innovation while maintaining public
trust.
Finding that balance will not look the same in
every economy.
The Asia-Pacific is one of the
world’s most diverse regions, with different legal
systems, regulatory approaches and levels of digital
development. Those differences are not obstacles to
cooperation. They are precisely why cooperation
matters.
Throughout its history, APEC has never sought
to impose a single model. Instead, it has provided a
platform where economies exchange practical experience,
learn from one another and improve interoperability while
respecting different domestic approaches.
That
collaborative approach has helped the region navigate
successive waves of technological change, and it will remain
just as important as data becomes an increasingly strategic
resource for the AI era.
Preparing for What Comes
Next
One lesson stayed with me after our discussions
in Chengdu.
When APEC established its
telecommunications workstream in 1990, nobody was planning
for generative AI. Nobody imagined smartphones would become
powerful computers in our pockets or that data would emerge
as one of the world’s most valuable economic
resources.
Yet the institutions and relationships
built over those years made it easier for economies to adapt
as each new wave of technology arrived.
Thirty-five
years from now, today’s technologies may seem just as
primitive as fax machines and dial-up internet now appear to
us. AI will continue to evolve. New technologies will
emerge. New policy questions will replace those we debate
today.
The real challenge, therefore, is not simply
preparing for the next technological breakthrough. It is
building the habits of cooperation that allow us to respond
together when that breakthrough arrives.
Thinking back
to my own experience of being scammed online, I realised
that the lesson was never really about technology. The scam
itself was enabled by technology. The solution, however,
depends on trust.
Trust in secure digital systems.
Trust in institutions. Trust that innovation can continue
while people remain protected. Technology will continue to
change, just as it always has. Trust must evolve with
it.
If the past three decades have taught us anything,
it is that lasting digital prosperity depends not only on
innovation, but also on our willingness to cooperate, learn
from one another and build confidence across
borders.
That may prove to be APEC’s greatest
contribution to the digital future of the
Asia-Pacific.
