Hong Kong to set up US$129 million R&D institute to boost tech-driven growth

Key Concepts:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a driver for sustainable growth in Hong Kong.
• AI model development for medical applications (pre-consultation, diagnosis).
• AI applications in the financial sector (insurance).
• AI regulatory framework and responsible AI usage.
• Hong Kong's strategy to leverage its financial hub status for AI development.

1. Hong Kong's AI Strategy and Investment:

• Hong Kong identifies AI as a key sector for sustainable growth, aligning with China's national development goals.
• Focus areas include supercomputing, data, and talent in AI.
• Government investment of $129 million US to establish a new R&D center.

2. AI in Medical Applications:

• Med Doctor: An AI-driven model developed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for pre-consultation.
  • Functions like a medical GPT, answering questions, generating reports, and providing initial diagnoses based on medical images.
  • Aims to save doctors time by compiling medical information.
• MOMI: An AI model for breast cancer diagnosis using MRI scans.
  • Distinguishes between malignant and benign breast lumps without invasive biopsies.
  • Achieves accuracy comparable to radiologists with over five years of experience.
• Dr. Ha Chen's Perspective:
  • AI models can learn from large-scale data collected from hospitals, mining knowledge beyond a doctor's experience.
  • AI provides more objective information and reduces inconsistency, improving accuracy.
• Both Med Doctor and MOMI are in the final phase of pilot testing with local hospitals.

3. AI in the Financial Sector:

• Deloitte established an AI institute in early 2023 to develop customized AI projects for clients.
• Example: An AI system for an insurance company that can process over 10,000 documents, improving efficiency and speed of information retrieval compared to traditional chatbots handling only 2-3 documents.
• Insurance agents can use tablets to quickly search for answers using AI.

4. Hong Kong's Position in AI Development:

• Hong Kong is perceived as a latecomer in AI development compared to cities like Shenzhen and Hangzhou.
• The strategy is not to catch up but to leverage its financial hub status to drive AI development in the financial sector.

5. AI Regulatory Framework and Responsible AI:

• The current AI regulatory framework is considered weak.
• Research on responsible AI focuses on safety and ethical considerations.
• Example: Addressing unethical or illegal questions posed to AI and ensuring appropriate responses.
• The government is expected to develop a regulatory framework to guide AI development and usage.

6. Hong Kong Science Park and AI Startups:

• The Hong Kong Science Park is home to research, tech, and innovation companies, including AI startups.
• The government aims to foster greater AI development, believing it will define the competitiveness of corporations and economies and impact geopolitics.

7. Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Ha Chen: "For the whole career of a doctor, they actually can't see actually you know a million cases or several million cases here but you know with the good digital infrastructure large scale data that we collected from the hospitals the AI models by learning from this large scale data they actually can mine the knowledge the AI models can provide more uh objective actually information here and then it can reduce the actually the inconsistency such actually facilitate the uh improvement of the accuracy"

8. Synthesis/Conclusion:

Hong Kong is strategically investing in AI to drive sustainable growth, focusing on medical and financial applications. While considered a latecomer compared to other Chinese cities, Hong Kong aims to leverage its financial hub status and develop a robust regulatory framework to ensure responsible AI development and usage. The Hong Kong Science Park serves as a hub for AI startups, contributing to the city's AI ecosystem. The government views AI as crucial for future competitiveness and geopolitical influence.