World News by Wild Rose

Hong Kong businesses are lagging behind their mainland Chinese peers in adopting artificial intelligence, as entrenched legacy systems and a risk-averse corporate mindset slow the city’s digital transition, according to a senior executive at consultancy Accenture. Only 10 per cent of Hong Kong firms surveyed by Accenture had integrated generative AI across multiple business functions, compared with about 21 per cent of mainland enterprises, said Robert Hah, Hong Kong office lead at Accenture...

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has rolled out artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic automation at its new support services centre to handle laundry processing and meal production for public hospitals, aiming to boost efficiency and worker safety. The six-storey, 62,000-square-metre centre, which houses the central laundry and food production unit, opened its doors to the press for the first time on Tuesday since beginning operations in March last year. Located in Tung Chung on Lantau Island,...

Hong Kong authorities will delay a proposed legal amendment to protect copyrighted works from being used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and will issue operational guidelines first, the South China Morning Post has learned. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2025, which aimed to introduce an “opt-out” mechanism for text and data mining to support AI technology development, was originally scheduled to be submitted to the Legislative Council in the first half of last year. The item was...

Hong Kong can offer trusted solutions in artificial intelligence (AI) governance for major economies by leveraging the city’s unique strengths, including its common law system, internationally connected standards and professional services, the city’s finance chief has said. “As major economies begin discussing AI governance, data, compliance and risk management, Hong Kong can leverage its unique strengths in providing ‘rules’ and ‘trust’,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his weekly...

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan gives its universities an opportunity to show what their research can do for the city. Its ambitions for technology, regional development and international cooperation depend on decisions about institutions and people’s lives. Social scientists should help shape those decisions from the outset. The blueprint explicitly addresses public governance, including civil service performance, departmental coordination and digital administration. It also provides for...

Carmen Li, Founder and CEO of Silicon Data, says the AI race is shifting focus from chip manufacturing to the economics of GPUs and data centers. She speaks on the sidelines of CITIC Securities' International Investors' Forum in Hong Kong. (Source: Bloomberg)

Retiring deputy police commissioner Andrew Kan Kai-yan has said artificial intelligence (AI) poses a new threat to national security in Hong Kong, with the force turning to the emerging technology to help combat the issue. Kan raised the alarm after state security minister Chen Yixin warned last week of rising national security risks posed by AI. The senior mainland Chinese official also called for robust risk prevention frameworks and stronger global governance of the technology. Chief...

Around 100 start-ups selected to join Hong Kong’s flagship border tech hub will undergo mentorship programmes ranging from five to eight years, backed by industry heavyweights, the operator has revealed. Vincent Ma, CEO of Loop Hong Kong Park Company, said in an interview on Thursday that the start-ups were chosen to join the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) following a months-long screening process. “We have chosen 100 start-ups to enter our park soon following a few...

Hong Kong will introduce various tax incentives for new finance and technology industries to attract businesses and reinforce the city’s role as a leading financial hub, the city leader has announced in his policy address. Tax concessions to draw intellectual property (IP) businesses and selected industries to the city were among the new measures Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced on Wednesday, while the halving of the profits tax rate for gold traders would be sped up. To speed up the...

Hong Kong’s property and technology firms may get a boost from Chief Executive John Lee’s first five-year plan, which calls for a sharp increase in innovation spending and faster development of the Northern Metropolis region.

Hong Kong’s silver economy is set to become a HK$500 billion (US$63.8 billion) market by 2034, the city’s finance chief has said, urging the elderly care industry to deploy technology and explore cross-border opportunities. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Monday that Hong Kong’s ageing population presented both a challenge and a “promising blue ocean” market opportunity for the city, which could serve as a model for other regions. In his speech at the 30th anniversary of the Senior...

Hong Kong’s younger generation of tycoons is becoming increasingly active in the city’s initial public offering market through family offices and private investments. But their investments extend beyond the property and traditional financial sectors associated with their predecessors, into technology and digital finance. Prominent business leaders Cheng Chi-heng of New World Development and Peter Lee Ka-kit of Henderson Land participated as cornerstone investors in Shenzhen Forms Syntron...

Hong Kong is intensifying efforts to attract technology start-ups and nurture unicorns through expanded financial support via a key government-backed platform, leveraging the city’s booming fundraising activities and world-class financial infrastructure. Investors are displaying an increased appetite for the local tech scene compared with a decade ago – a trend that Terry Wong Ping-sau, CEO of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), said was a positive sign for the city’s...

A Hong Kong teenager with a rare muscle-wasting disease has created an AI version of himself, hoping the digital twin can continue sharing his life story and message of perseverance even after he is gone. Chen Tsz-kin, 17, unveiled “AI Tsz-kin” at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on Sunday, weeks before his 18th birthday – an age the student said he had long feared reaching because he was once told it was the average life expectancy for people with his disease, Duchenne muscular...

Hong Kong will deepen ties with emerging economies worldwide, expanding connections with the Middle East and belt and road countries, from finance to innovation and technology, according to the finance chief. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said the city aims to build “networked and institutionalised” connectivity with the Global South – a broad term for developing less-industrialised countries, primarily located in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Belt and road countries are nations...

Hong Kong signed two milestone memorandums of understanding with partners in the Greater Bay Area to harmonise standards and commercialise advanced aerial technology as the city accelerated its integration into national development plans. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said on Thursday the cross-border pacts would combine the production and testing capabilities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau bay area with Hong Kong’s strengths in research and standards setting. “These...

Humanoid robots have begun serving shoppers at convenience stores in Hong Kong.

Much has been said about Hong Kong’s vitality as a higher education hub. Yet, a radical rethink of our primary and secondary school system is equally necessary. The need for a blueprint has never been clearer. Our world is increasingly defined by the powerful forces of automation enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical tensions and flux, as well as conflicting values and perspectives. Workplaces and communities alike demand talent in possession of relational intelligence,...