Hong Kong’s bid to win in AI: where are the road map and the guardrails?

Keith Li King-wah’s business once thrived during the 2010s. In a crowded field of more than 100 rivals, his programming consultancy, Innopage, easily secured contracts worth hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to develop basic digital tools, such as a mortgage calculator, for corporations and government agencies.But those easy-money days are gone. The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed high-value coding into widely accessible and automated services, leaving Li’s award-winning 20-person venture obsolete.“Since the emergence of ChatGPT in 2023, the industry has shrunk to the point where players can be counted on two hands. The programming ecosystem has been hit the hardest,” Li said.Li is among a wave of industry leaders scrambling to outpace the new technology long before the government pivoted towards an “AI for all” initiative, alongside a massive overhaul of school curricula and vocational retraining.As part of this initiative, HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) will be allocated to build public awareness and skills through AI courses, seminars and competitions focused on responsible use.To support the current workforce, the Employees Retraining Board will be rebranded as “Upskill Hong Kong”, focusing on providing skills-based AI training to enhance local competitiveness.