Hong Kong’s finance chief Paul Chan will chair a new “AI+ and Industry Development Strategy” committee, in an effort to deepen the integration of powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies across industry.
Chan said during his annual budget speech on Wednesday that the new committee will formulate strategies, and create favourable conditions, for wider AI applications across sectors, with an initial focus on life and health technology and embodied AI.
Embodied AI involves integrating AI into physical hardware, such as robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles.
“The application of AI technology is swiftly driving the process of industrial transformation,” Chan told lawmakers in Cantonese, adding that the committee will include experts, academics and enterprises. Companies at industrial parks will also join the committee, he said.
Boost to gov’t digital transformation
Chan unveiled a raft of AI-related funding to encourage wider applications of the technology in public services and education.
The government will allocate HK$50 million to invite public organisations to organise AI application courses targeting students and young people, Chan said.
HK$100 million will be reserved for introducing leading AI technologies to accelerate the digital transformation of the government, Chan added, while civil servants will receive AI training.
The Employees Retraining Board, a statutory body providing vocational training, will be renamed “Upskill Hong Kong” to include AI application courses, he said.
The government will also earmark HK$2 billion to develop AI education programmes in primary and secondary schools for both students and teachers, he added.
“AI brings new opportunities to society and employment market. The key is to popularise the understanding and use of AI by all levels of society,” Chan told lawmakers.
A number of government departments will explore the use of AI to facilitate public services, including traffic management, job matching, flood alerts, and landslide risk assessments, Chan said.