The first Hong Kong Session in the World Artificial
Intelligence Conference (WAIC) was held on 8th July 2021 in HKSTP. The main conference was held in Shanghai. The
theme is “Connect the World Wisely, Together for City Success” (智聯世界，眾智成城). WAIC has been successfully running since 2018
and is co-organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and
other institutions. I am honor to meet Mr. Herbert Chia (Data Innovation Lab)
and get his signature on the book “Nature of Big Data”. We took a photo for memory in front of the
conference banner.
In the beginning, Mrs. Carrie Lam (Chief Executive of
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) gave an opening speech. She said Hong Kong supported the 14th
Five-Year Plan of Mainland China especially Innovation and Technology for data
science and AI, as well as cross-over disciplines. She also briefed two InnoHK platform
established to connect world-class scientist and invited them to R&D in
Hong Kong.
Then Dr. Sunny Chai (Chairman, HKSTP) gave welcome
speech. He said AI can innovate for different
industries. Science Park nurtured many startups and raised much funds and
investment. He also mentioned the Hong
Kong - Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park and its concept that “One Zone,
Two Parks”.
And then all guests and speakers took a group photo.
After that Mr. Alfred Sit Wing-hang, JP (Secretary for
Innovation and Technology, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region) gave guest speech. He said that "Outline of the 14th Five-Year
Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of
China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035" indicated clear
support for Hong Kong's development into an international I&T hub and the
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Loop has been included as one of the four major platforms of
co-operation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Finally WAIC Hong Kong connected with WAIC Shanghai
virtually, and organized an MOU signing ceremony with the University of Hong
Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to join The Global
Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance (GAIAA).
The first speaker was Prof Jiaya Jia (Founder, Smart
More Corporation Limited and Tenured Professor, The Chinese University of Hong
Kong) and his topic entitled “Core Principles of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent
Manufacturing” (AI與智能製造的核心原則). Firstly, Prof. Jia said industry
went into intelligent era and he briefed the history that automatization in
1940, informatization in 1970 and intelligentization in 2020.
Then he explained Intelligent Manufacturing that the
key word is Intelligent. Automation is
only arm but Intelligent is brain of manufacturing! He then compared three
revolution core principles including generalization, fundamental resource and
feature of new technology.
After that Prof. Jia compared the characteristics of
AI Industry and Industry Scene that had many contradictions. Therefore, it was found difficult to
implement industry AI.
Finally, Prof. Jia said only system was able to integrate
algorithm automatically with few tailor-made design, AI cross industries for mass
production would happen. Lastly, he
introduced his company “SmartMore” and its solution for systematic integration
of AI and Industry 4.0.
The second speaker was Prof Lionel Ni (Founding
President, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)) and
his presentation named “AI Drives Cross-disciplinary Collaboration”.
Firstly, Prof. Ni briefed the history of AI and discussed
three peaks. He said machine learning become necessary tools in R&D.
Then he briefed their cross-campus and cross-disciplinary
collaboration within HKUST. He said no overlapping between HK and Guangzhou
campus so that they would cooperation rather than competition.
Finally, Prof. Ni introduced their AI driven cross-disciplinary
researches included Data Science + AI, IoT + AI, Computational Media and Art +
AI, Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering + AI, Intelligent Transportation +
AI, Smart Manufacturing + AI, Robotics and Autonomous Systems + AI, Advanced
Materials + AI, Financial Technology + AI, etc. Lastly, he raised some challenges
that incentivized AI expert to work with other domain experts and make deeper
impact, as well as the next big thing in AI after key deep learning algorithm
proposed in 2006.
Prof Guo Yike (Vice-President (Research and Development,
Hong Kong Baptist University) was the third speaker and his presentation topic
was “Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong”. He
said a New Era of AI Creativity had come and AI-based Art Tech drives a new revolution
that transforms the creative and cultural industries.
Then Prof. Guo mentioned the grand challenge about
symbiotic creativity (共生創造). He also pointed out
three gaps that “No environment to collect human-in-the-loop art data”, “No training
data with human experience featured” and “No learning algorithm beyond
mimicking”.
After that Prof. Guo explained three directions of Art
Tech for manifestation and delivery and they were “Comprehensive XR”, “Affordable
and Ubiquitous Capturing” and “Human-machine Embodied Interation”.
Finally, he mentioned the platform deployment and
application included “Research Theatre (HKBU)”, “Demonstrative Application and
Digital Art” and “Policy Network” that increase impact.
Mr Herbert Chia (Venture Partner, Sequoia Capital
China Fund and Board of Director, HKSTP) was the fourth speaker and his topic
named “Cross-border Data Exchange to promote AI Development in Hong Kong and
Greater Bay Area so as to achieve Smart City Development” (跨境資料互通促大灣區與香港AI開發實現智慧城市發展). He said one of key characteristics
on digital economic is data to be production factor. He also mentioned the major challenges in precise
city management.
Then Mr. Chia used this diagram to demonstrate that
Hong Kong adopt both eastern and western culture based on different apps
available. And then he also briefed the digitalization
industries included 5G, IC, AI, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Blockchain and Platform
Economic, etc.
After that he briefed the high quality development in
China after launched of the 14th Five-Year Plan. It started to focus on information security
and data security.
Finally, Mr. Chia briefed the policy of GBA and
discussed the data protection ordinance in EU.
He was found Dubai was pioneer and its data protection law was aligned
with OECD in 2018 (updated its DPL in 2004).
The last speaker was Prof Anthony So (Associate Dean
(Student Affairs), Faculty of Engineering and Deputy Master, Morningside
College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong) and his topic named “Ruminations
on AI and the Future of Education”. His concern was “Technology in Education”.
Firstly, he pointed out four dimensions of AI in teaching
and learning and they were Personalized learning, Automated grading, Instant
feedback and Highly scalable.
However, the true situation was not as ideal as you
think. For zoom teaching during
Covid-19, most students are closed the camera and only lecturer showed his
face. Prof. So also pointed out some
bias happened using AI in Education.
Finally, Prof. So discussed “Design concepts for AI in
Learning”. He also discussed challenges
and risks such as Transparency, Fairness, Bias, Privacy and Security.
A Young Innovation Roundtable was held afterward. Mr Shang Hailong, General Manager, Sense Time
Hong Kong and Macau is MC on this roundtable (Right 1).
The
panel comments are summarized as follows. (Start from left)
i)
Ms Kedi Wang, Manager, Intact Lab, Intact Financial
She
said their mother company was from Canada and no culture boundary work with
Hong Kong employees. Their lab was from
6 staff upto 25 staff now. However, she
observed to recruit more than 5 years AI experience talent was difficult.
ii)
Mr Lit Fung, Managing Director, Overseas Business, Geek+International
Co., Ltd;
Mr.
Fung said their company benefited during Covid period because of robotic
delivery demand increase.
iii)
Dr. Miles Wen, CEO of Fano Labs
He
come back from USA since 2015 and focused on AI development specific for voice
analysis.
iv)
Dr Jiang Xin, Director of Noah Speech and Semantics Lab, Huawel;
Dr.
Xin said they would continuously invest on AI and focus on software &
ecosystem.
v)
Dr Crystal Fok, Director, STP Platform, HKSTP;
HKSTP
provided different platform to assist their AI & Robotic development.
vi)
Dr Liu Qifeng, EVP & Secretary General, Hong Kong Society of
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics,
Dr.
Liu compared AI academic results between HK and Mainland China. He found that HK is little but high quality
and Mainland China is huge but middle quality that similar to USA and UK.
At
the end, all panelist took a group photo.
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