Hong Kong’s ‘AI city brain’ will not tap personal data, breach privacy: John Lee

Hong Kong’s new “AI city brain” will not involve personal data and poses no privacy concerns, the city leader has said, adding that the system will also help improve visitor management during “golden week” holidays.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also stressed on Thursday the importance of AI education and the need to nurture young people’s AI literacy, citing overseas examples of adolescents who became socially isolated after relying too heavily on the technology.

In his annual policy address on Wednesday, Lee proposed establishing an “AI city brain”, deploying AI for data analysis and a data-sharing environment that would provide early warnings and trend forecasts, improve interdepartmental collaboration in response to extreme weather or major incidents, and manage public order and control crowds.

During a Legislative Council question and answer session, lawmaker Andrew Law Siu-lo raised privacy concerns over the plan and called for better coordination among departments and with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.