AI disruption, geopolitics and partnerships in focus at Hong Kong business summit

Technology-driven disruptions, superpower rivalry and global partnerships were among the topics that dominated a closed-door summit in Hong Kong, as countries and tech giants seek to boost growth and lead the race in artificial intelligence.

About 100 business owners, executives and academics from the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and the Middle East attended the fourth edition of the Family Business Summit, co-hosted by the South China Morning Post and Blue Pool Capital, with UBS as the presenting partner.

At a welcome dinner on Wednesday, Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo discussed the city state’s approach to capitalising on AI while ensuring no one was left behind.

“We want to keep the growth story going as much as we can,” Teo said during a fireside chat at the St Regis Hong Kong hotel. “Ultimately, if you want to grow, you have to raise productivity.

“When we looked at what we could do with AI, it presented so many opportunities that were hard to miss.”

Acknowledging concerns over job displacement, cybersecurity and cross-border attacks, she said Singapore aimed to equip its citizens with AI skills and had conducted engagements with countries such as the US and China to discuss issues including AI safety, governance and adoption.

“I would say that you worry about these things, but worry only gets you so far,” she said.

“The next question is, ‘What can you do about them?’ We try, as best as we can, to systematically understand the real risks.”

The surge of biotechnology and embodied intelligence in China was also among areas discussed during the conference, which runs for two days, along with culture and the business of sport.

SCMP publisher Tammy Tam said in her opening address on Thursday that the bilateral relationship between China and Russia had been included in the summit’s programme for the first time.

The topic “could not be more timely”, as global attention was focused on the possibility of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting his counterparts from the US and Russia at an Apec leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen later this month, she said.

The first panel of Thursday’s packed line-up centred on the future of the mainland’s domestic demand.

Guo Kai, president and senior fellow at think tank CF40 Institute, and Tao Wang, UBS’ senior adviser of global research, shared their views during a discussion moderated by the SCMP’s editor-in-chief, Chow Chung-yan.

Chow moderated another panel later in the afternoon, discussing security and policy in the Taiwan Strait with academic Wu Yongping, director of Tsinghua University’s Institute for Taiwan Studies.

UBS Asia-Pacific’s president, Iqbal Khan, moderated a discussion on diversifying economic and strategic relationships amid an unpredictable geopolitical landscape.

The evening concluded with Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng sharing insights on Asia’s entertainment industry and the making of the Chinese-language adaptation of the John le Carre thriller The Night Manager. The panel, held over dinner, was moderated by Alibaba Group Holding’s chairman, Joe Tsai. Alibaba owns the SCMP.

Former US government official Susan Shirk, emeritus chair of the 21st Century China Centre at the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy, will speak about the evolving relations between the two superpowers on Friday.