Hong Kong unveils rules for ‘responsible’ AI use as it gets ahead of disruptive technology

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Any institution that wants to use AI ‘must formulate a governance strategy to provide direction on how [the] systems should be implemented,’ the government says

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Hong Kong FinTech Week 2024 kicked off on October 28 with a greater emphasis on artificial intelligence than Web3 compared with past years. Photo: Matt Haldane

Mia Castagnone

Published: 1:42pm, 28 Oct 2024Updated: 10:06am, 29 Oct 2024

Hong Kong’s government outlined its first guidelines on the “responsible” use of artificial intelligence (AI) and embraced blockchain, as regulators strive to get ahead of the technological revolution that will almost certainly disrupt financial services.

“Blockchain and AI are the two fields of innovation in fintech”, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said during the opening of the FinTech Week. “Hong Kong’s financial market is open and prudent towards the application of AI, [so] we will closely monitor the developments and draw on the experiences of the mainland and overseas” because the technology is “constantly evolving”, he said.

Banks, brokers, asset managers and any other financial institutions that wants to use AI “must formulate an AI governance strategy to provide direction on how [the] systems should be implemented and used, and offer advisory and training services for on-premise deployment”, the government said in a press release before Chan’s speech.

“The statement comes at a time when we are seeing increasing government policies and regulations on AI, such as the enactment of the European Union’s AI Act and the publication of [guidelines]” by Singapore, said Kenneth Hui, head of Hong Kong regulations at Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po spoke during the opening of the 2024 Hong Kong FinTech Week on October 28, 2024. Photo: Matt Haldane

AI has become the focus of FinTech Week, the annual event that has been hosted for nine years by InvestHK and Finoverse. This year’s conference, which runs from October 28 to November 1,, will emphasise Hong Kong’s role as the “connector” between international business and China, the world’s second-largest AI market behind the US. About 700 companies are exhibiting at the weeklong event, including SenseTime, Tencent Holdings and ByteDance.