Last month’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai gave the outside world a real glimpse of China’s determination and vision for promoting open cooperation in the AI industry. In his keynote speech at the conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping not only reviewed current trends in the evolution of intelligent technologies, but also offered a pragmatic and feasible roadmap addressing issues such as global AI governance and the difficulties of cross-border industrial cooperation, providing clear guidance for regions seeking to chart new smart technology pathways.
The times have changed: artificial intelligence is no longer just an advanced technology confined to research labs. It has become the core driving force behind worldwide economic transformation and comprehensive industrial upgrading, and is a key focus for implementing high-quality development in the national 15th Five-Year Plan. As the nation’s premier window of openness to the world, Hong Kong has always played a unique role in linking the Mainland with the rest of the globe. Facing this sweeping global industrial transformation driven by AI, Hong Kong absolutely cannot passively observe and miss out on opportunities. Instead, it must proactively align itself with the country’s overall development strategy. By fully leveraging our unique roles as “super connectors” and “super value-adders,” we need to break communication barriers between Mainland industrial resources and international capital, technology, and markets, establish a normalized cross-border AI docking platform, and gradually cultivate a robust industrial ecosystem—truly using our unique strengths to serve the globalization of China’s AI industry.
Looking globally, the speed of development in intelligent technology far surpasses past eras. Everything is becoming interconnected, with human-machine collaboration and cross-sector industrial integration becoming the norm. All kinds of new AI models and intelligent applications are emerging, continuously empowering diverse industries and unleashing massive economic dividends. However, behind this rapid development, serious hidden problems cannot be ignored. Data security risks, debates over AI ethics, cross-border technology monopolies, and regional imbalances have long troubled the global AI sector and remain core pain points that restrict healthy, long-term development.
To address these common global challenges, President Xi Jinping proposed four key principles covering openness and mutual benefit, secure and controllable development, mutual learning among civilizations, and global governance. This series of ideas transcends the limited perspectives of individual countries or companies, resolutely rejecting zero-sum games and closed competition. It advocates for global open-source sharing and collaborative construction, effectively addressing the current AI landscape marked by unilateralism and vicious competition, and contributing valuable Chinese solutions to the orderly development of the world’s intelligent industries.
In recent years, the world’s leading tech innovators have focused their efforts on AI foundational models and data governance, intensifying industry competition. Objectively speaking, the global AI industry remains fragmented, lacking unified cooperation rules and collaboration mechanisms. Most companies in various countries are deeply rooted in their own domestic markets, keeping core technologies closed off, with serious deficiencies in cross-regional and cross-border resource integration. This behind-closed-doors development model not only leads to duplicate waste of frontier technologies and research resources but also hinders the widespread implementation of AI’s benefits. It’s clear that open cooperation has never been an optional extra, but is an absolute necessity for the AI industry to achieve steady and long-term progress.
Turning to Hong Kong itself, our comprehensive advantages are difficult for the majority of Mainland innovative cities or overseas major hubs to duplicate. Hong Kong operates under a common law system aligned with international practices and has a mature mechanism for protecting intellectual property rights, while maintaining a free and well-regulated business environment. Furthermore, Hong Kong boasts a world-class financial system and professional supporting services, naturally serving as a golden hub for Mainland tech companies going global and for overseas technology and capital to land in the Mainland. On this new intelligent track, Hong Kong can absolutely identify its positioning and demonstrate unique value. On the one hand, Hong Kong can fully play its bridging role, taking on core functions such as cross-border AI corporate financing, technology exchange, and talent mobility. On the other hand, leveraging its robust legal system and professional service advantages, Hong Kong can also take an active part in cross-border AI data governance and industry standards formulation, supplementing systemic shortcomings in global industry cooperation.
It must be acknowledged that our unique locational and institutional advantages will not automatically translate into developmental results. Only by taking the initiative and acting proactively can we transform these inherent advantages into true competitive strength in industry. Looking ahead, Hong Kong needs to more closely align itself with China’s AI development strategies, deepen synergy and collaboration with key Mainland innovation cities, and, with high-standard services and high-quality cooperation, deeply integrate into the nation’s broader intelligent industry landscape. In the global competitive pattern of AI, Hong Kong must showcase its value and demonstrate its responsibility.