Subject: MOTION ON “EMPOWERING ALL INDUSTRIES THROUGH ‘ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PLUS’ TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL ECONOMY AND SMART SOCIETY”
President, as the saying goes, “Craftsmen must first sharpen their tools before they can do a good job”. Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is a powerful weapon for all industries in the new era. The 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly proposes fully implementing the “AI+” initiative to promote the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, while at the same time sets out the arrangements for constructing a financial powerhouse, emphasizing the enhancement of the quality and efficiency of the real economy’s financial services. AI empowerment is key to achieving this goal. I thank Prof William WONG for proposing this motion, and I support the original motion and all the amendments.
I believe that “AI+” will be adopted as the core strategy of the Government’s financial planning for the next five years, driving the transformation of all industries from automated workflow to decision intelligence, smart services and targeted risk control, so as to build a safe, efficient, inclusive and sustainable digital intelligence financial system, thereby consolidating our position as an international financial centre.
The Fintech Promotion Blueprint published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) in February this year has included AI as one of the “transformative technologies”, and highlighted the need to upgrade infrastructure and update business models in the coming years. For example, in terms of credit assessment and risk management, AI can be used to analyse a large volume of data, including credit records, consumption behaviour and social media information, thereby providing more precise credit scoring to reduce credit risks. At the same time, AI can be used to monitor real-time market changes and consumer behaviour, predict risks and propose immediate response strategies, with a view to enhancing resilience to risks. In terms of customer service, the intelligent customer service systems can make use of the natural language processing technology to provide 24-hour customized services, so as to comprehensively enhance customers’ experience in financial services.
The Tech Maturity Stock-take published by HKMA recently reveals that 95% of surveyed banks have adopted Fintech, and AI applications have transitioned from an exploratory phase to operational implementation, with the adoption rate rising from 59% to 75%. However, the application of most banks still remains at a superficial and fragmented stage and fails to deeply integrate into core operations. Coupled with multiple constraints such as insufficient investment in computing power and a shortage of talent, the full potential of AI has yet to be unlocked.
The industries must address these multiple constraints in the coming years to enhance the speed and efficiency of intelligent transformation in the financial sector. It is crucial for the SAR Government to take up the leading and coordination role in the process. To address the issue of fragmented application, the Government should coordinate efforts to promote uniform AI application scenarios for the financial industry. For example, more sharing sessions can be organized for banks to share best practices in the use of AI, so as to accelerate the replication and promotion of mature scenarios. This ensures that financial institutions will have consistent AI application standards and processes in similar business scenarios. With regard to investment in computing power, the Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster will provide computing power equivalent to 36 times the current capacity by 2032. Although the allocation of computing power in the future is commercial operation, the Government can adopt measures to reserve some computing power for AI development in the financial industry. As for the collaboration of talent and technology, the Government should establish a stable cross-boundary communication mechanism to encourage two-way exchanges between technical and professional personnel from both sides, and the sharing of application cases of “AI plus finance”. Where appropriate, innovation and technology companies and talents should be brought in to expeditiously fill the gap of talent, thereby enhancing the capabilities of smart services.
Furthermore, while leveraging AI empowerment, it is also important to guard against AI-related fraud. Identity verification is essential to enhance transaction security. At present, banks rely heavily on manual operations and third-party systems in the process of account opening and identity verification, it is thus difficult for them to counter increasingly sophisticated fraudulent means. The Government should, on the premise of ensuring people’s data security, consider gradually opening up the Near Field Communication (“NFC”) verification function of identity cards to financial institutions in the coming years. For high-risk transaction scenarios, such as large-value online fund transfers, banks can use NFC to read identity cards and provide physical proof of presence as a means of verification. This would ensure that the transactions are being carried out by the customers themselves, thereby guarding against the increasingly rampant frauds using AI deepfake technology.
President, amid the wave of AI, the financial sector should seize this development opportunity, while remaining at a both offensive and defensive position. The Government should see “AI plus finance” as the core direction, and promote the smart and high-quality development of the financial industry at full steam in the next five years.
I so submit. Thank you.