For stock market insights, turn to Jinlinqi analyst research reports — authoritative, professional, timely, and comprehensive, helping you uncover potential thematic opportunities! (Source: Xinhua News Agency) Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, October 4 — At a community center in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, nearly 80-year-old Uncle Chen opened the "Ganghua Tong" app on his phone and asked, "How do I apply for the Old Age Living Allowance?" Within seconds, guidance popped up on the screen, with the required documents listed clearly — no more needing to make phone calls or dig through piles of information as before.
The convenience behind this is powered by applications driven by HKGAI, Hong Kong's first independently developed generative artificial intelligence large model. HKGAI is both the name of the research center and the name of the large model, and the development team affectionately calls it "Hong Kong Boy."
A "Hong Kong Boy" Born to Break the Deadlock
In 2023, generative AI experienced explosive growth worldwide. At that time, Hong Kong had a strong innovation and technology atmosphere but also faced shortcomings: the market relied on overseas commercial large models, which not only had service restrictions and data security risks, but also struggled to adapt to Hong Kong's social context and daily life scenarios. Under the coordinated deployment of the HKSAR Government and with support from the "InnoHK Innovation Hong Kong Research Platform," the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI) was officially established in October 2023, led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and jointly built by multiple Hong Kong universities, launching the process of independent research and development of a homegrown large model for Hong Kong.
In the early stages of the project, the team faced multiple challenges including limited computing power and scarce local language corpora. Guo Yike, Chief Vice-President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Director of the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center, said that Hong Kong's complex "biliterate and trilingual" linguistic environment is a technical hurdle that general-purpose large models find difficult to overcome. "Parameter stacking in large models does not equal intelligence; the massive general knowledge stored in super-large parameter models may not be the local knowledge Hong Kong citizens truly need," said Wang Tianlan, Vice President of Engineering at HKGAI.
After repeated deliberation, the research team focused on precise adaptation to Hong Kong's local scenarios, ensuring model performance met standards of being "sufficient, precise, and practical." In early 2025, the domestic large model DeepSeek-R1 was released, providing a better pathway for the project's breakthrough. The team deeply integrated a mature domestic open-source foundation with a complete Hong Kong localization training system, and after just over a month of optimization, launched Hong Kong's first large language foundation model, HKGAI V1. This was the industry's first large model produced through full-parameter fine-tuning and continued training based on DeepSeek, filling the gap in Hong Kong's self-developed general-purpose large models.
Understanding Hong Kong, Prioritizing Inclusivity, Warming People's Lives
The core advantage of "Hong Kong Boy" lies in truly taking root in Hong Kong and understanding Hong Kong. Unlike the generalized services of general-purpose AI models, HKGAI established its vision of being "a good companion for Hong Kong citizens" from the very beginning of research and development, with technological iteration and feature upgrades all centered around Hong Kong's language habits, livelihood scenarios, and urban characteristics. "To make AI truly serve Hong Kong, the first step is to make the model understand Hong Kong's affairs. Artificial intelligence detached from local context is meaningless for urban life," said Guo Yike.
To overcome Hong Kong's complex language adaptation challenges and reduce the impact of technical "hallucinations," the team invested substantial manpower in localization training, using real corpora such as news interviews and livelihood conversations as a foundation, continuously and iteratively optimizing model accuracy. After multiple rounds of iterative refinement, the HKGAI V3 large model released in June this year achieved breakthrough progress in Cantonese recognition and local context understanding, capable of precisely adapting to various local scenarios including casual daily conversation. Wang Tianlan said the model still has room for optimization regarding Hong Kong's diverse linguistic environment, which also provides inexhaustible motivation for continuous technological advancement and iterative upgrading.
In the implementation process, the team has always upheld the philosophy of "technology for good, inclusive and equitable," focusing on bridging the digital divide brought by Hong Kong's aging population. Guo Yike said the AI dividend should benefit the whole society, and the elderly and vulnerable groups need convenient services the most — they must not be left behind in the AI era. To this end, the team continuously optimizes product design and strengthens voice interaction features to suit the needs of the elderly and people with disabilities. Today, HKGAI has built an application matrix including "Ganghua Tong" and "Gangwen Tong," comprehensively covering scenarios such as government office work and livelihood inquiries. The freely available "Ganghua Tong" surpassed 500,000 registered users within 40 days of launch, and "Gangwen Tong" has been adopted by more than 70 government departments. Witnessing AI technology integrated into everyday city life has greatly inspired the entire team. "When I see citizens using voice queries at bus stops to check arrival times, and elderly people consulting service procedures at home, I realize we are not just writing code — we are building a life assistant," said Wang Tianlan.
Riding the Wind to Go Global, Building a Tech Innovation Calling Card
With the support of Hong Kong's uniquely advantageous innovation and technology environment, HKGAI is leveraging Hong Kong's role as a "super connector" to embark on a new journey of tech innovation oriented toward the Greater Bay Area and the international stage. Guo Yike said Hong Kong possesses unique advantages for innovation and technology development. Under "One Country, Two Systems," Hong Kong's AI governance system and legal regulations are fully aligned with international standards, making it an excellent testing ground for global large models to conduct localization adaptation, compliance refinement, and cultural value alignment, effectively reducing the cost of technological trial and error.
Fertile ground for innovation not only nurtures local technology but also attracts young innovative talent. Among HKGAI's 100-member research and development team, post-2000s researchers account for more than half, and tasks such as core technology breakthroughs are shouldered by Hong Kong's young research backbone. The open and inclusive innovation atmosphere and broad growth platform have also attracted overseas young talent to join, injecting vitality into Hong Kong's AI development. Rooted locally, connected to the Greater Bay Area, and oriented toward the world — HKGAI's development vision has never been confined to Hong Kong alone. At the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, HKGAI officially announced the launch of its "Large Model Going Global Strategy," marking a key step for Hong Kong AI technology to reach the global stage. "We can both complete the localization adaptation of advanced mainland technology for Hong Kong and have the ability to help China's homegrown AI technology take root globally," said Guo Yike. Currently, the team has entered deep cooperation with mainland enterprises, launching "Token Going Global" services for ASEAN countries. Unlike pure commercial technology export, the team is committed to helping Global South countries cultivate their own AI research and development capabilities and share the fruits of innovation and technology development.
Fluent in Hong Kong's language, in tune with everyday city life. Backed by Hong Kong's innovation and technology environment and the development opportunities of the Greater Bay Area, this young team is steadily moving forward, bringing artificial intelligence truly into the daily lives of citizens.