Letters | Hong Kong schools need a policy on generative AI to benefit from it

Readers discuss updating Hong Kong’s currently outmoded guidelines on AI use, lack of awareness of Hong Kong in the Middle East, and housing affordability

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Published: 11:30am, 10 Dec 2023

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We echo the call made at the FII Priority conference this week for a human-centric approach to AI development and regulation (“AI can be ‘force for good’ if allowed to flourish: FII conference in Hong Kong”, December 7) and believe it is time Hong Kong took the same approach for the use of generative AI in schools.

We need a comprehensive and ethical framework for the implementation of generative AI in both primary and secondary education in Hong Kong, ensuring the technology is used responsibly and to its fullest potential while safeguarding the rights and interests of students. And we do not need to start from scratch.

In September, Unesco published guidance that emphasises taking a human-centred approach to ensure ethical, safe and equitable use of generative AI in education and research. Hong Kong’s Education Bureau should take particular note of two of its recommendations.

First, the UN agency has called for a whole-of-government approach to AI policies. Currently, the Education Bureau’s Steering Committee on Strategic Development of Information Technology in Education, which advises the government on integrating IT into education, includes representatives from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the education and industry sectors.

Since the use of generative AI requires the protection of user data privacy and copyright, as Unesco points out, the bureau should also invite representatives from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and the Intellectual Property Department to join the steering committee.