bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Advertising partner

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of science fiction.
Anyone online appreciates the uncanny sensation that their activity is being tracked based on the pop-up ads that reflect their latest searches. For good or ill, this is AI in action.
“The impact of AI is already visible in everyday life,” Giulio Chiribella, a University of Hong Kong academic and visiting professor at the University of Oxford, says.
“The advertisements you see on your Facebook timeline are chosen by an algorithm that is designed to guess what you may be interested in.
AI is already visible in everyday life: Facebook adverts you see are chosen by an algorithm designed to guess what may interested you; the history of your Amazon purchases is used to guess what you may buy in future
Giulio Chiribella, academic, University of Hong Kong
“A similar story applies to online shops such as Amazon where the history of your purchases is used to guess the items you may be interested to buy in the future.”
Chiribella says Facebook and Amazon’s use of AI illustrates how businesses can use AI to create ties to their customers and offer products that are tailored to their individual preferences.
Many people are worried that the increased automation AI brings will make things impersonal.
However, Dr Nigel Duffy, artificial intelligence leader in global innovation at EY, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, who is also speaking at IES, rejects this view and believes the use of the technology “will make the world more humane”.
He says: “It will give us freedoms that we cannot yet imagine. It has the potential to improve society broadly in terms of health care, housing, city planning and transport.
“Roles and tasks will be enabled by AI – meaning employees and organisations will operate with more information and intelligence to get tasks done better and faster.
“By reducing repetitive work, AI will allow individuals to spend more time and energy on building and managing relationships, give medical professionals the tools to connect with patients better, and provide enterprises with the time and resources needed to develop products unique to individual needs.”
Roles and tasks will be enabled by AI – meaning employees and organisations will operate with more information and intelligence to get tasks done better and faster
Dr Nigel Duffy, artificial intelligence leader, EY
Enhanced efficiency and lower costs

China’s second biggest e-commerce company JD.com, which serves more than 250 million active shoppers, has used AI to carve a niche for itself.
The company’s research into AI includes speech and audio, natural language and semantics, knowledge graph, computer vision and machine learning.
“The current technology is already making a significant impact in helping companies to improve efficiency, reduce costs and enhance experience,” Dr Xiaodong He, technical vice-president and deputy managing director at JD AI Research, says.
He, who leads the JD.com Deep Learning, Speech and Language Lab, will also be speaking at IES.
One of JD.com’s AI-powered technologies is a robot that combines a chatbot’s functionality with customer service from a human agent.
Using technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning, the chatbot is designed to recognise seven emotions, provide personalised feedback according to changes in a customer’s mood and seamlessly transfer the conversation to a human agent as required.
“To put it in perspective, during our Singles’ Day shopping promotion, [for the world’s biggest online shopping festival held on November 11 each year] more than 16.3 million customer service inquiries were handled by our smart customer service robot, of which 90 per cent were handled entirely by the robot,” He says.
During our [November 11] Singles’ Day shopping [festival] promotion, more than 16.3 million customer service inquiries were handled by our smart customer service robot; 90 per cent were handled entirely by the robot
Dr Xiaodong He, technical vice-president. JD AI Research
Recognising humans and snacks

Besides functioning as a chatbot, another AI technique that shows great promise is facial recognition, which can be applied in fashion stores to provide personalised recommendations for shoppers.
“It has already been adopted in the legal sector, providing more reliable results than other traditional methods,” Chiribella says.
“The same principle sees it applied to the medical sector to speed up diagnoses and process complex sets of data from multiple patients and multiple hospitals.”
Last month, JD.com announced a collaboration with Hong Kong’s Fung Retailing, which has started a second test of an AI-powered solution at two of its Circle K convenience stores.
The technology completes the checkout process in four seconds.
There are three steps to checking out: place products on the smart counter; press the AI Recognition button on the cashier screen to have the products scanned; and pay with an Octopus stored-value card.
In future, we will improve the interface with our devices, making them more like the interaction with humans. It is not entirely science fiction to imagine an e-friend entertaining the user with human-like conversations
Giulio Chiribella
Making sense of ‘big data’
Away from the retail sector, many people already have a personal relationship with Alexa and Siri, the computerised smart voice assistants embedded in our home technology.
Experts believe that enhanced interaction between humans and machines is another important direction for AI.
“In the future, we will improve the interface with our devices, making them more intuitive and more like the interaction we have with humans,” Chiribella says.
“It is not entirely science fiction to imagine that there will be applications like the e-friend, capable of entertaining the user with simple, human-like conversations.”
However, perhaps the most important application of AI is in making sense of big data – very large sets of data that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions.
“Businesses will have to use AI techniques to analyse the preferences of their customers, to monitor their reactions to new products, or to assess the success of an advertising campaign,” Chiribella says.
“The same applies to organisations and institutions when it comes to evaluating the success of new polices or to understand trends in public opinion.”
Firms must get ready for AI

Although AI technology is no longer new, its widespread adoption by Hong Kong businesses is far into the future.
JD.com’s He says interest in AI is high, but so far implementation is low because there is a lack of understanding about the technology and only a small pool of AI practitioners.
However, the time is right to prepare for adopting the technology, He says.
Companies have to clarify the demands of the business and formulate an overall plan based on goals, and make sure AI will be smoothly integrated in their organisation
Dr Xiaodong He
“Businesses have to plan strategically; they need to learn what AI can do in their business transformation.
“They have to clarify the demands of the business and formulate an overall plan based on goals, and make sure AI will be smoothly integrated in their organisation.”
Duffy says companies should avoid focusing too much on the cost efficiencies that AI provides.
“Businesses must ask themselves how much more value they can deliver through more intelligent use of AI,” he says.
“This means identifying the problems that need to be solved first, and then creating solutions through AI that are tailored accordingly.”
Duffy believes that the successful integration of AI will not be determined by the technology alone. “[It] will be largely determined by talent, leadership, cross-functional collaboration, communication and trust,” he says.
“Leaders of organisations should invest in hiring and developing their people to ensure that they have the right skill sets to maximise the potential of AI.”
Lack of trust in technology
For most companies, one big concern is how to know that their AI system is doing what it is supposed to do.
“To establish greater trust in AI, CEOs and other business leaders must validate the technology is behaving how it is supposed to,” Duffy says.
“Transparency, bias and diversity are all important in establishing trust in AI.”
JD.com’s He adds: “To achieve and sustain this trust, an enterprise must understand, govern, fine-tune and protect all of the components embedded within and around the AI system – AI’s performance must show precise and consistent outcomes.
“The potential is huge and includes analysing big data, revealing hidden patterns, engineering new materials and designing networks of sensors with enhanced capabilities.
“But, the applications to AI are still in their early days and it is premature to assess their impact.”
Editor’s note: The Internet Economy Summit, which was being held on 15 and 16 April at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Wan Chai, had Dr Nigel Duffy to speak at the Visionary Forum on the first day while Dr Xiaodong He and Giulio Chiribella spoke at the AI Forum on the second day. “Digital Economy – Redefines Our Future” was the theme of the technology flagship event – organised jointly by the Hong Kong government and Cyberport, the city’s business park formed by about 1,000 digital technology companies.


Facebook and Amazon’s AI-selected ads show how businesses can tailor products to consumers in future

Artificial intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Illustration: Giordano Poloni

***PAY PER USE. Please re-download from vendor website.*** Royalty-free stock illustration ID: 1024337068server room 3d illustration with node base programming data design element.concept of big data storage and cloud computing technology. - Illustration by Shutterstock

A screen shows a demonstration of a facial recognition software at the stall of the artificial intelligence solutions maker Horizon Robotics at the Security China 2018 exhibition on public safety and security in Beijing, China October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

FILE PHOTO - Employees sort boxes and parcels at the logistic centre of a express delivery company, after the Singles Day online shopping festival, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, November 12, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

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Experts look to hi-tech future at start of Hong Kong’s two-day Internet Economy Summit attracted 2,000 entrepreneurs, industry icons and executives



New technology has potential to improve society’s health care, housing and city planning and transport and help companies and staff get tasks done better and faster


Digital Makers of the Future

Internet Economy Summit